PORT OF OTAGO

Evening Star, Issue 17697, 25 June 1921, Page 2

PORT OF OTAGO

A FINE DEEP-WATER CHANNEL ROW. The Mowing statement w presented by tho chairman at tho meeting of the Otago Harbor Board last nights Members would be ple-' , «'*d to read the exceptionally comi.r* us as * laud»tory letter which Oammo*it*r© Houhain sunt to our worthy mayor. Thanks to the ability of 1 the staff under our harbor master, H.M.S. Chatham (length tf 46C.ft) was safely berthed at th* Re to ay street wharf, without tho (slightest difficulty or delay. It was a compliment to tho port when tho 1 commodore decid* X to d’sronse with a pilot on the autwtw 1 trip. Those who watched the d»i«.v..uro of the man-i-waro f were impressed b> apparent case with | which aba nanfgsi f flic Victoria Channel, i When it i» stated that nowhere on her ! trip to tho Heads bad H.M.S. Chatham j less than 6fl oi watew between her keel | and the bottom of the channel, and that : the Victor!#. Ch*«*ir«l is as clcarlv defined 1 to the nautical eye as if the sides were ' lined with a, port and rail fence, then it i can bo oaeilv- understood how those accustomed to tho navigation of the harbor had no donors ».o the success of the commodore t de-ds ; on to dispense with pilotage oa tho outward t~p. I want to take the opportunity of saying that the boa-d has not been idle during the las. fww years, but has been steadily working with one object in view, that of providing a deep-water channel capable of accommodating the deepest draught vessel likely to visit the Port oi Otago. If wo look back to 1914 we soo that the limiting depth between the Heads and Port Chalmers was 26ft at low water, or 32ft at high water, and in places the i width of the cba""4 at this depth was ‘ restricted to 150 ft. A vessel drawing more than 27ft or 28ft, therefore, could not be piloted at high water to Port Chalmers. To-day, the channel can be gazette das j having a least width of 500 ft, and a, least | low water depth of 30ft, or 36ft at high i water. As far as the depth of water in | the channel is concerned, the harbor master would have no hesitation in piloting a ship of 23ft draught as far as Port Chalmers, although at the present time there is only 50ft at the wharves—tho greater berthage depth we shall mHimo. secure.

Thia improvement of 4ft in depth ami somo 150 ft, in width is not due to dredging alone, as the cnri.structioii works undertaken at the Kaik and at the Heads are wholly responsible tor the flue deep-water channel at tho entrance of the harbor. Up to the present lime a vessel of 22ft 6in draught holds tho record [or the ’Victoria Channel, and that tho board is not over-sanguine in its endeavors to provide a channel of 20ft at low water between Port Chalmers and Dunedin, suitable for vessels- of 24ft draught on a 6ft tide, instanced by the fact that 80 per cent, oi the Victoria' Channel carries depths of 20ft or over at the present time; whereas in 1914 only 64 per cent, of the channel reached this standard. This means that only 20 per cent, of the waterway requires deepening by an average of not more than 2ft before 90 per cent, of the vessels trading to the port could be accommodated at Dunedin. That such satisfactory progress should be made during a period of national disorganisation augurs well for the fulfilment of the hoard's policy in providing- a waterway adequate to meet the ever-in-creasing demands of a growing trade. It will interest you, no doubt, to know that for the five months ended May 31 wo have put up a record for cargo handled at the port. The totals in and out for tho period January 1 to May 31 are as follow,'going back ten years;

1812 183,766 tons 5 1913 - 185,790 tons 1914 151,179 tons 1913 193,203 tons 1916 ... 189,508 tons 1917 165,089 tons 1918 142,010 tons 1919 137,252 tons 1920 151,580 tons 19gl ... 20JL,193 tons Another occurrence of importance during the month has been tho berthing of tho City of Winchester (a vessel of 8,i)00 tons, length 456 ft) on a draught of 19ft 6iu at the Birch street wharf, to load some 22,500 carcasses of frozen mutton, the first to be loaded direct from trucks at Dunedin. A difficulty in connection with frozen moat ships at Dunedin is the pollution of the circulating water, but on this, the first occasion of such loading at tho Birch street wharf the official report in this respect is wholly satisfactory. Altogether the development of the harbor has now reached a stage that, looked at from all points of view, cannot be regarded as otherwise than distinctly satisfactory. Hence Commodore Ilotham’s reference (after navigating the harbor‘in H.M.S. Chatham) as to'its safety ia particularly interesting in that it beam out similar

statements mad" by masters of large oversea steamers trading to Otago Harbor. CHANNEL COMPARES FAVORABLY WITH CLYDE. A, letter was received from Mr E. Roberts, in which he made the statement that the channel of Otago Lower Harbor comnarcs most favorably with, the Clyde. The Chairman remarked that Mr Roberts had omitted to mention (hat big vessels, when petting as tar as Deborah Bav, had to slacken speed. If the channel at that point was a little wider they could, ho brought up at all stat-as of the tide, and not- have to’wait for slack water.

On the motion of Mr Cable it _ was resolved to thank Mr Roberts for his letter, and refer ft to the Works Committee for report.