GREY HARBOUR BOARD

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 September 1944, Page 2

GREY HARBOUR BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING

The Greymouth Harbour Board met last evening, there being present:— Messrs J. iviulcare (Chairman)', F. Williams, W. E. J. Steer, J. B. Kent, J. J. Devine, E. W. Heenan, AV. Wallace, and W. Clayton. The finance comfnittee’s report, <)S follows, was read and adopted:—Re-, ceipts since last meeting: Shipping, dues £455/19/-; royalties £lB2/19/7;. rents £142/5/2; hire and sale of plant ( £l4/15/5; wharfages £244/4/5; deposit on hire of plant £2/10/-; total £1042/13/7. n , 1 1 The Harbour Fund has a debit balance of £8132/8/2. Accounts amounting to £3187/6/- are recommended for payment. The report of the acting-Harbour-master (Captain W. Harle) as follows was read and adopted:—August was a month of turbulent seas and light rainfall. Starting the month with, the satisfactory depth of 14 feet below zero on the gauge, bar depths diminished progressively to 10 feet below zero on the gauge at the end of the month. The month’s averages were bar, 22 feet 1| inches; river, 21 feet 9“ inches. The loss ol water on the bar entailed a curtailment of full loading by the larger vessels, but, despite adverse conditions, the port was worked without any major delay of shipping. Shipping Returns: Arrivals, 21 vessels (12,366 tons); departures, 22 vessels (13,256 tons). Opportunities! for dredging were rare, and dredging operations were carried on interrupt- I edly and intermittently owing to the state of the sea and bar, phases of the tide, accommodation of shipping and other minor hinderances. It was only i by exploiting every favouring circum- | stance that 9,500 tons were lifted front: the shoaled berthages. Little of this work remains to be done, _ and with about three full days of uninterrupt-, ed work the berthage should be restored to normal depths. ENGINEER’S REPORT. In the course of his report the Engineer (Mr. D. S. Kennedy) stated that good progress has been made on the construction of the punt, the framing being almost completed. The size of the punt is 40 feet by 16 feet by four feet six inches, and the punt, when completed will carry 30 to 40 tons of stone per load. Only two 60-ton concrete blocks remain to be built to complete the work on the south breakwater. The heavy seas during the month did no damage and the wave wall acted most effectively. A complete check up on all plant owned by the Board was made lor compiling a register. The office work is not yet complete but the indications ai e that the total original cost was well over six figures. This will give the Board some idea of the maintenance cost that should be expended to keep it in repair. Taking it at 10 per cent it is evident that this is impossible on the present income and may serve to explain one of the difficulties being experienced in covering even a portion of the work required. A schedule ol maintenance, etc. is now being kept and is proving of valuable assistance in keeping the situation in hand as far as possible. Much of the plant is old and care is doubly necessary to keep it going. A survey of ah buildings has yet to be done and these will amount also to a considerable sum. No movement has taken place in the blockwork at the extremity of die north breakwater. The following notes show the savings that have been made by the recent change-over to concrete construction as advocated in my ieport of 12/4/1940 and commenced in September/October of that year, work being completed in November. 1943. (a) Original capital cost to pier 47 (also sea end of breakwater to-day) years 1903-4-5-6, £25,583. finis raised the: breakwater to 6’ 0” above high water mark, fib) Maintenance on tna last 100 feet and raising a portion a further 14’ 0” from piers 43-47 (including plant) from 1907-1940/41 approx., £109.000. (Actual repair work since 1927-40 was over £BO,OOO but this was wholly lost as the end was continuously flattened out and the rock washed away.) (c) Concrete work over a length of 120 feet—piers 40-48. Years 1940-41 —1943, £10,472. (Actually the end is about 20 feet beyond any previous point reached in the history of the breakwater). Since completion in 1943, not a single penny has been spent on maintenance and the work has rciYiciined stable to date. This is the only year that no money has been spent since the year 1908/09 and part of 1919. This method of construction is certainly a pointer to the 400 ft extension now being contemplated. The recent cost has already been half saved, besides releasing staff for other works and the hire of certain plant has helped to augment the Board’s income. The greatest benefit, however, is that no more stone is going into the fairway to join that already menacing the entrance. The report was adopted. DREDGE REQUIREMENTS.

In a special report, the Engineer stated: The buckets, links and rollers for the main ladder are causing me considerable concern as the breakages are now growing all too frequent and patching the patches for five years is now reaching a limit. Part of the ladder belt was renewed in 1928 and the remainder are the original parts. This work cannot be done in New Zealand and I would recommend that tenders be called for 20 new buckets equal to half the number now in use, a dozen new links and a half set of new rollers. Messrs. Bradford, Kendall, Sydney, have offered to prepare at cost detail drawings of a new bucket (in manganese steel; solid body and lip I cast on bodv) from which tenders may be submitted by Australian firms. It would be necessary to forward an old bucket to Sydney. They are also in a position to supervise the work ana give it a certificate on completion, for 5 per cent on the cost of the work. I have also asked for the position in regard to export from Scotland by Simons, Renfrew, who made the original buckets, etc. This is being supplied by Messrs Richardson, McCabe, ' Wellington, but no reply yet to- hand. The cost of the buckets, links and rollers is hard to arrive at, at this stage, but it would be possibly in the vicinity of over £2,000 delivered m Greymouth. The above are the least requirements to ensure the safety of the belt which was nearly lost a week I or so ago when one of the bucket eyes i pulled out. I may also state that the I above requirements are based on the I dredge life being perhaps another 10 I years at the most, which figure is only i dependent on what amount the Board wiß spend on maintenance and rei newals. ' The boilers, as I have already reported, are also seriously deterior- ' ated and heavy expenditure may be I expected from now on. Again, it must. : be realised that this expenditure is required to keep the dredging going, ■ as without that, the port will be plac- ' cd in a serious position, dependent, as ; it. is, on keeping the berths clear. Two ’ years ago per medium, of a graph th- > 1 expenditure was forecasted, but of, ‘ course, it was impossible to say then just what part of the dredge would be most in need of attention. • In reply to Mr. Steer, the Engineer said that at least three or four new plates were required in the hull of the dredge. The engines and winches ■ were in first class condition. The expenditure would be heavy but the Board could not do without the services of the dredge. Mr. Clayton said that only for the Avar the Board would have had a, new dredge. The order had been placed and priority secured, but it had been decided 'not to risk ship being lost after the war started. The Engineer, to Mr. Wallace, said that with the Cobden island scheme

they could do without the dredge, but in the meantime tiie dredge had to be kept serviceable. He added that in the next fiinancial year the survey would cost about £4,000. Mr. Williams said that as far as he could see the dredge had been working for only about a month in the last year and it seemed hard to .lustily such a huge expenditure. He realised, however, that the dredging was essential. ~ The Secretary (Mr. W. Gilbert) said that the Minister of Marine had suggested that it might be possible to get a dredge to work both Greymouth aiy Westport. Mr. Wallace said that though a dredge might not be. necessary in the future if present plans were successful, there was a lot of money to be spent in the meantime. The Engineer said that the dredge had been draining away the Board s surplus cash for years. About £5,000 should be spent on it. _ . It was resolved that the Engineer make enquiries regarding any suitable gold dredge buckets that might be available in the district. . Discussing the cost of maintenance of plant Mr. Wallace said it was rather disturbing to find that for the purpose of funding the £lOO,OOO loan the Board was going to increase the port charges, when the revenue was not sufficient to meet current maintenance. t , „ . . The Engineer, speaking of the plant maintenance, said that the Board had too much plant and it was too costly to maintain. After the major works were completed it would pay the Board handsomely to dispose of a large portion of its plant, even at a nominal figure. In reply to Mr. Heenan the Secretary said that the Government did not’ pay wharfage on any Government goods, and if the usual wharfage were paid it would amount to a very big 11 o'tire. "Mr. Kent said that had been Government policy for many years, but when it was inaugurated it was never anticipated that, for instance, there would be so many State coal mines. He thought the Board had a definite claim for a subsidy. Mr. Wallace said that if the Government took over all the coal mines, and, as seemed probable, all the timber mills, the Board would have practically no revenue. Mr. Kent said that,before that time he thought the Government would take over the harbour. No further resolutions were proposed the discussion lapsing with the adoption of the report. ' The Engineer reported that the Grey Power Board had made an excellent job of repairing the Echometer, but that it had gone wrong again, fine trouble was in the oscillating tanks, and probably new ones would be reouired. Enquiries were being made from the manufacturers regarding replacement. Apparently the trouble being experienced was something entirely new to the experts. CORRESPONDENCE. The Mines Department advised that the Minister had approved of a postponement of payment of rent due by United Brunner Coal Mines on their coal lease until December 31, 1944. The Superintendent of State Coal Mines advised that the Dobson bore hole is showing feet three inches seam of coal at 1506 feet. The Engineer stated that the quality ot the coal was similar to that of the present Dobson mine. The Public Works Department applied for approval to quarry stone from the Board’s quarry on the east side of the Grey River, and asked what royalty was payable.—Permission was gfanted and it was decided to levy royalty at the usual rate of sixpence per ton. , The Wanganui Harbour Board advised that it employed a Berthing Master and that any additional labour was carried out by general hands. The District Oil Fuel Controller advised that an application for a petrol license for Mr. J. J. Devine, a member of the Board had been declined as an alternative .service was available. — The Chairman was deputed to make further representations. A letter from the Chairman of the Victory Loan Committee, giving particulars of the Loan was received and no action taken. Mr. P. 5. Twomey, Christchurch, wrote asking for a donation to the Makogai Leper Fund.—lt was decided to make the usual donation of £i/i/-. Mr. McAlpine (Chairman ol the Lyttelton Harbour Board) was nominated as Harbour Boards’ representative on the executive of the South Island Local Bodies’ Association, after a vote had been taken. Mr. Thompson (Chairman of the Otago Board) was the other nomination. It was decided to offer no objection to the granting of three applications for licenses for claims and a water race by W. S. H. Wick (Runanga) on the sea beach, 12i Mile, Coast Road. On the recommendation of the Secretary J. Kelly was granted tenancy of an area at the rear of the Board’s No. 13 store to store machinery at 5/- a month. J. J. Hargreaves, on the recommendation of the Secretary was granted a stacking site on reclaimed land fronting the south breakwater railway line, with the use of the siding, at £4/10/- per annum. The assignment of Section 53, Dobson, from. Mrs. Isabella Gutberlet to Stephen Smythe was conserved -o. On the recommendation of the Secretary and the Engineer J. Kelly was granted a year-to-year tenancy ol an area at the rear of sections in Blaketown at £l/10/- a year, on the usual conditions.