A RECORD DAY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 50, 27 August 1925, Page 9

A RECORD DAY

GREATEST TONNAGE IN

PORT

NAVY AND MERCHANT MARIN*

GOOD WORK OF BOARD'S OFFICERS.

Warm appreciation vw expressed bjf members of- the Harbour Board laefc evening when the following letter, re-> ceived by the chairman (Mr. M. Cohen) from Admiral Coontz was, read:— Permit me to express to yon and to the members of th» Harbour Board my appreciation, and the appreciation of the officers of the fleet for the courtesies of the Harbour Board in connection with berthing our ships; the provision of piloti, and the cooperation with the rhore patrol of the American navy. Without the assistance given by the board our difficulties would be many and Bomo of them impossible for solution. You have smoothed our every way. We seamen believe that with ade* quate terminal facilities all other rer' iites to economic success come in course. Wellington Harboua Board ia certainly placing the. ter-< minal facilities of the city upon a full foundation. My, congratulations to you. . , LARGE AND SMALL The total number of American shit* in harbour last Saturday, aaid Mr. Cohen, was 43, and their total tonnage 262,700 tons, made up as follows:— Seattle, 15,000 tons; Pennsylvania, BLOCK); Oklahoma and Nevada, 40,000: Richmond, Memphis. Trenton, arid Marblehead, each 9000; Belief, 10,000; Necheß, 14,500; Sapelo, 16,000; Arctic, 12,600; Omaha, Altair, and Melville each 9000; Decatur, M'Dermut, Sinclair, Moody, Percival, John Francis Burnes, Somers, Stoddart, Farquhar,. Thomp* son, Kennedy, Paul Hamilton, Liteh. field, Yarborough, Sloat, Wood, Shirk, Kidder, Mervine, Chase, Eobert Smith, Mullany, MacDonough, Farenholt, Sumi near, ilelvin, Burns, Ludlow each 1450. To those ships had 'to be added H.M.B. Dunedin, of 4450 tons displace^ ment, and 29 overseas and coastal vesx sels, of a net registered tonnage of 54,----857, making a grand total of 322,007, tons. .

.The visit of the fleet, «aid Mr. Cohen, would loom very largely in the history of Wellington, and more particularly in the history of the port. Admiral Cole and other senior officers of the fleet had similarly expressed their appreciation of what hod been done by the board and its officers; they were delighted with,' the arrangements made, and ha 4 rei marked that they were struck with wonder that at this end of the earth it had been possible to afford facilities which were unsurpassed in any part of thai world they had visited. Not only were the waterways kepfl open during tho visit'of.the fleet, said. Mr. Cohen, but the harbour could have* accommodated three times the number of vessels without any obstruction of transport ways. A FINE PERSONNEL All members of the board would agree with the Temarks of Captain Kempff, of the Seattle, when he congratulated Captain Dawson, the harbouu master, on the fine seamanship he had shown in bringing the ship to the wharf. Captain Monro had also received most flattering letters from the Aoj mirals in regard to the manner in which he had directed transport and traffic- arrangements. It was largely dv» to the quiet and thoroughly efficient worls pf the general manager (Mr. J. Marchbanks), and the secretary (Mr. A. V Barnett), continued Mr. Cohen, that the full organisation had been rendered possible, and the success of the oreanisa-, tion was yet another tribute to tha splendid personnel of the board's execm tive v

CONDUCT EXEMPLARY

"I would like to gay that as far ax this board and its officers are concerned, concluded the chairman, "the conduct of the men was exemplary; there was nothing but praise for them durina their stay in Wellington." ■ ATecord of the board's appreciation' of the excellent work done by all officers in its employ in connection with, 1 the reception and entertainment of the visitors..

In answer to a question late in thi evening, Mr. Cohen said that although, so large a number of oil-burning vessels had been m port no complaints of pollution of the harbour waters had been received.