WAIROA HARBOUR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 205, 24 May 1919, Page 2

WAIROA HARBOUR

A PRESSING NEED

NEW PORT AND A RAILWAY

Som'o little time ago tho harbour, .works at Wairoa were washed out to,sea. Thero hail never been a good harbour .at' the port, but it had served in somo fashion tho needs of tho district. '. Theniain purposo.of tho harbour,was to servo, tho iroezing works which had lately been established at tho place, and when the har-' bour works went seaward the works wtf-re fuH of meat. Until some sort of a harbour is made to servo tho district thero can bo no fyozou meat industry to tako the stock off the pastures of tho Wairoa country. After tbo failuro it was agreed■ even by most of tho residents, and _ it was laid down by tho Minister of Marino (tho Hon. T. M, Wilford), that no -mora money ought to bB spent on restoring tho precarious harbour at the mouth of tho river, but that'a harbour'should bo established at a bettor place along the coast, at a point wlwro thero were 6omo natural advantages, and that Wairoa. should bo connected by rail with this port, at Waikokppu. This is' a much biggor cmerpriee, and it is urgent that it should bo carried through without unduo delay. A deputation from tho'district waited on; ■Ministers of the Crown yesterday to ask that the work of building the railway should bo pushed ahead. Tho Ministers present wero Sir William Fraser (Minister of Public' Works), the Hon. T. M, Wilford (Minister of llarine), the Hon. A. M. Myors ' (Acting-Minister of Finance), and tho Hon. D. H. Guthrie (Acting-Minister in Charge of Imperial Supplies). It was pointed out on behalf of tho deputation that tho Wairoa settlement had no communication with Waikokbpu excopt by road, a distance of S3 miles. Supplies had ha 4 to be landed on tho Wairoa beach by surf- boat, and coal for the freezing'works had had to bo carted over the road by motor lorry and horso wagon, but tho recent rains-had mado the roads impassable. It was urged that the railway would bo an easy one to construct, and that the owners of the land along the lino of route, including the" 'Native owners, bad promised to givo tho land for the track to the Government. Tho railway was needed very badly, and if it wero built and tho harbour openci! the district would be capable of immense development. ■ . ■ - ■ • .Sir William I'raser. said that he was much impressed with tho importance of. tho domands of the deputation. He had already instructed tho Public Works engineers to make a detailed survey of the routo instead of a flying survey, in order ■that if an Authorisation Bill should- bo put through Parliament there need be no delay about going on with tho work. He realised that tho district was one capable of great development, and that without tho railway this development was impossible. It had appeared from the remarks of one of the sneakers that the Government was considered to bo -to blame for the failure of! the old works at Wairoa. He must make it clear that this was. not tho case.' Tho harbour nn-thorities.-were to blame wholly, and tho failure had occurred because they had not followed tho.advice and instructions of the Government Engineer. Tho Minister made it clear that ho could not give any promise about getting through an Authorisation Hill. When such a Hill was before Parliament there were always demands from members to havo their particular railways included in the Bill, and tlie Bills wero always difficult to get through Parliament for this reason. Ho realised tho importance of this work, and as an earnest of his interest ho-pointed to .the fact. that.he had ordered a detailed survey 'of the route, in itself a most unusual thing. Ho did not think this had ever been done in any other cast! before an Authorisation Bill had been put through. Tho lion. T. M. Wilford advised ths Wairoa people to got ahead with tho plans for. tho ..harbour .wo.rkp, so that they might havo the-harbour ready when the railway was completed. It was not only his opinion," but .the opinion also of iill the' experts;-that the" proper'place for a harbour to serve tho coast was at AViikokopu. In reply to a question by a member of the deputation as to whether lie would be ablo to give them tho services of an engineer to survey the harbour, . lie said that' tho Marine Department had had to rely on the Public Works Department, for. engineers, but now that-a vigorous public-works policy was being considered and entered upon, the Public Works Department would not bo able ,to spare engineers. He was proposing to put before Cabinet a proposal that the Marine Department should have its own engineors. - The Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald gave to the deputation an assurance of his sympathy with tho request. He saul that from his knowledge of the country ha recognised tho importance of the work to be dono, and also the urgency of u. The Hon. A. M. Myers also gave an assurance that tho question would have, his consideration. The Hon. D. H. Guthrie said-that the country was capable of great development, and any proposal that would tend to increase production would have bis hearty support. -He mentioned tho facj, that''there were -100,000- -carcasses -of frozen meat in the stores belonging to ■■the-Imperial Government, and as Minister in Charge of Imperial Sunplies he had been particularly interested in this matter of the linrbour for tlift" district. Ho had been pleased to bo.-able to give the producers some little assistance, in that he had advised-Mr. Myers to.sup.ply some coal for the works. However, lie realised that the real nuestion was not tho maintenance of the lireseht works, but-the -extension and- development of them.