PATEA HARBOUR BOARD.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 12 June 1923, Page 6

PATEA HARBOUR BOARD.

+ , MONTHLY MEETING. -1 The monthly meeting of the board . was held at Pa tea yesterday, when there were present: Messrs. A. T- , Christen&en (chairman), E. A. Pacey, J. It. Corrigan, J. H. Verry, A. Pearce, and A. N. Williams. i The Marine Department wrote asking for three copies of the board's annual, accounts f®r 1922 for statistical purposes and for presentation to Parliament.—The clerk advised that these j had been supplied* A report was revived froirt the Bsstrict Engineer of Railways fn regard to the wharf, in which he states fch2& the wharf is in very fair condition a*<l only a few minor matters require attention. -—The matter ef repairs was left in the hands of the ehiJLinau and Mr. Williams. i The PnVuc; Trustee Mlyised that I Trrrcmey if required was available at 6 per cent.—The chairrtiait understood they werft not likely to get better terms, except it couM be got later when the moratorium was lifted, from the A.M.P. Society. As it was the i board had to penalise the general ?.c----couiit to the extent of about £86 per annum because they were unable by law to pay the extra half per cent.—lt was resolved to apply to the Minister 'of Finance for an Order-in-Coun?il authorising the board to pay, if requirj ed, a rate up to 6 per cent for money i to be borrowed.

The chairman reported that he had found to his surprise that on the last remittance 'of about £2500 to Australia to be credited to the A.M.P. Society for interest on loan ' the bank had , charged £24 15s instead of £8 as for- : merly for exchange, a rate of 1 per cent instead of £ per cent. He was advised by the bank* that the trade relations with tlie Commonwealth wei'e the cause of the inereafe, which lie considered an actual exploitation. He was authorised by resolution .to interview the manager of the A.M.P. Society and to see if it could not ho nr ringed to accept the payment in Wellington. The chairman referred to the fact that no mention was made of Pa tea by the Government Statistician in the Gazette in the detailed particulars of the works of the harbours in New Zealand. He could not^ see why Patea should have been practically the only harbour omitted. Patea is the second largest exporter, and the largest exporter of cheese in the Dominion. Pa tea's exports, according t« statistics, were 13,694 tons, and th e imports 5324 tons. —It was decided to write asking the Statistician why these particulars ! had been omitted. The matter of shingle on the ben oh was brought up by the Hi airman, who said that he considered the board should jvuke mwe revenue from this source. He considered that none eliould be moved without the chairman's consent.—A motion was carried that a notice be advertised stating that a permit must be secured before any shingle or firewood be removed. COMMITTEES. Committees were appointed as follow: Reserves —The chairman, Messrs. Pacey, Pearce and Williams. Finance—The chairman, Messrs. Pearce, Grainger, and Williams. REPORTS. The harbourmaster (Captain W. Tinney) reported that up to June 11 the channel over the bar was straight, with about 15 feet on the bar and 12ft 6in good between the walls at high water spring tides, and about lift on the bar and Bft 6in good between the walls at high water neap tide*, f.nd about 18----feet between the walls. On June 7 he sounded, and got 14ft on the bar, 9ft ' 6in between the walls, with 6ft Sin on the tide gauge (neap tides), which he considered very good. On the Bth he found good water along the wharves. , averaging 10ft to 13ft, with 4ft 3in on ' the tide gauge. There was still a lot to shift down by Pulley wharf, where I the dredge was working. There was no alteration in the walls since lasi month. There have been 16 arrivals and 17 departures, while eight wenl out on the lights. Everything at th< station, was in good working ordei

The chairman remarked that the ' ,vas in excellent order, and the • ,vas maintained in good cond^1 * . . there had been a rumour ings were not correct, r enrtorsement 3 f the pilot's figures -^ secuied from a member of the cl^ a crew The dredger- j4s , ;ter ported tnat owing to ro'-^gb we ather several days' , dredging -, re^ lost, but during the month. twQ< grabs were repaired, decking on wofol wharf repaired, and several matter.^ connected with the dredge machij&eyy. The ironwork on dredge was paw tod, also the hull down to the -wsiterline. The dredge was employed at the wool wharf, where a large number of snags were removed, also along grading and railway wharves. The number of cubic yards lifted was 4320, while 15 hours were spent snagging. Two loads of chaff, etc., were removed from the "Waitangi to the railway wharf. Referring to the di-edgemaster's report, the chairman said that the dredge was doing good work. Some oM timber had been sent to Wellington and sold at a good price. He referred to the fact that the master had transported two loads of chaff from the Waitangi to the wharf. He said that nothing like this should be done without authority, and a motion was passed that the master get authority for any work outside his ordinary duties. ACCOUNTS. Accounts were passed for payment, and the board rose. I