THE DOCK QUESTION. TO THE EDITOR.

Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 110, 2 June 1885, Page 4

THE DOCK QUESTION. TO THE EDITOR.

Sib,— Yonr idea that the Harbour Board ■hould mako enquiry aa to tho mode in which the construction of tho Adelaide Dook was brought about, it» a good one j but there is also another enquiry that Bhould be nwle, and that ia an to the amount wbioh the Admiralty might be diapoaed to give in aid. Borne years ago I aont a letter to the Harbour Board from Admiral of the fleet, Sir Alexander Milne, whioh he had written to me, ■tating that no doubt the Admiralty would asßiat in the construction of a dook if its requirements wero complied with. Now, air, a dook for the nee of H.M. ships Is at the present moment one of the nooessary adjuncts of colonial defenoe. At the ohief coaling port of the oolony a dook of the first olaia should be oontidered indispensable. That Port Nioholaon fulfils that oondition there oan bo no dispute. It is the port most favourably situated to oommand the oommoroial Homeward route of Australasia, and is always easy of access day and night. Auokland has many advantages as a port, bat it does not command the commercial route, and as an illustration, neither docs Sydney. It being granted that a dock of the first olass is neoeaiory, then comes the question as to the site. Abova all things it is desirable to beware of a foffc site. It would be an utter tempting of Providence to exoavate a graving dock in a soft lite. It might stand a heavy earthquako ahook, but the ohances are it would not, and then what fools we ■hould look with all our outlay thrown away. For this mason a Te Aro site is inadmissable, as also beoauae it would probably cause the Reclamation to be carried too far ont, interfering with the sweep of steamers coming to tho Queen's Wharf, and it would be dead open to the fire of any ship which had forced its way into tho hnrbour. Tho Koiwharawhara rite is open to similar objections. If constructed in the delta of tho Kaiwhara stream it would bo excavated in a rioklo of stones, sand, and mud. If in the rook, it would out through railway and road, and atop tho great highway to tho interior ; it would alao be open to direot firo. With regard to the Evans Bay site, it has been pointed out to mo by an authority on the iuT)jeot that the eastern, or inner, end of the dook might be in soft ground, and therefore unsafe. The visible breadth of the rook there i» about four ohains or 201 feet. I would therefore tuggest that the site should ho shifted a little further to the northward, where the ridge is broader, bo as to get a rook width of at least 10 ohains. This would involve more cost of exoavation, but would, no donbt, givo absolute aafety from earthquakes. This site would also be almost perfectly secure from an enemy's fire, unless Evans' Bay wero foroed, a moat unlikely oontingenoy. Wherever the dook is built it »hould be one of the first olasa, of a width of gate and dopth of wat«.r over the aill to take in any of H.M. ironolada, and of a length to dook any merchant stonmor. When tho Panama Canal ia finiahod we ■hall probably have larger steamors than our present splendid fleet, but it is a question whether the mail route will go by Panama, whether steamers oan compete with rail ftorosß Amerioa— it will require very fast and powerful boats to do ao. The postal service, however, has no business to go to Honolulu and San Franoisco. It is only the Honolulu trade whioh justifies this route. The shortest distance in to San Diego in Southern California, whence to Yuma in Arizona a railway ought to be completed by thia time, joining San Diego with the Southern Pacific line. A saving of several days oould be effected by thia route, intermediate coaling being performed at Pangopango in Tntuila. I am, Ao., James C. Crawford. Miramar, 29th May.