GREY HARBOUR BOARD

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 November 1944, Page 3

GREY HARBOUR BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING Mr J. Mulcare presided over an attendance of tlje following members at a meeting of the Greymouth Harbour Board last evening:—Messrs F. Williams, J. Ryall, M.L.C., W. E.’ J. Steer, E. W. Heenan, M. Wallace, and W. Clayton. ; ' The Treasury forwarded cheques for: general wharfage £212/17/6” wharfage on State coal, £1033/2/10; Railway Department, rent 10/-. The Marine Department wrote inquiring if use could be made of the s.t. Kumea for sounding in the vicinity of the proposed Point Elizabeth harbour. —It was. decided to make the tug available. The Marine Department advised that the Lands and Survey Department had been asked to arrange for the grant to the Board of three small areas of land reclaimed in the vicinity of the tidal lagoon. The Drill Superintendent, Mines Department, forwaraded a record of Dobson bores Nos. l and 2 showing 13 feet 6 inches'of coal at 2019 "feet in No. 1 bore and from 1878 feet to 1885 feet in'.No. 2 bore, with an oil seepage at the surface. Summonses were received from the Department of Labour against the Board for overtime for wharf hands and signalmen for work done on statutory holidays, the amount claimed being £6B/15/s.—The Secretary reported that notice to defend had been filed. The Department of Labour also advised of a claim for £4O for penalties lor non-payment of overtime for wharf hands and signalmen.—Both matters were referred to Messrs Hannan and Seddon for action, it being stated that the Board’s solicitors, Messrs Guinness and Kitchingham, would be acting for the Crown.

? J. McKenzie’s application for payI ment for accumulated leave while on J mine-sweeping duties with the Navy I was granted. Amalgamted Wireless (Aust.) Ltd. advised, that new projection boxes for the echometer in place of the defective boxes could be supplied at a cost of approximately £lOO. The Engineer said that probably as a result of comunications he had had with the makers they had discovered that the old type of boxes were defective, and that it was no fault of the Board that the projection boxes on the present mechanism were faulty. There should have been no j reflection on the engineering staff of ! the Board in regard to defects which ' developed in the machine as the i faults were there when, the machine ! was bought. i It was decided, on the recommendation of the Enginer, to defer 1 the purchase of new projection boxes i pending further tests being made by I the Power Board’s testing engineer. Alluvial Mining Equipment Ltd advised that, in accord with the proposal of the Board they were arranging for the preparation of de- ' signs of a cast steel manganese bucket and bucket links for the dredge. The Town Clerk, Christchurch, advised that the second annual conference of the South Island Local Bodies’ Association will be held in Timaru on November 15 and 16. —It was resolved that Mr Wallace represent the Board at the conference in the event of his goiijg as a Westland County representative. The following transfers were consented to:—N.W.l, Lot 1, Sec. 1, Res. 1485, Blaketown: T. S. Willis to K. Scott. Sec. 137. Res. 1427, Blaketown: B. Sutherland ana others to D. Barron. Sec. 409, Dobson: Robert Marshall to Isabella Marshall. The District Public Trustee, Greymouth, advised that the sale of Sec. 575 C. Estate of T. Moriarty (deed.) to C. Shirley had been rescinded. In the course of his ordinary re-1 port the Engineer D - s - Kennedy) stated that the tug underwent its annual survey and that it had been found necessary to fit a new deck on the starboard side and do some re-planking on the port side. The planking of the punt was completed and it was noped that the punt would be launched this nlonth Dredging was being carried out on eight days during October, 13,00(1 tons of shingle being lifted and discharged.—The report was adopted. HARBOURMASTER’S REPORT The Harbourmaster (Captain H Moar) presented the following report for October:— During the month the bar maintained moderate depths. The weather generally was boisterous for shipping. On October 18 and 19 a slight fresh occurred which cleared the inner bar to 17 feet, the outer bar at 12 feet, low-water zero or 22 feet high water spring tides. Again on October 29 a moderate fresh of six knots scoured the bar to 13 feet low water or 23 feet at high water spring tides. The depths at high water were:—Spring tides, October 2, bar 22ft 9in, river 22ft. 9m.: October 17. bar 22ft. 6in., river 22ft. Bin.; neap tides, October 9, bar 19n. 2in river 20ft. 2in.; October 24, bar 20fu lin., river 20ft. lin. Month’s mean average: Bar 21ft. Gin; river, 21ft. 10in. Shipping returns:—inwards: 19 vessels (11,192 tons); outwards: 20 vessels (12,105 tons). The report was approved. The Finance Committee reported as follows, the report being adopted: —Receipts since previous meeting £2373/10/11; the Harbour Fund has a debit balance of £7540/16/8. Accounts amounting to £2153/11/1 were passed for payment. A letter was received from the Blaketown-Preston Road Ratepayers’ Association complaining of the condition of a drain in front of the Board’s workshop in Gresson Street, and also asking that a post and rail fence be erected at the entrance to Packer’s Quay and painted white as a safety measure for pedestrians. —The Engineer said that the questions raised' were for the Borough Council to deal with, and it was decided to advise the Association accordingly.