CORRESPONDENCE

Grey River Argus, 21 March 1928, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE

HARBOUR AFFAIRS. (To the Editor). Sir—Apparently yo'ur leader in Saturday’s “Argus” indicates that you are entirely satisfied with the proposed harbour improvement scheme, and you place every confidence in it on account of the standing of the engineers. On paper, it may seem all right, but I doubt whether the engineers have been supplied with sufficient local information and because similar schemes have been successful in other parts of the world, it does not necessarily follow that the experiment will be successful here.. The scouring effect of tidal water at the present time is practically nil; otherwise surely spring tides would scour out the bar for possibly twice as much tidal water enters the port at spring tides as there docs at neap tides. There is further-proof of this on the Coast. In Hokitika much more tidal 1 water enters the harbour than here, and yet has the scouring action deepened the bar there? Has it deepened the bar at Westport, Taramakau, Okarito, or other places on the West Coast? Any practical person must admit the correctness of the above, despite engineers’ opinions to the contrary. Engineers are not infallible, no matter how eminent, but the Greymouth Harbour Board apparently thinks otherwise. The great dam disaster in California a few days ago indicates this., even if wo had not evidence on every hand in Grey and the rest of New Zealand. The squandering of money on harbour works was referred to in the House only last session, so apparently the. Marine Department has sanctioned other wasteful schemes. The reason why the tidal water has little affect on the Coast is that the tide dribbles in and dribbles out, which can easily be seen by perusing a tide guage chart. Then, only as low water is approached is there any current to speak of in the river. Even a moderate fresh lias little action in scouring the bar, and surely no one suggests that the lagoon scheme will be nearly as effective as a moderate fresh. In. my opinion the tidal water is responsible for the shoaling of the bar. The sand, etc., is stirred up by the constant action of the surf and is carried over the mouth of the river by the current and deposited when the tide is coming in, and is not carried away by the outgoing tide. The reason for this is that the incoming tide conies in at the bottom of the river, and doos not mix up with the frosh water until sonic time has elapsed. Any one who has done fishing knows this. Yet it is proposed to spend £25,000 on this experiment for no purpose. Then, when

it is found of no use, another £20,000 or £30,000 on flood gates to imprison lagoon water at high tide and release it when the tide is about half run out. then other schemes. Apparently Mr Ferguson knows more about the needs of the district than anyone else, and hence considers a deep sea harbour a waste of money for Greymouth and beyond the resources or the needs of the district. He apparently failed to consider the fact that if a deep sea harbour was provided, the revenue would be several times as much as at present, for with a deep sea harbour large ships would conic here to take away our coal and timber, while the revenue for bunker coal alone wcfuld be considerable. A deep-sea harbour would also lead to the greater development of the district. The Engineers have also forgotten that Grey exports are of greater value than places with artificial deepsea harbours, such as Timaru and New Plymouth. It is all very well for the Board to shield itself behind the Marine Department, but Mr Tennent’s remarks plainly show that the Marnie Engineers were considering a deep sea

; harbour scheme until Mr Ferguson pointed out that the Board did not require a deep sea harbour, but merely to spend money experimenting to im- ; prove the present one. This plainly , shows that the Board has lost its dash; : that it has no vision, and apparently , thinks Grey mouth will not live much longer than they themselves will. They seem to forget that Greymouth will be here for possibly many thousands of years, and that it is always advisable to spend a Id wise than a £1 foolishly. | The Board has apparently dropped the } Dunedin firm’s offer to deepen the bar within a few hours as being possibly too easy or too cheap on account of the swell on the. bar, and is on the verge of accpcting a tender for the building of the electric dredge in spite of this offer. This requires some explanation surely. The Board, even after seeing an Anchor steamer towed out, still maintains its attitude of do nothing. The Harbour Master states that the bar is composed of very fine sand ami that in consequence dragging a grid or chain of iron spikes would be of no use. This is a very ancient method, and has been used with success on the Coast. Of course, it must be dragged when tide is running out and the disturbed, sand is carried out with the current. I feel pretty sure that the Runanga miners could blast it away in a few days. Then the dredge could bo employed, instead of standing idle. I have seen her working in the river in a bigger swell than is on the bar at the present time. But the Board have become unenterprising, no doubt through age, and the connection of some of the members with the timber industry may possibly have affected the Board and reduced it to real wood steered around by the Marine Department. If the Marine Department had all the say. as inferred by Mr Tenn ent, surely the Board could be done away with! I am afraid the Board is being badly steered at the present time, and unless Greymouth wakes up, it will fined its coal and timber industry gone. What is wanted is efficiency—not follow your leader. Again, where does the sand come from? The south! Then why extend the North Tip? One would think this had been done deliberately in order to block the sand ami port, for it has had the action of stopping th ■ sand very effectively on the bar, and the further it is extended the worse it will get, for the bar will extend with it. If the sand comes from the south, the deeper the water is around the south tiphead the less sand will come around, while a wall or groyne could be put in turning south to deflect the current. The deeper the water, the less sand is disturbed by the breakers. There are many methods that

could be used to disturb the sand. It could easily be sluiced with the Fire Brigade’s engine and the use of thc tug. Even thc action of thc paddle wheels at low water, if the tug was anchored, would do some good. Then there is the compressed air method of disturbing the sand, and the hiring of a suction dredge, in addition to other methods mentioned above. Some action is required, and you deserve much credit stand you have taken in drawing attention to the matter. —I am FISHERMAN.