HOKITIKA NOTES

Grey River Argus, 28 April 1932, Page 2

HOKITIKA NOTES

LOur Own Correspondent.) HOKITIKA, April 27. The new formed Westland Aero Club hold their inaugural ball ,at the Soldiers’ HaH on Friday night, when n very large gathering from all parts of the district and even further afield is anticipated. As will be seen in another column of this issue, the Club is making trx'fra fine arrangements; for the function every one attending is assured of a really good time. The game scooting season will open on Monday, May 2, and not May 1, the usual opening day. Some time ago the Department of Infernal Affairs oe ided that when sMay 1, falls oq, :> Sunday the season does not open until *hn following day. Therefore the season throughout the Dominion wil l commence on May 2, and will conclude on July 31.

The Westland Rugby Sub-Union ha< now the promise of an interesting competition in both senior and junior grades, with five teams in each. At the Sub-union meeting last evening the Ross Club forwarded senior and junior noimnations. There were presenat the meeting: Messrs J. C. Stafford , A. Cutbush, J. Cooper, A H. Lawn, J. McCleary, ' D. Dowell. Pridmore and Mr ST W, Heenan (Secretary). It was reported that nominations of junior teams had been received as follow: Rimu, Ross, Kiwi ; Excelsior and Stat J School. On the motion of Messrs Heenan and Cutbush is was decided that the junior compet ition commence on Saturday, May 7. The dravy fof. the opening day of th<> senior Competition next Saturday was approved as follows: Kiwi v. Rimu ut Rimu al 3 p.m; Excelsior v. Rivals at Cass Square at 3 p.m.; Ross a bye )n the motion of Messrs Dowell and Cooper, it was decided that the expenses of referees Jo country games be borne by the country clubs. It was" decided that the referees for Sat urday, as submitted by~~fhe Association be approved. The annual meeting of the Koiterangi Women’s Institute took place m the hall on Wednesday. April 20. The following were elected to the Committee:—President. Mrs M. Harcour vice-president, Mrs W. Jones; secretary and treasurer, Mrs Selwyn Havill Also Mesdames Jamieson, BodcMngton. Eric Smith and W. Havill. The ret’ ing president gave a short account of her visit to the formation meeting o' the South Canterbury and West Coast Federation in "Christchurch on April 6. Supper was served by the hostesses for the evening, Mesdames E. SmiU Fleming, S. Havill and Miss Y. Ditelv. The Harbour Board meeting yesterday was attended by Messrs M. Hou - ton (chairman), E. W. Heenan, D. N. Warren and the secretary Mr R. Wild. The Gunnersen Nosworthy Pty., Ltd., forwarded £5 10s covering rent and exchange, and ad vised that they wished to cancel all stacking sites held by Gunnersen, Le Messnrier. Ltd, or by themselves. The Lands and Income Taxi Departmen* wrote requesting names and addresses of persons or firms to wh'o'm the Board had let contracts during the last year. It was reported that no contracts ha<: been let. The Harbour Board’s A sociation wrote asking if the Hokitika Board had any points or sag go,stions that it considered should bo provided for in the proposed legislation providing and a disqualification for voting purposes on account of nonpayment of rates. The Marine Depart ment wrote requesting that reliable data concerning changing conditions in the harbour be compiled for the purpose of records. It was decided that, an additional £1 2s be paid to Mr Harvey in appreciation of his services in connection with, th’e lighting on the main wall. At its meeting last evening, the Harbour Board discussed the question of repairing the north wall. The signalman reported that the channel ove the bar was in good condition win* | 15 to 16 feet of water. However, on Friday April 22, some eleven feet of ‘ the extreme end of no' th wall broke off, and the stay' piles were a dang?r to navigation and might have to be , removed, also a new light would have to bo installed to replace the one that | was broken. The Board approved the ; action of Mr Heenan in authorising | the cutting up of the broken piles by ' the unemployed. The Marine Depart- j ment m reply to the Board’s letter! in January advised that there appeared to be four methods of dealing with ' the situation, viz.— (1) pulling back • ihe wall into a fair alignment; cur I ting off the top four feet of wall; re- I uewingi the top walling and ptftting in one strut between main wall and stay | piles. This was estimated to cost approximately £BOO, and would make , the wall equivalent to a half tide one: < (2) pulling back the wall and renewing | the whole of the strutting system and top walling, that is, renewing all [ the timbers which have gone, estimated to cost £1500; (3) pulling Hack and straightening the wall and tvin-.5 I it back to the stay piles with old | wire ropes, or renewing the worst por i tions of the top walling, estimated to | cost £400; (4) demolishing the end .365 feet with explosives, estimated to i cost £2OO. The Marine engineer stat ed that it was impossible with the financial resources of the Board, to in crease the ultimate life of the structure by more than a few years. The only boat using the port was the m.v. Gael, and the Board should decia<whether the trade was sufficient to justify further expenditure, ot whether the harbour should be allowed to deteriorate and the money in hand . conserved. The Department considered that (S') above, was the most advia able course, but under the present conditions there was no possibility of any Government assistance The matter was hold over.