HARBOUR CONTROL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20622, 25 November 1941, Page 9

HARBOUR CONTROL

SHIPPING MOVEMENTS SECRECY ESSENTIAL BOARD TO COMPLY The Gisborne Harbour Board at its bi-monthly meeting to-day received letters impressing upon members the necessity of maintaining complete secrecy about shipping movements and on any topics from which deductions might be made as to the volume of trade being done coast-wise throughout New Zealand. The meeting dealt with a fairly wide range of subjects, some of which came under the “blanket” prohibition.

Those present were Messrs. A. J. Nicol. chairman, I. J. Quigley, J. B. Broadhurst, L. Miles, H. J. F. Tombleson. R. D. Dymock, W. R. Clark, J. E. Benson, C. H. Williams, W. T. Veitch and M. T. Trafford.

The Gisborne Borough Council advised that Mr. M. J. White had been appointed to fill the vacancy in borough representation on the harbour board, caused by the recent death of Mr. J. J. Macdonald. —In moving that the letter be received, the chairman extended a welcome to Mr. White. Works Committee Reports The works committee reported having considered a letter received from the Harbour Board’s Employees' Union requesting that the proposal to provide a room for the men to leave food and clothing while at work be proceeded with. The committee had inspected the board's old unused cottage near the workshops, and decided to recommend the board to shift this building to a suitable site near the works foreman’s office, tc renovate it. install lockers, and make it suitable as a meal room. Provision of some such accommodation had been under consideration since January, 1938, when the committee arranged for certain proposals to be considered by the employees. The harbourmaster’s soundings taken in October along the entrance.channel, and in the Kaiti basin, were compared with the soundings taken in March last. The committee found these to disclose that the dredge A.C. was maintaining the depths satisfactorily, and that the depths on the western side of the entrance had been imoroved.

The report was adopted, the chairman stating that the renovation of the old cottage as an employees’ lunchroom would cost about £4O. The employees had expressed satisfaction with the proposal, said Mr. Nicol, in reply to a question from Mr. Broadhurst. The chairman added thot the condition of the harbour and the entrance channel, as shown by close soundings, was highly satisfactory. Removal of Spoil In his report, Mr. H. A. Barton, secretary-manager, gave details of the employment of the works foreman’s staff and of the working of the main slipway and the launch slipway. He also laid cash statements on the table, covering the year ended September 30, these being not available for publication. The harbourmaster. Captain G. McK. Smart, reported on the cleaning-down of the launch Takitimu and the completion of the dredge A.C.’s overhaul. Since its overhaul, the .dredge had lifted and removed to the roadstead 59 loads of spoil, comprising 22,525 tons of sand and silt. The board fixed February 28, 1942, as the date on which the 10 per cent penalty should be applied to all rates for the current financial year then in arrears.