GREY HARBOUR BOARD

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 June 1944, Page 2

GREY HARBOUR BOARD

MR MULCARE CHAIRMAN

Mr J. Mulcare was elected Chair- ' nan of the Greymouth Harbour I3oard for the ensuing term at the adjourned annual meeting last evening, on the motion of Messrs W. Clayton and E. W. Heenan. Mr Mul'■are was the only nominee for the .position, and he succeeds Mr J. B. I Kent. It was resolved that the ; whole Board constitute the finance ■ committee, with the Chairman of the Board as chairman of the committee. ■ Contrary to usual practice, no deputy- • chairman was elected It has been ! customary for a deputy-chairman to 1 be elected, and for him to be chairman of the finance committee.

i There were present-at the meeting 1 Messrs Kent (Chairman), Mulcare, i Clayton, M. Wallace, Heenan, .1. J. ! Devine, W. E. <l. Steer, J. Ryall, I M.L.C., and F. Williams. I Mr Kent, prior to the election of I the new chairman, welcomed the new i members, and moved a vote ol appreciation of the services of the re- ! tiring members, Messrs J. Smealon, ! J. A. Murdoch and W. E. Bring. The | motion was seconded by Mr Mulcare i ahd carried. * ORDINARY MEETING The ordinary monthly meeting was 1 held following the annual meeting. The Treasury forwarded 12/9 comprising general wharfages, wharfage on State coal, royalty and ' -myrnent for weather reporting. 1 The Rapahoe Suri: Life Saving C ub ’ wrote asking permission to erect a savPion on .the Rapahoe beach. — me Secretary’s reply mat the area was , 10 t within the Board’s jurisdiction was approved, and it was decided to •Xhvisc the Club that the Grey County was the body responsible toi .he control of the land. In reply to the Boards lettei jointing out what appeared to be trerlapping in deductions from the .; ( ,ard, the Under-Secretary . ol the Mines Department wrote stating tiiat ( was not possible to reconcile the l.kines quoted for the wharfage, etc., cn State coal,'with the Railways Department figures, as the periods covered were different. The Secretary (Mr W. B. Gilbert) criid that there- was only one day s difference in the periods. He had 1 also written' the Treasury m the matter, but had not yet received a action was taken pending receipt of the reply from the Treasury. The appointment of Mr D. A. Gibb as mechanical engineer to the Board was confirmed, on the recommendation of the Engineer (Mr D. S. Kennedy). , An employee of the Board wrote regarding the Board’s decision in connection with a resolution that the holidays of members of the stafi would be allowed to accumulate while they were on service with the Armed Forces. (The Secretary stated that the Board had decided that the resolution referred only to men on overseas service). The staff member said that no mention was made of overseas service in the first place and that it was entertaining and worthv of amusement tax to see how the Board had side-stepped the real issue.-—The letter was received and no further action taken. The Greymouth branch of the Harbour Board Employees’ Union wrote regarding the retirement of a mernbei of the Board’s staff, Mr S. Compton, after 27 years' service. It was stated that all he had received was a letter of appreciation of his services. Three instances were cited by ’.he Union of members of the Board's staff being given monetary remuneration on retirement, and it was suggested that Board members might see their way clear to make Mr Compton some suitable remuneration.

Mr Compton also wrote in connection with the matter. He said that he was afraid he had not been treated as some other members of the staff had been treated on retirement. The letter of appreciation was ol no value; as he hoped he would not be in need of a reference lor anothei job. He detailed his service with the Board. . . , .. „ The Secretary said tnat one ol the men referred to had had 40 years’ service, and another had been retained in a consultative capacity on his retirement from active work with' tnc Board. , Messrs Kent, Steer and Heenan spoke in favour of monetary consideration of Mr Compton’s services, and it was resolved, on the motion ol Messrs Heenan and Steer, that the Chairman, Secretary and Mr Kent bring a recommendation before the next meeting of the Board on the question. It was resolved that the Board become a member of the South Island Local Bodies’ Association; that the Board support the nomination of the Chairman of the Lyttelton Harbour Board as a representative of Harbour Boards on Ihe executive this year: and, further, that it support the proposal that it be recommended to the next annual conference that in future there be two representatives of Harbour Boards, one for the major Boards and another tor the minor Boards. (The suggested list of minor Boards included Greymouth and Hokitika). It was decided to offer no objection to applications by J. Tennent and F. McGrath for special sea beach claims on the foreshore in the Te Miko Survey District, and a similar decision was made in regard io an application by Thomas Mac Neill for a coal prospecting licence on an area including part of the Board’s reserve. It was decided that a special meeting of the Beard be held at 2 p.rn. on the day set down for the next monthly meeting, so that members can inspect the harbour works. The Finance Committee’s report, showing receipts since the last meeting of £2,104/4/6, and a debit balance in the Harbour Fund Account of £5670/1/10, was adopted. Accounts amounting to £2032/16/7 were pasesd for payment. The monthly report of the Engineer (Mr D. S. Kennedy) stated that the annual survey of the dredge has been completed by the Government Surveyor. The Engineer detailed repairs to the dredge, the tug, and the wharf, and he also itemised the work of the works department during the month. He stated that concrete and stone work was carried out on the south breakwater on 23 days. Three hundred mid thirty-two tons of concrete and approximately 200 tons of stone had been placed between Piers 54 and 55, and that work was completed. He added that no displacement had taken place on the north mole during the month. In the course of his monthly report the Harbourmaster (Captain H. Moar) stated that during May the bar showed moderate depths. The fresh on April 27 scoured a channel through the outer bar to a depth of 15 feet at low water, but this depth gradually degreased as the month advanced until a depth of 11 feet was reached. This appeared to be stabilised for the time being. The mouth’s mean averages were: Ear, 22 feet eight inches - river, 21 feet six inches. Arrivals during the month totalled 23 vessels (14,919 tons) and departures 27 (18,395 tons). —The report was adopted. Reporting for the year ended March 31,. 1944. the Harbourmaster stated that during the first half of the year the bar showed moderate depths, but that afterwards poor depths obtained. Considerable shoaling took place dur-

ing floods on the outer bar. He attributed that shoaling mainly to the continuous northerly wind and sea prevailing during the floods, which wind and sea reduced the effect of the littoral drift northward. It was also obvious, he said, that the outer bar was .caused by shingle and debris from inside the river during floods when the wind and the sea were from a northerly direction. The year’s mean average depths were:—Bar, 21 feet; river, 21 feet If) inches, showing a decrease of one foot one inch from the previous year and a decrease of four feet 10 inches from the maximum denth for 1939. Arrivals during.the year totalled 258 (162,765 tons) and departures 257 (160.634 tons). This was an increase of five vessels inwards and an increase of 11,457 tons as compared with the previous year.—The report ■was adopted.: