GREY HARBOUR BOARD

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 September 1945, Page 3

GREY HARBOUR BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING. The Grey Harbour Board held its monthly meeting last evening, when Mr. J. B. Kent presided and Messrs J. J. Devine, F. Williams, W. E. J. Steer, W. Clayton, M. Wallace and E. W. Heenan were also present. The Treasury Department .remitted the following wharfages: General, £398/9/11; wharfages on State coal, May £951/11/3, June £772 4/7; royalties £3l/13/8; Railways Department, salvage trucks, £lB 12/9; weather reports. £9/7/6; rent. £2/8/-. The Harbours’ Association of New Zealand forwarded a copy of a letter from the Controller of Manpower inviting comments in reference to the declaration of essentiality for Harbour Boards.

It was decided to reply that the Board had no objections. The Locomotive Engineer, Railways Department, Christchurch, writing with reference to the cost of repairing No. 4 crane in July, j 1944, advised that the General Man- ; ager has agreed without prejudice! to share this cost, £165/8/-, with the Board on a 50-50 basis. Fie pointed out that the responsibility of moving cranes was the Board’s, and a more powerful capstan was necessary. 1 “I do not think that we should pay this 50-50 business,” declared the chairman. j “I thought we were on a win,”, remarked Mr. Heenan. i The Engineer pointed out that this was a new bill for the work done by railwaymen in connection with the repairs to the crane. The Board had already paid one bill for about,; £4OO. ?

“The outlook is not so good after all,” said Mr. Heenan. The chairman said that the railway wanted the Board to go 50-50 in the wages they had paid out. He though the Board should reply stating that it had already paid more than a 50-50 share of the cost. It was decided to send a reply after this fashion. The Harbours’ Association of New Zealand advised that the Director of Publicity had advised that all restrictions regarding the publication of statistics and reports had now been lifted. The secretary of the South Island Local Bodies’ Association advised that the annual conference would be held on October 24, 25, and 26 in the Town Hall, Dunedin.—lt was decid-. ed that any member in the locality at the time represent the Board. F. W. Venn, signalman, forwarded his resignation as from September 21, owing to ill-health.—The resignation was accepted, and it was decided to give him leave of absence for a period.

REPORTS. The Finance Committee reported as follows: The following accounts have been received since the date of the last meeting: Wharfages, £2122 5/9; shipping dues, £497/19/7; royalties, £45/8/3; rents, £46/15/-; accident compensation, £2O/2/4; weather reports, £9/7/6; hire and sale plant, etc., £2O/4/3; total, £2762 2/8. The Harbour Fund has a debit balance of £10,177/0/3. Your committee recommends that accounts amounting to £4303/19/9 be passed for payment. The Engineer’s report, which was received, stated: The work on redecking and fitting new beams wifl, be undertaken shortly. A. start has been made on casting four 40ft reinforced concrete piles. A start has been made on the three new cabs for hydraulic wharf cranes; this work is urgently in need of attention. Quarry: The supply of stone for the Hokitika job was completed. A new dump line has been built at the new north breakwater, and this will take all the spoil the quarry may produce for some years to come in the event of the breakwater extensions proceeding. A new line has been laid into the quarry face for stone supplies. The half tide wall jetty was completed and is now ready for the rock work when the plant is available. North and south breakwaters: No movement in either of the above resulted from the heavy storms this month. It is almost two years now since the north breakwater work was completed and the cost of maintenance has been practically nil. Dredge “Mawhera”: The two new boilers have been placed in position and work is proceeding with the testing and erection of the steam pipes, uptakes and funnel, etc. The boilers have passed all their tests, but some work is still required, calking and making water-tight round the rivets and seams. The top tumbler has been extensively repaired. by welding and this work is now completed. The work is nownearing completion ayid.. the dredge should return towards the end of this month. Harbour model: Guide rails, bearings and brackets for mechanism for moving the tidal door were made up and fitted; tie rod and brackets made up and fitted to same; extra braces for counterbalancing gear were made and pipes, valves and connections to pump were fitted. Calibrating valves were lined up, etc. The main work on the model is now almost completed, the sand and clay bed has been placed. The services of an engineer are now available for the tests, but it is doubtful just when he will be able to take up his duties. A major portion of the month was taken up with i the Chief Engineer to the Commissioner of Works, who was investigating the various proposals reported on recently relative to the existing harbour—lagoon dredging, training walls, wave basins and breakwater extensions, etc. Plans and data have been supplied and forwarded as required. The proposed subdivision of the reclamation area beyond the slipway is now being gone into and as a comprehensive scheme has been asked lor by the Land and Survey Department, it will be necessary to bring down a plan for approval by the Board.