GREY HARBOUR BAR

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 January 1944, Page 2

GREY HARBOUR BAR

SCOOP TO-BE TRIED.

As soon as the seas m od ex>a te sufficiently to permit soundings to be taken the Greymouth Harboui Board will commence work on thebai. with a scoop which has been in the Board’s workshops and by ts own staff, in an endeavou to shitthe bank which has accumulated be tween the breakwaters. This announced at a meeting of theJoard last evening by the Chan man (J • J. B. Kent). He added, lio wc\ei , that there was no guarantee thm tne I plant prepared would be sL ' c^ &s V’ i out an attempt would be made. H I congratulated the Engineer (Ml. D. S. Kennedy) and the members of his staff on the zeal with which they had tackled the job of doing all pos sible to get the port open again. In introducing the subject the Chairman said that the state of the bar had brought forth many criticisms and some suggestions. The Bn gineer and his staff had been busy fabricating plant which it was hoped would be successful, in clearing the obstruction on the inner bar. ine plant was now ready and it would r>e put into operation as soon as possible. Just how far it. would be successful, if at all, remamjjo be seen. The fact was that tne Engineer and his staff had shown commendable zeal in preparing the scoop with materials already on hand and at no extra cost, ine scoop, which would be drawn across the “fairway” by the 20,- ton crane on one breakwater and drawn bach by the seven-ton crane, was fitted with “daggers” to disintegrate the sand bank and baffles to hold the sand in. The idea was to draw the sand to the north breakwater where it would be carried round the mole by the current. The scoop would hold three tons per load. Mr. Kent added that he thought it was only fair to the public to let them know that the Board and. its staff were doing all the)' possibly could to get the port open, and that the Board was alive to the fact that there was a direct monetary loss to the district of a sum approaching £4OOO a week as long as the port was idle, in addition to the wider aspects, which included the loss ol the coal supply route to the North Island. He hoped that the plant would overcome, to a certain extent, the shoaling on the bar. and so enable some boats to get in again. The Engineer said that the plant was there and it was worth trying. How successful it would be would only be found by experience. Mr. F. Williams said the Engineer was to be commended, for making the effort in that direction.

FURTHER REPORTS. After the reading of the minutes of the special meeting which was attended by the Minister for Marine (Mr. O’Brien) and' Mr. F. V/. Furkert, the Secretary (Mr. W. B. Gilbert) said in reply to a query that he did not think the Board would get any further report from Mr. Furkert. The Chairman said that Mr. Furkert would probably report to the Marine Department. Mr. Gilbert said that it remained now for the Board’s Engineer, as requested by Mr. O’Brien, to prepare a report on the building up of the training walls and the dredging of the lagoons. The Chairman commented that the preparing of estimates would be a big job and would probably entail the making of new surveys. The Engineer would certainly need assistance to get the work done in reasonable time.

The Engineer said that it would take many months for him to do the work alone.

Members agreed that the Engineer be empowered to employ engineering and survey staff where necessary. The Harbourmaster (Captain H. Moar) referred to the bar in his report for December and for the year as follows: During December the bar showed very pool - depths, 9 feet at low water or 19 feet at high water spring tides. These conditions continued until December 24, when a heavy westerly sea further shoaled the bar to 6 feet at low water or 14 feet at high water neap tides and Hi feet at high water spring tides. During the remainder of the month the bar remained at 6 ' feet at low waler. The month’s -mean average was 18 feet 4 inches on the bar and 21 feet 8 inches in the river. The year’s mean average was 21 feet 6 inches on the bar and 21 feet 7 inches in the river.

In his monthly report to the Board the Engineer discussed the groynes on the Blaketown Beach, and stated: The recent shoaling on the bar has become a serious matter and a careful watch is being maintained on the South Beach accretions. At present the one time low water level of the groynes is completely buried and the present high water mark is to seaward of the groynes. The accretion of the order of possibly a million tons of fine sand and small shingle has formed a beach which at low water now reaches almost to the seaward end of the south breakwater, rendering it almost useless under present conditions. The removal of part of No. 9 groyne has had no effect and to remove the other three would involve a large excavation to expose them again.