GREYMOUTH HARBOR BOARD.

Grey River Argus, Volume 57, Issue 10520, 26 August 1901, Page 3

GREYMOUTH HARBOR BOARD.

The Chairman's Report. At the Harbor Board meeting last night the following report was read by the Chairman : — Before proceeding with the ordinary business, 1 desire to place before the members as briefly as possible the actuaposition of the Board in order that they may have a thorough grasp of the finances, both as regards the past and future. • As members are aware the indebtedness of the Board on Loan Account is £200,000, on £100,000 of which a sinking fund is provided, that will ere the expiry of the term pay off amount due. lJie loan was floated in London and bears 4 per cent interest with 1 per cent sinking fund. The time fixed for redemption is 1925, and the amount of accrued sinking fund to date is about £23,000, The other two loans of '£50,000 each are short dated debentures, bearing 4 ver cent interest without any sinking fund and maturing in 1905. These twe loans will, of course, have to be renewed or fresh ones issued to redeem same. The financial position of the Board on the Ist of August is as follows :— ASSETS. Fixed deposit Bank N.Z. ... £^ Interest on same to date — *jl Secretary's imprest ™? Towage dues ... &v Railway earnings to date not paid 2 > SOU Royalty on Brunner coal from Jan. Ist tJ July 31st ... 1,050 Dead rent on coal on coal leases at reduced rent ... -• 4 4UU Rent in arrears on sections on Grey Coal Reserve, say ... I.WO Rent of section, Greymouth ... JL4 Gov. sub. Dobson coal bore •'... ~jj>U Timber royalty, say _ ___ £17,070 LIABILITIES. Bank of New Zealand overdraft 815 Interest on debentures to date '2,186 Sinking fund ... . 436 Accounts and salaries, say ... **J Liabilities under contracts ... 948 „ Railway Department 6,019 Subsidy Brunner bore-hole ... 50 Excess of assets over liabilities 6,019 £17,070 Taking the Loan Accounts into consideration we have £200,000 of a liability with cash assets of £29,319, leaving a net indebtedness of £170,981, against which stands the harbor improvements, reserves endowments, and railway earn■'ings. In the statement of liabilities is an item of £6,396 for additional rolling stock on Brunner Railway, a great portion of which will not be forthcoming for months to come. To enable the Board to carry on its present work, a farkher'loan of JSSO,OOC nas been authorised by Parliament, bui so far no portion of it has been raised, although it is understood that the "monej can be obtained from Government ob same terms as last two loans, namely 4%, At the same time the Board should knerw that no actual arrangements to thai effect have been arrived at. . While it is desirable that a definite understanding should be arrived at, there'is no immediate hurry, as with care the cash in hand and accruing from revenue, should b c sufficient to carry on the works for at least six months to come. Turning to our revenue I find it has exceeded the estimates, the sum of £14,831 having been received since January Ist as against £12,994 for the corresponding period of the previous year, oeing a net increase of £1,837, On the other hand our expenditure foi the, same period was £19,149 as againsl £9,984 for the corresponding months ol 1890. This large increase is, of course, due to the resumption of harbor improvements, and the large outlay on plani and material necessary to carry out the work by day labor instead of contract as heretofore. Of the expenditure it maj be grouped into three items as follows : Interest Sinking Fund, etc. ... £7,405 Material, Plant, Repairs, etc. ... 6,46fi Salaries and Wages 5,27^ Total £19,14< As the payments for material and plan will, during the remaining five months o the year, be small, and as the labor oi lines and. bridges will also practical! cease, the expenditure per month will b greatly curtailed, This is, of oourse presuming -that the Board does no undertake new works. As to the expenditure for the futur based upon past payments, I estimat salaries and wages per month as follows Engineer's Department £67 12 6 Office Staff 32 0 0 Harbor Staff ... ... 95 0 0 Tug Service .» 54 0 0 Wages (construction) 575 OU £823 12. 6 In- addition we have £750 per mont: for interest and sinking fund, and sa £250 for material and repairs, making total month's outlay of £1823 12s 6d, p to the end of the year £9,118 2s 9d. A we have a credit balance of £6,019 ani reckoning our revenue to continue a file same rate as during the first sere

r months our income to the end of Decein- -- ber should be £10,593 11s sd, which toe gether with* cash in hand totals £L6,61S B 11s sd. Paying out of this sum the esti mated expenditure of £9,118 2s 5d l " would leave us a credit balance at end oi c year of £5,494 8s lid. In con c nection with this statement ] j, have made no allowance for the pro c posed new engines and boilers for the n tug, but allowing that they cost £5,000. there would still be a small credii balance. i The men employed on the harbpui ' works are as follows : — In quarry 25, " breakwater 6, platelayers 6, locomotives 8 4, blacksmiths and fitters 3, Carpenters 9 3, weigh-bridge clerk 1, total 47. One of - the carpenters goes off this week, and two j platelayers gi into the quarry. Ifc would j be well to have it generally known that ; at the present time there is no chance of ' 'more employment being provided by the 1 Board in order to prevent workmen at a B distance coming to the district under the 8 impression that work was obtainable. At 1 the present time there were more men in „ the district than could find employment. i A large amount of time and money has » been expended in preliminary works I such as repairing railway to both tipheads, repairing and strengthening Cobden and Lagoon bridges, and clearing quarry of spoil, so that work accomplished ' in the quarry, so far as the actual output & of good stone is concerned, cannot be I taken as an estimate of cost for future i progress. For the northern tipheadthe . quarry was worked twelve days, during which 1,301 tons of material was taken [ out as follows :— \ ■ tons. ' Second-class stone ... 264 Third ... 308. ! Fourth 150 Spoil 578 ' Giving an average'of 108 tons of material 1 per day. In connection with, the south i breakwater work has been going on for s 57 days during which 6,075 tons have * been put out, more than one half of [ which was spoil, the figures being : — tons. Pirst-class stone ... ••• 711 Second „ „ 784 Third „ „ 952 Fourth „ „ 448 Spoil ... ...3,280 This return is up to August 16th. The ; quarry is now in a good condition for- ' getting out the better class of stone. A good quantity of servicable stone was got . down at the first blast fired, and a second- , tunnel is now being put in, and driven i by three shifts. Work has been re- ' tarded for want of crane now in course , of erection. This machine is expected to i be completed by the end of next week, by which time I am led to believe the quarry will be in full working orde*. The timber work of the south tip-head ' is well advanced -and will enable stone to > be tipped then freely. , AU work in connection with the \ Dobson bore hole has been suspended \ pending arrival of diamonds, concerning t which Mr Thompson will furnish parL ticulars. The only expenditure now going on in connection with, this work is £1 per week to the caretaker. A further l letter from Mr Smith throws but Httle If additional light upon the cause of the ; accident in the bore. There however > appears to be a general wish for an l enquiry but this is for the Board to consider. t I would again draw the attention of the Board to the fact that the time £xed for recommencement of the Point Elizabeth and Coal Creek Railway, and the opening . of the mine in connection therewith has expired, and, so far as members are aware ' no advance has been made. I think . the | Board should a°ain approach the Government on ♦ the matter and insist upon a I settlement being arrived at, either, by requiring the Company to procsed forthwith or else ask that the lease be cancelled and the mine and railway worked as a State concern, or in such other manner as may be deemed advantageous. The position of the Bruaner mine cl^arlj shows that it would be exceedingly injudicious to delay much longer with the opening of the coal measures of the district. The shallowing that has taken place on the bar conseauent upon the low state of the river and bad weather, again brings the question of lagoon dredging before the Board. The question of course is one for Engineers to deal with, and I would suggest that advantage be taken of Mr Bale's visit to this district 1 to consult him in the matter. At last meeting Mr Thompson was- asked to report but, as was then explained he would not be able to devote attention to the matter under a month, and his opinion is not therefore available. It would, however, be advantageous if a joint report could be obtained. From Captain Connor I have obtained the following depths on our bar during the present ' jear. ; January ... 17 7 May - ... 21 5 February... 20 11 June ... 22 4 March ... 20 0 July ... 16 4 April ... 21 3 1 This gives a mean average for the > seven months of 19 feet 11 inches. Dur- " ing the present month, a little improve- ' ment has taken place, but the bar is still in an unsatisfactory condition. ! As to the trade to our port, tb.e following number and tonnage of vessels speak for themselves : — 1901. • 1900. L MONTH. STEASIEB. SHIPS. STEAMEB. SHIP. . January 37 3 59 2 r February 41-2 50 1 t March ... 57 2 51 3 i April ... 52 2 50 0 5 May ... 54 4 41 2 ■ June ... 51 1 56 1 L July ... 53 2 54 1 b 345 16 361 10 The tonnage for the seven months of 1901 was 119,369 and for the same period : of 1900, 117,638, indicating that although j there were fewer steamers the extra sail- [ ing ships and larger steamers showed an 5 increased carrying capacity. The exports of coal, coke, and firebricks • for the first seven months of the current t year was 113,941 tone as against 125,778 E for the like period of 1900, showing a decrease of 11,837 tons. This is accounted ! for by the fire in, and consequent stoppage b of the Blackball mine. But for this mis--5 fortune there would have been a material s increase. r The sawn timber export, for the period under review, of this year was 6,736,794 J super foefc and for a like term of the pre-. 3 ceeding year 6,412,257, an increase of I 324,537 super feet. The silver pine sleepers exported num--6 bered 72,044 as against 95,542 for the t proceeding period. But this can scarcely f be regarded as indicating a falling off, inQ asmuch as there are now 60,000 sleapers y stacked on the reclaimed ground waiting c for shipment. 3, This increase, I find, is fully born out >t by the quantity of goods imported, the imports from January Ist to July 31st; c 1901, being 22,730, as compared with ;e 16,546 for the like period of the preceed- . ing year; an increase for the seven months of 6,184 tons. In' conclusion it seems to me that the Board's position is a very sound one, anc prospects hopeful; nevertheless in view of the possibility of further extensive ~ works being required it behoves the Boarc to act cautiously. , I have found the officers attentive t< their duties and courteous, no complain y having, so far as lam aware being madi against them.' * s I desire to thank Mr Spindler of . thi £ Railway Department for assistance ten t t dered me ii regard to imports and exportf n Joseph PfiXBW,