NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOR.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVII, Issue LXXVII, 19 July 1918, Page 4

NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOR.

PKOPOSED EXTENSIONS

ESTIMATED TO GX>ST £300,000. For some tim© past the member s of the New Plymouth Harbor Board have been considering plans for important extensions to their existing works, and as a result of consultations with Mr Blair Mason, plans have been prepared, of which the Board approved. Before submitting these to the public the Board decided to invite representatives from local bodies, chairmen of important dairy companies, and others interested within the Harbor Board rating area to consult with them on the proposed new work and to hoar Mr Blair Mason's explanation. This meeting eventuated in New Plymouth yesterday, wnen representatives were present from most parts of the district. Mr Newton King, chairman, of the Harbor Board, presided. In the course his remarks lie reminded thosQ present that in the 1908 campaign the system of differential rating was introduced, and in the third schedule of the Act the land comprised in that specific areia would not be subject to any further loans. Since that time, however, many features, had completely changed, and for that reason it had been decided to invite representatives from all the areas to meet together and discuss the present proposals in the interests of Tara_ naki as a whole. The Coast railway was to be built as footl as labor was available, and the Government' recognised New Plymouth as the ndrt for that railway;- the advent of the Smart Road Freezing Works had hurried things along* and it would probably have beeta some years before the big j boats came to New Plymouth but for I them. * They had had six big steamers , into New Plymouth already, but the i works were still congested, and there' j was a great deal more meat now in the stores than during the whole season;. Nearly all farmers in the third schedule area were interested in meat works in their district, -whether Borthwicks ; Smart road^ or elsewhere. The Board had instructed the engineer to prepare plans of .1. tiriLsihed harbor, but those plans would not be carried oi:t to-day or for many years. The Board dos-ned to guard against jhe possibility of er.rrying out some wr>rK to I'd ay tha- they would dseovpr in t^n gears' i ime -hiu'd not ba y' l-.en done. Thee d» i>m<l that any woi-k that was done now should t< rm pa..-1.; of tJi.- whole. The Board's suggestion was to take authority to borrow £300,000, and whilst this would probably strike them as being a heavy amount, it was not proposed to borrow ifc all at once; in fact it would not aU be borrowed for many years, but there ; were certain urgent works that were required as scon as possible, namely, the extension of the breakwater by 800 feet, and some wharfage accommodation and shelter for larger boats. He had been promised by shipping companies that when this was done they would send their boats to New Plymouth to j pick up their butter, cheese and meat. i (Applause). In the 1908 campaign he I referred to cargo boats only, and studi. '■ ously avoided the question of shipping • butter and cheese because he recognised ! that these products had to go by mail ! boa.ts:, farmers would now recognise 1 what it would mean to them to have these fast hoats calling regularly at New Plymouth and taking away the whole of their produce. On the question of finance, he might say that the Board had a surplus of £8793 on the average working of the harbor. Of this . they had to transfer £4500't0 the loan . account, and that left £4293. Of this ngain they transferred £3000 from the I working account to complete payments of interest. As they had anticipated in i 1908, no rate had been necessary. The j interest on the present loan was £17,300 | per annum, and assuming, for the sake ,of argument, that the Board raised the : whole of the proposel new loan the figures in sight without anticipating the large development of the district that would' naturally take place, would warrent them in saying that they did nob think ifc would be necessary to strike a rate in future. He would, however, , make this qualification, that during the first two or three years of cons traction work and before the big steamers could be got in, it might be necessary to strike an infinitesimal rate, but after five years there would be no possibility of any rate. Their land fund a,t the present time wa.s very high, and stood at , £8677, and for the last three or four ,' years had been well up to £7000. But no one could' sjy what it would be in the future, and for the purpos.es of their present estimates, they had put it at j £4000. When they went before rate--1 payers en a previous occasion they esti_ mated that their endowments would, in ten years, advance to £2000; they advanced to £2500. and the Board had a large area of land —the sandhils —which, lin a short time, would come on to the market as residential sites, and would probably bring in a large revenue. They were taking no account in their1 estimates of any revenue that might come from oil or from the iron industry; if any revenue should accrue from them ■so much.the hotter. Taking nil in all. be was satisfied the estimates made by the Board were very conservative. The present loan moneys were almost exhaust, cd. and the Board now submitted to representatives present that it would be prudent to continence the new works pronosed. The port could now accommodate medium fast tsoamers, but further improvements must be made for wharfage accommodation, protection, and shelter. The province was becoming tremendously wealthy in exports, and it must have a port second to none in the Dominion. iMr C. A. Wilkinson, M.P., and a member of the Board, &aid that the : present proposals were sound and in keep'iug with the- great promise of Tar?.naki. In the plans submitted by Mr Blair Mason he believed lhev had a very fine conception of a.n artificial harbor. He (Mr Wilkinson) had observed artificially-made harbors in different parts of the world, but especoally in New Zealand, and he believed that in New Plymouth they had the oppor- , tunity of making tho best artificial j harbor in New Zealand. Behind that ! they had the finest province in New | Zealand^ and it was for the people in I that province to support the Board in [ its proposals and so demonstrate their ! faith in them. He reminded the meeting of the time when passengers and cargo at New Plymouth had to be landed by surf boats; thon came the per; od I when passengers could step from thft | wharf right on to tho coastnl boat, and j latterly thoy had a class of Home liners berthed at the wharf, come to take their produce right to the- markets of the world. Those were .notable advances, and the latter result was brought about by the pluck of the New Plymouth people in establishing meat works of their own. Tho- were now j led to understand that the largest boats I trading to New Zealand r-onlrl berth at j New Plymouth if they had the nec"s- ---! sarv facilities at +he r'ort. T>irincr tb'^ j last ten years tlio "Rrwcl b-.ri rnnde i very few mistakes. Thrv mio-ht >r> v « been slow, hut rW>ir fl'ffic-nlfc'V.^ lV*,j be^-i groat. *md th^v !ip<-1 to r^.-^f,,]!,. ; then- i-psourr"^ to ivo'd r-tn'l-:----j ing a rate. No rate bad been striu-k. j aprl tb; s fact, taken in ■"^ii-nft.ion ' with wbnt hp.rl be?n Jier-omr/I'^o/! of. • tb° port. «hovld v,p'•!•:■>".■; -Hi- r>^ P ,. r ] ; n nsl-r'iv ratepayers to k-,-k ilj^*-> pry.y in tb» fnrtl^:-'-=toj)« r,rr,,,., n .]. T',,. „..'_ pendituro of the £300,000. for which

it was now proposed to secure authority i to borrow, would brisg their total lia-bilities-up to £600,000> and the capital value, of the rating ar& of the province, if a valuation was Viade to-day, would be, probably, £15,000^00, s o that tho» proposed harbor expenditure did not appear to be out of proportion. The interest and sinking fund on both loans would amount to £35,000 per ' annum, and the Board/s estimated mcome would be £32,000, or a, very conservative estimate. There would, there- ' tore, be a small deficit to be made up, | < but from what source he could liot say. In all probability, however, the figures \ would balance before th 3 expenditure ) ■ of the loan. The sinking fund of the : : present loan had already reduced the ; | liability by £30,000. and this would • i automatically extinguish inself in the i process of time. There should be no ■ , need* &£ a rat© in future, but even : should there be, it would, spread over a valuation of £11.000,000, be so in- . finitesimal as to be difficult to collect, j When the present proposed extensions ! were completed; i n ten years' time, it ; was estimated that the Board's revenue i would be £32,000. At the present time j it was £19^.800,. so- that they were not j anticipating an undue increase result- : ing- from improved facilities to pay their J interest bill. "I think we can take a 1 sporting chance and say the accounts j will balance,'' said the speaker. Con- ! tinuing, Mr Wilkinson pointed out that ' half the ratincr area was in what was ' known as the third schedule ftbfi > southern encf). and about half the total ; value was in that area. A clause was inserted in the fast Taranaki Harbor Bill providing that, no further loan could b& raised over that area. That clause was put in to prevent the possibility of the northern e nd out-voting them and imposing upon them something they did not want. Under these circumstances, and in view of the present proposals, he though* the Board should l?.v their i>lans "Before these people and go ful*y into tho question with them, and ask them to join forces in promoting this 'important development of the port. The decision would rest entirely with them, and if they decided to ibm in with the northern people it must Be entirely of their own free wilF. If not. it would then be for ratepayers in Nos. I and 2 areas to consider whether they would go on with v the scheme on their own. He (Mr Wilkinson) lived in No. 3 area, and represented some of the people in that , , area, and he would say that, in his opinion, they would be well advised to come into the present scheme, heart and soul, and assist to make this province independent of either Auckland or Wellington, or any other port. They had the resources behind them, the rargo to shin away, the woods to bring it, to justify them in doing all they could to make New Plymouth an ocean port. Their combined vesc n-ces would be sufficient to -provide tho levsnue without the necessity of r. ra Je. "What will happen if we don't go on -vi^i the present proposals?" concluded the speaker. "You have to consider the other side. If we don't go on we can probably "retain the ships that come here at present, but we will get no further. More than that, when we stop the expenditure of loan money the port will be thrown unon its own resources, and in all probability a small rate will then have to be collected. If j you go on as we advocate, I don't thank | there will be any rate to collect for j some time to come, if at all. Conse- j quently, I say let us take a step for- ! ward. We have, luckily, in Mr Blair j Mason one of the most eminent engi- 'j neers in Australasia. He has absolute j faith in the scheme he has proposed], ! and I feel certain that if the case is j put before the people of Tarar-^k'i in a j proper way they* will say. 'Vps, go ahead. Put it through.'"' (Applause.") Mr E. Maxwell, another member of the Board, also addressed the meeting. traversin c largely the ground" covered by the previous sn°akers. He emphasised the desirability of hax^'ng the whole district as *<*curitv for t^e l^an, in order to be able to. make +he rie,st financial arrangements; for Its flotation. Although under the last Aft land" in the third area was excluded from any future borrowing Dmnosals. there w?'i nothing to nreve^t th^m enmirn- ih of their own freewill. The Board" would bQ no nartv +o an^ to br"i9: +liero in a gainst their will frit he n>- : lieved that the interests of the peonTe in the th'rd area v>re so locked im in +>,o development of the port of N>w Plymouth flint they would' recognise tV d^sivahilitv <if takihef t*>eir proppv vAaoe ; n supporting nroposals designed to make a great harbor ther-e. ; j • THE PROPOSED WORKS.. i Mr Blair Mason then submitted, the . plans prepared for the completed harbor, and also for the improvements re- • quired immediately. The completed ; , plan proposes to run the present breakwater out another 2000 odd feet. A rubble wall is to be constructed from ! the island of Moturoa to the end of the present breakwater. This will trap the sand drift northwards, and in the I course of five years, probably, will reclaim between GO and 70 acres southwestward of this wall. The stone on j Moturoa will be used in this worlh. I Starting from a point almost midway j between the to-fril of New Plymouth | 1 and the present breakwater another ! mole is to be run out to within 6^o j feet of the end of the western breakwater. This will enclose a basin of 300 acres, which is to be dredged to a uni- •' 1 form, depth of 40ft low water. Within j this basin suitable wharves will be j 1 erected and considerable reclamation ! carried out, starting from the base of , the present breakwater and working : towmvnrds. ;

The portion of this work desired to. be : undertaken within tho next few years ' 'includes extending the present 'mole I 800 feet seawards; the construction of a j rubble wall connecting the island of Moturoa with the end of the preseiit , breakwater, and an extension of this for about 6Oofeet eastwards in the inner harbor to act as a wave-break and so protect the wharves from any ocean swell; the construction of a portion of j the permanent wharf, commencing ; near the base of the existing breaS* | water, and the reclamation of a portion of the foreshore near this point. These works are estimated to cosj £300,000, and will provide good shelter and proper wharfage accommodation and facilities for ocean-going boats. jln reply to questions, the chairman said that lie could give no estimate of the cost of the completed plans submitted by the engineer. That was looking far into the future, and it would be impossible to estimate what labor and materials would cost in 20 years' time. Presumably if a rate were struck if would be on the differential ' basis at present hi existence. All the wharves would be of ferro-concrete, of : a permanent nature, and designed t<? ! carry massive buildings. T n anticipa- ' tion of the extension of the breakwater the dredgings were now beino- deposited on the line of this wall, anTl this, to- ' gether with the natural sand siltation, was materially assisting the work. This not only saved an enormous amount of j the steaming time previously occupied by the dredge carrying this material up Wnitnra way but was also assisting the future construction work. In the consturctiion of the present wall it was found that the natural sand siltation enabled the work to be done £25 fo £30 per lineal foot cheaper than their estimate. Tho Bo^.rd might arranrre to hold me ft ings and nut the'whole scheme before ratepayers in the third schedule

area, or they might hold meeting* amongst themselves . and indicate wnether or not they favored joining ia with the other areas in the project. Mr D. J. Hughes, representing Waimate, remarked that he would have every confidence, in putting the scheme before ratepayers in his district, and Mr O'Neill, Te Wera, spoke in a simil Jar strain, Mr Morton then moved; "That this meeting of representative men from the laranala district,, after hearing the full explanation of the- Board and its enS r. nWSri? is of °Pi;ilioa tn»t the Board should,., as soon-as possible, proceed^ with the extension of the harbor on the linesindicated!, and should" take immediate steps t« put the- .position fully before' the ratepayers with a v*f«w to obtaining, their support; in raising the loan necessary to eavvT out tli?- woufc." Mr Mass pointed out that it was^ hardly poasiljfe that representatives? trom his area could vote" on the motion at this juncture'; _ The motion- was seconded by Mr* U JNeill and carried, and the meetingthen terminate