IN THE EARLY DAYS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 14, 17 July 1923, Page 3

IN THE EARLY DAYS

THE HARBOUR IN THE

'FIFTIES

HOW THE WHARVES GREW

A SKETCH BY MR, H. BAILLIE.

Early TodaTnatiori_ and sea-walls and) the 6teady extension of Wellington's wharf accommodation formed another section of the address on the early, days of Port Nicholson, given by Mr. H. Baillie, City Librarian, under the auspices of the W.E.A. on Saturday evening. • ■ . ■

In 1847, Mr. Baillie continued, tenders were called by the General Government for the construction of .a timber breastwork along part of Lambton quay, and in the early days of the settlement the waterside road was known as Thorndon quay from the Hutt road to Charlotte street, and Lambton quay thence to about Shortt's Picture Theatre to-day, where Willis street commenced. Locally, the full stretch was known as "The Beach." Along the quays, the,water in many places, at high tides, covered part of the roadway, and probably it would bo to form the roadway in oueof these bad places that the breastwork was required._ Even in 1850 there was not room in some parts for two carts to pass. In 185 i another breastwork, 600 fest long, was constructed of brick, and was built with the object of widening the beach to a width of 60 feet.

' In 1852, the Government of New Munster, which comprised the southern half of-the North Island and the whole of the South Island, called for tenders for reclaiming part of Lambton Harbour, the reclamation generally known in legal - circles as "Sir George Grey's reclamation." It ran from Customhouse street, now usually known a s Old Customhouse street, 360 feet .north, ,with a depth towards the harbour of 100 feet,, the frontage being to Willis street. Work was commenced early m April, and was completed early in October. Apparently, the land was offered for sale as it became available, and total sales to the public amounted to £900 for the sale of 150 feet, and 182 feet was granted by Sir George Grey a3 an endowment for the Wellington College. A cross street was officially known as College Passage, although later it was known as College lane, . and now as Mercer street.

■ Apparently it was proposed to construct a stone wall, for-tenders were called during 1856 for the conveyance of 2000 tons of stone from Somes Island to where they might be required -between Bowler's Wharf and Noah's Ark, but the scheme was not. proceeded with though engineers might still be interest ed m the subject of Somes Island stone Mr. Baillie recalled other early reclamation works, notably one carried out by the extending of the older sea-wall in from Phmmer's old Noah's Ark comF'^xr.v" 18^ 8 ' and, comprising sections to Willis and Harbour streets and Customhouse quay, and what is now known as the Bank of New Zealand corner, tS« mt c , a reclamation, completed in 1867 of land from Panama to Waring Taylor streets. . In the original plan, there was no■street running parallel with Cust6mKouse quay,-but in 1864 the council decided that such a street should be formed opening in front of the Supreme Court, Lambton quay, to be ■ known ■ as- Featherston street, in honour of the superintendent, and this necessitated a change in the arrangement of the sections. In addition to the public reclamations, permission was granted to the Oddfellows to reclaim a section fronting Lambton quay. The foundation stone of the Oddfellows Hall, on the reclaimed land was laid m May, 1859. The Foresters were also granted, in 1864,' a site—the next section to that now occupied by the Government Fire Insurance building, which, by the way, stands on a section reclaimed by Messrs. Joseph and Co. in $tfY? "t a-r?° Sfc {? the fim of "over &&M. me Freemasons were also granted a site for reclamation, but did not take advantage of it. In 1864 it was decided that in future all streets should be 100 feet wide which accounted for the extra width of a part of Lambton quay. iln }? 71,\ the Provincial Council agreed to sell all of the unsold sections of reP?? mmn £ d i, 0 the City V"™*l for £12,000. Needless to say, it was a bargam for the city, and the city councillors of, that date were entitled to a lot of gratitude; from future generations. .1 he council was wise, and did not attempt -to- part with the freeholds, excepting some taken over by the General Uovernment.

In 1873, the Provincial Council agreed to .convey .to the General Government nearly three acres of unreclaimed lands -for the purpose of erecting Government Buildings,, and for railway purposes at Pipitea, and during the same session, on. the motion of Mr Edward Pearce, it was resolved that the council recommend, that the tract of land covered with water, extending from le Aro Flat to Lambton Harbour, comprising seventy acres or thereabouts be granted to the.'City of Wellington' to be recalimed. from the sea, and that block us now known as the Te Aro reclamation, i i ( On sth March, 1875, the Provincial Government entered into an agreement ''< with the Wellington City Council to sell to the latter body its rights in' connection with another block of land then being reclaimed, but this agreement was never carried out, and apparently the General Government took over the whole contract, and the City Council lost a bargain. For this reclamation iarrah piles were used as a breastwork and !u c 4? 0!, 1 waß br°ught fr°w the foot of the Wadestown hill, where the oil stores are now situated. ■ / . • PIERS AND JETTIES. In the Harbour Board' Year Book is sued December, 1921, there i s recorded a list of the piers or-jetties constructed during the early years of settlement, which may be accepted as substantially correct. The Commercial Wharf unlike the other early wharves, was' constructed ;by a public company, with a capital.of £250, in £2shares. The wharf was. completed in December, 1841 and accommodated vessels up to 30 and 40 tons. A wharf that is not mentioned in the Year Book is Tod's. Tod was a speculator, who arrived from Sydney in 1839, and acquired land in the neighbourhood of what is now Charlotte street. Bowler's Wharf, later named after Edward Pearce, and also known as Lyttelton Wharf, ran from Willis street to Old Customhouse quay, virtually paralled to Customhouse street, or Old Customhouse street, as it now called Waitt's Wharf was not off Willis street but stood out from Customhouse street' and its present location would be through' the' vacant section "opposite the Public Library, lnis wharf, sometimes called.Customhouse- Wharf, was never public property, and was a frequently changing property, and with the change in ownership thore would usually be a change of name.. In 1860,-W. W Taylor purchased it for £800, and fli'at accounted for Waring Taylor's Wharf. THE QUEEN'S WHARF. ; The year 1862 marked a decided move forward. E«°>' tljat date, mercan-

tile people could not be expected to be satisfied with the shipping, facilities for the larger vessels visiting the port. Many suggestions were made as to how improvements could be effected. The first move, towards something being done took place during the. 1852 session of the Legislative Council of New Munster, when the Collector of Customs and the harbourmaster reported relative to a "deep water wharf." In their opinion the only suitable site would be near Clay Point, between the Custom House, then in Customhouse street, and Pipitea Point, but owing to the shallow water n, wharf 800 feet long would be necessary. The Queen's Wharf is now over 800 feet in length from the original breastwork opposite the Pier Hotel. Two other probable. sites were in the Kaiwarra bight, but both.were much exposed to south-e».sterly gales. "It seemsto me,' remarked Mr. Baillie, "to ha\*e been rather unfortunate that the Province of New Munster was dissolved in 1853 in favour of another scheme of provincial government, for this body during 1852. had taken definite steps to reclaim land from the harbour, construct a deep water wharf, and to erect a lighthouse at Pencarrow. Under the Provincial Council of Wellington, the town waited five years until another block was reclaimed; waited ten years for the wharf, and waited six years until a modern lighthouse was erected at the Heads."

During the season of 1857 a committee I was appointed to inquire as to the ad- I visability of constructing a wharf between j Koro Koro (Petone) and' Lowrv Bay. j The committee reported that there ware two suitable sites,'both near Point How- ] ard, and it was also suggested that a, i tramway to the Wairarapa could be .- formed by way oE -.the coast. Nothing further was heard of either project. The wharf was not mentioued again until 1861, when the site was decided, and by this time the land had been reclaimed towards what is now Panama street. A provincial Act was passed that year authorising; tile superintendent to. construct a deep water wharf, and tenders were called for 21st October, 1861, for the construction of a wharf 35 feet wide, ' to extend 500 feet from the sea wall to a 1 cross head 50 feet. wide, making a total ' length of SSO feet. At 300 feet from the sea wall, trees would eytend on both sides 35 feet wide and 75 feef long, i The totara piles were to be not less ■ than 12 inches square, up to and ihchidine- the inner tees, while for the remainder and the crosshead, 14in piles : were required. The flooring was to be j heart of rimu—placed one inch apart. . The depth of water at~ the end of the Wharf was 18 feet, low water. ■, The first sile was driven on 28th April, 1862, and the totara piles were ordered ! from the Wairarapa district, but owing ! to floods the roads to that district and • bridges were damaged, and heavy goods j traffice prohibited, thereby causing de- I lay. That was a serious matter for the contractors, as it landed them in penal- ! ties amounting to £800 for non-com- I pletion within the specified time—one year from time of siting the contract. THE FIRST STEAMERS. . The first interprovincial' steamer to berth at the wharf was the Airedale, ! 286 tons, which . berthed at the inner i side of the first T, on 11th March. 1863, and the'first overseas, vessel to be berthed was the barque Queen of the Avon, 460 tons, on 12th August. For some years, the wharf was known as the deep water wharf, or the Government Wharf, and probably the name Queen's Wharf rrrew from' the .bonded 'store,' yfhi&h\;'had j been always known' as the Queen's Bond, or Queen's Warehouse, which was a building ejected in 1862-63 on a reclaimed site, where Ballantyne and Co.'s offices stand. ' ' .'"'■■ Complaints were soon made about the berthing regulations. Vessels had to moor to buoys placed seaward, and as, at times they might have 200 fathoms to cable out. these moorings naturally j interfered with the mooring of, other vessels. The wharfage charged at this time was 2s per ton, weight or measurement; horses 5s each; sheep 4s per score; roods for transhipment, Is per ton. No berthaee charge was made until a specified time allowance, according- to .tonnage, ' had expired; a vessel of say' 400 tons, was allowed up to fifteen days for the purpose of discharging cargo. In July,-1864, the council decided ■■ to lengthen the southern end of the inner T, and the_ cross head, and also to lengthen the main wharf and add another crosshead, while the wharf committee recommended that the mooring and buoys should be placed not more than 10 to 15 fathoms from the bow of the vessel. The first pile of the atacine- for the main wharf extension was driven on 25th October, and the first screw pile was started on sth November. On 18th"December, the contractors secured the contract to; extend the two-tees of .'the'existing wharf, to the southward—the inner T by 50 feet and the outer by 100 feet. Many divers were engaged on these works, some of them: Goff, Kendall, Hepworth, Poulton, Burton, Hughes, Hawkins, Lake. The last screw pile of the main extension was driven on 20th October, 1866. - .'•.■■ •