THE TWO PORTS AUCKLAND'S BID FOR BUSINESS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 46, 24 February 1913, Page 8

THE TWO PORTS AUCKLAND'S BID FOR BUSINESS

". SHOULD WELLINGTON WAIT • SHIPPING FACILITIES. JTlie Wellington wharvea are particularly busy at this time of the year, the butter, cheese, wool, and flax, and ordinarily, meat, pouring into the port for shipment overseas, but a period of slackness in the winter mouths is ahead, and during that time, perhaps, the boayd will be able to give consideration to the future requirements of the port. Besides, it will be a new board, if not all "new members. There has been evidence again and again of the congestion of shipping afc the wharves, when the berthage for ocean steamers with their deep draughts has been inadequate. Ships have, so local agents aver, been ordered to proceed elsewhere in their 5 New Zealand itinerary, deferring their calf here until later, so that they may ensure berthage. Of course, they have ultimately come to the port, but the^ congested state of it when they had timed to arrive has, it is stated, put their owners to some inconvenience, if not actual loss, by the disturbance of arrangements made well ahead. ■ How the port business hag grown may be gauged from the following figures of arrivals only for the past few years :—

Besides showing an increase in the number of vessels it shows what is more important— the advent of the big ship, for the tonnage is three time 3 greater than sixteen years ago, whereas the vessels are but one and a-half times-.as many. The port revenue is. of course, based on the tonnage. It has been pointed out by a critic of the present board that since the. completion of tho King's Wharf, the contract For which was let in 1906, and Clyde-quay Wljarves, let in 1907, there have been no additions to the wharf accommodation for' big "ships. Pipitea wharf contract is the next to be taken up, but it is not yet -let. In the meantime, however, considerable energy has been expended on the repairs to Queen's Wharf, the Wool Wharf, and the extension of Jervoisquay to link up with Taranaki-street. There ha*e been other works of importance, too, such as the J wool shed, and ti.«e cheese stores ; but the ocean steamer berthage accommodation, it is pointed out, lias no!* been extended — and .fudging by complaints made by some shipping representatives there is ample room for such work to be taken in hand at once. PANAMA CANAL TRADE. It^ is felt by some that if the predictions only, to say nothing of the dreams, of the promoters of the Panama Canal are to be realised and Colonel Ooethals stands by his statement that the canal will be open this year for sure, then an entire change in the disposition of the world's merchant lines to Australasia and the Far East is to be looked for. Wellington, no doubt, •will be taken into account as a port, a fact opparently not overlooked by Auckland, which has provided for the future anil with a scheme for five miles of steamer berthage with accommodation for ocean liners of no less a depth than i>s feet at low water spring tides. The nose of a mail boat already overhangs Queen-street, the main street in Auckland, and the mails could almost be pitched from the steamer into the Post Office or vice versa. Wellington is near enough so far as the mail boat and Post Office are concerned, but only those who walk (and the tram affords but little help) know how far the King's wharf is itt>m the General Post ■Office when a mail boat is berthed there. / The Auckland Board, it is held by Wei- ' lington critics, is able to cope with all demands made upon it for berthage accommodation and it is building daily ■for the future. The question of graving dock and the Naval accommodation there may be left oat of the question for the moment, although these must count with steamship owners in selecting a New Zealand port of call or establishing a new trade in these waters. Auckland has already two graving docks, and yet has a proposed third dry dock and a patent slip. DEEP WATER BERTHS. The provision of deep water berthage in Wellington during the last ten years was held to have been inadequate, and to ascertain if this was so enquiries were made of the Wellington Harbour Board 'by The Post with the following result: By 1902 there were 5939 lineal feet of deep water berthage made up as follow;— Queen's Wharf, 347 ft; Railway, Wharf, 1280 ft; Glasgow Wharf, 1188 ft'; total 5939 ft. 1907' Taranaki-street Wharf, -786 ft j Railway Wharf, 40ft; •total, 825 ft. By 1912 Clyde-quay Wharf was available with 1050 ft, •and King's Wharf with 1609 ft or together 2659 ft, making a grand total of 9423 lineal feet; but if the 'Miramar Wharf be taken in with its 362 lineal feet, there is a total ocean steamer berthage available of 9785 feet. The total berthage available for all vessels for the j|iast few years is as follows: — ■ Lineal feet 1902 m . Ut ... 9,981 1907 ,„ ,„ ... 10,806 1912 14,891 together with 2096 linoal feet berthage at suburban wharves. The board has the following authorised extension in hand, which wben completed -will increase the general berthage accommodation by 2062 lineal feet. They are Glasgow Wharf, 320 ft j Waterloo-quay breastwork, 1200 ft; Taranaki-street Extension, 80ft (staging 520 ft), and ferry 'jetties, 462 ft. The plans of the new Pipitea Wharf have been authorised and they will give berthage of 1703 l ineal feet. In short tho berthagc of Wellington and the suburban wharves will be brought up to 20,732 lineal feet. THE AUCKLAND SCHEME. Auckland Railway, Hobson, and Queen's wharves combined have a total of 6000 ft with depths varying from 24ft to 48ft. But there are to be five miles in all of general berthago under the scheme. The deepest draught steamer yet berthed at Auckland Railway Wharf drew 29ffc oin. From the start the Railway YVbart' there, which was fonnerjy somewhat^neglected except for small coasters — hcokerg, shingle scows, and such like— has -•been extremely busy, and as many as nineteen vessels have berthed there sit >one time, varying from the largest ocean liner to the small coaster. The^ work Cost with the thre- sheds already in use. £186,000. It is constructed, as all the new work in Auckland is, of reinforced concrete. This kind of construction has been severely criticised by some mem. "bers of the Auckland Board itself, and •it haa not yet been adopted in Welling -ton, except for the Ctyde-quay Wharf. Recently cmcks were said to have appeared in the Railway Wharf, Auckland/ The board decided to see for itself what there was in the report. The engineer accompanied the members. It sippeafd from the statement of a member of the party that it was difficult to see the cracks until they were pointed out by the engineer. They varied from one to two, or even three inches in length, and ,wefe go the lateral portion of tho structure. The£ were suid to bo caused by

the expansion and contraction of the superstructure, but it was thought that they did _ not in the least affect the stability of the work, nor was the steel encased in the concrete exposed to the weather and water. The members of the boaitl, who had complained of the cracks were not .with the pariy which looked into the matter. Rome parts of tho old wooden wharves were seen where the marine growths and Uie attacks of marine organisms like (lie toredo ntivalis had reduced the timber to a pulp. But tho covering of the submerged a pt*rt of the cqnere^o work with marine growth hod given it a sort of lime enamel coating, acting it anything as a preservative. On bein£ scrubbed off the marks of the box-mould-ing on the piles were cleorly visible, showing that (he water had rio eSect upon the material. The co-t of reinI forced concrete in Auckland is tOs to 12s per square foot. In Wellington hardwood and muntz metal is used. The question has been asked whether, - 'n view of the scarcity nnd the difficulty m' obtaining hardwood, tho Wellington Board should not adopt a reinforced concrete policy. THE CRANES. The crnnenjro of Wellington, 100, it is h.pld by critic"! of the port, is obsolete nnd ineffiek'ni in view of the mci eased si?e r>i oversea-s vpssels. The new Auckland electric cranes lift a maximum of five tor>s. The smallsr Wellington moveable hydraulic cranes have a maximum lift of two tons. But, in addition, Auckland has a great nclf-propelling floating crane which lifts 75-ton blocks of concrete, and the shearlegs at Calliope Dock (the pumps of which are being renewed) lift 80 tons. It is estimated that the first cost of the hydraulic cranes is about the 3ame as the electric, but their upkeep costs more. The Auckland 5-ton cranes cost about £2200 each erected.

-1&02 "1907 ,1912 M Vessels, 2176 2563 3398 3356 Tonnage. 1,031,810 1.838,572 2,709,124 3,087,382