POINT ELIZABETH

Grey River Argus, 12 October 1944, Page 4

POINT ELIZABETH

DOUBTFUL SITE For All-Weather Harbour PA WELLINGTON, October 11. A vote of £169,293 for the Marine Department was considered in the House to-night. There was considerable discussion of the need for establishing an allweather port on the West Coast of , the South Island. Mr Fraser said that Westport was a less difficult problem than Greymouth, and, but for the war, there were hopes of providing better shipping facilities at Westport. Mr Fra’ser said that, as far as Grey/mouth was concerned, he did not think that any suggestion yet advanced had looked like solving the problem. The weight of the expert engineering opinion was, also, that if a deep-water harbour were established at" Point Elizabeth, a bar would probably soon form there also. Mr Fraser said that all of the possibilities of developing a better West Coast harbour deserved the utmost attention, and particularly the Possibilities which still existed concerning Westport. However, he added, if it proved to be impossible to effect a substantial improvement, there would be a case for the completion of a railway linking the West Coast with Nelson. Such a railway would not pass through paying country, but it might be justified for the connection of the West Coast with the port at Nelson.