PORTS OF NEW ZEALAND

Evening Star, Issue 22892, 25 February 1938, Page 2

PORTS OF NEW ZEALAND

HARBOUR DEVELOPMENT WORK NEED, FOR CAREFUL PLANNING ADDRESS BY MR J. M'G. WILKIE “ Only a century lias passed since the first immigrant vessels sought anchorage in the natural harbours of a new land, and it is interesting to study the development of those harbours and to contrast the typo of vessel in which our grandparents undertook the long and arduous voyage from the Homeland with the modern liner maintaining fast and regular service, not only from Great Britain, but also from many other trade centres of the ivorld,” said Mr J. M'G. Wilkie, the retiring president, in an address to the conference of tho New Zealand Institution of Engineers last evening. Mr Wilkie dealt with the part played by the ports of New Zealand in the development of the country and the need for careful planning to provide for the needs of transport methods of the future. “ In the early days of the settlement of Otago,” he said, “ passengers on arrival in the harbour were of necessity ferried ashore in small boats from anchorage in the stream, and cargo was laboriously lifted from the vessels’ holds and transferred in lighters which were grounded on the beaches, their contents being loaded into drays at low tide and conveyed to the shore at high-water mark. “ As time went on, landings were built in convenient places, and warehouses and stores were erected adjacent to them, but little or no thought was given to anything but the needs of the moment, “ Would these early pioneers have planned on a more generous scale had they visualised that within a few short years the ports they so valiantly constructed would be called upon to accommodate vessels of from 10,000 tons to 20,000 tons and over, and the amount of cargo to be handled as a result of their strenuous efforts towards the colonisation of a new and undeveloped country? ” Mr Wilkie continued. “ Their energies were directed towards tho cultivation and reading of the land, and few realised the demands that would bo made upon the harbours by the advancement in the science of ship building. An early pioneer is credited with prophesying that the future would witness the arrival and berthing of 500-ton steamers at Dunedin. This statement was ridiculed, but only a few years elapsed before his prophecy was fulfilled. “The question now arises: Are we as engineers displaying sufficient vision in the development of our own harbours, or in our plans? Arc we keeping but tardy pace with the growing demands of modern shipping? Construction works must necessarily be governed by available finance, but it is our duty so to design all improvements to our ports that additions and extensions will eventually combine into a well-considered and preconceived plan of harbour development, calculated to meet the requirements of a' population the density of which is more in keeping with that of other countries of the world.”

A NATIONAL MATTER. It was true that, whatever the class of port, provided the volume of trade was sufficiently large, the shipowner would provide the class of ship to lift such trade, but restrictions as to size and draft of vessel and the possibilities of inconvenience and delays in loading and discharge would be reflected in high freight rates. No one port in New Zealand, however, supplied such quantity of specialised overseas trade, and in an endeavour to maintain reasonable freight rates between all main ports, cargo was being carried in vessels whose size continued to increase. It was evident that while a small minority of New Zealand ports were capable of development to the standard recommended by the Dominion Royal Commission, the remainder had economic limitation beyond which it would appear inadvisable to carry development. New Zealand’s ports constituted an essential Jink in the transport system of the whole Dominion, and the extent to which each harbour could be economically developed was not a question for the individual harbour authority alone, but was rather a national matter to be dealt with from the point of view of the Dominion as a whole.

FUTURE DREDGING. Few harbours in the world were so favourably endowed by Nature that some portion of their sea bed did not have to be excavated, he continued, and he discussed in detail the history of the Otago Harbour in this respect, modern dredging methods, and the progress made by English, American, and French designers. The new channel in the Otago Harbour had reached a depth of at least 30ft by the end of 1937 at low water ordinary spring tides, he said. That depth could not be considered to fulfil requirements of modern shipping, but the process of self-deepening was steadily proceeding, and' there was good reason to .believe that the completion of the Mole to high-water mark would result in entrance depths sufficient for the safe navigation of any vessel which could be accommodated within the harbour itself at the present time. He was of the opinion that the channel, once formed, would maintain its depth for many years provided no further reclamation within the harbour was undertaken, but sand would again accumulate on the eastern side of the new channel, and a bank would again form and extend seaward until its outer end was prolonged beyond the tidal influence, when it would once more gradually swing to the westward. Ft was at this stage, many years hence, he felt assured, that a specially-de-signed dredger would bo employed for the maintenance of the channel depths. Mr Wilkie went on to discuss the possibilities of air services, for freight as well as passengers and mail transport, and the measures that would have to be taken to provide adequate terminal points. He illustrated his address with numerous slides, which included comparisons between old Dunedin and its modern facilities and depicted the reclamation work that has been carried out, and was thanked by acclamation for what was described as an extraordinarily interesting and in-* structivo address.