HARBOR BOARD’S NEW DREDGE.
TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Regarding Mr Loudon’s remarks on resigning his office of Commissioner to London to raise a loan for the Otago Harbor Board, bo knows his business best; but when he treads on ground outside of finance he had better be careful. He makes a statement that we in New Zealand could not build a dredge. He makes a challenge all round. His remarks on the building of the tug Dunedin will bo answered thus. Who designed her in the first place? Paid servants of the Otago Harbor Board. Contract price: Lowest Home from £24,000, New Zealand from £22,000. Where he gets his £B,OOO more to build here 1 do not know. Now comes the benefit in getting the tug Dunedin built here. Immediately at the start of laying her off on the drawing boards by the shipwright, he discovered that her engines would not go into her hull as designed. The alterations to take the engines cost the Harbor Board nil; but that bluff barge bow of hers cost £1,500. That was to suit the Harbor Board. If this same blunder had been left to the Home firm it would have cost the Harbor Board the price of a new hull or engines. These are facts worthy taking into consideration, in view of this muchtalked of dredge. We have tradesmen quite proficient in building a dredge tor the harbor. The money will be raised locally and spent in the country. We send our sons Home to finish their education , and we hope to have them with us to give of their best; but if work is going to b© sent Home, well, had better let our boys remain here and become tillers of the soil. Mr Loudon' talks about a self-pro-pelled dredge. What benefit does the Harbor Board get from a dredge that works two and a-half hours and steams five and a-half hours to empty her spoil and pick up her moorings? The mole under construction will clear the bar of any silting. What is wanted is a dredge, stationary or propelled, and two or three barges (oil driven) that will work continually.—l am, etc., Craftsman. July 24.
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Evening Star, Issue 19310, 24 July 1926, Page 9
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366HARBOR BOARD’S NEW DREDGE. Evening Star, Issue 19310, 24 July 1926, Page 9
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