HARBOUR BOARD.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 9003, 16 January 1890, Page 3

HARBOUR BOARD.

TIMARU.

The Timaru Harbour Board met yesterday j present —Mr Acton (Chairman), Captains Wooloombe and Suiter, Messrs Morris and Manchester. Among the correspondence was a letter from Mr John Darling, respecting the new tug. Very slow progress was being made with the hull. Material cannot be got for “love or money.” The engineers were making excellent progress, and the woodwork was well advanced. The offer of Messrs Palliser and Jones to drive twenty-eight piles to protect the end of the North mole, for .£l6O, the Board to find all material for staging and carriage, was accepted. A letter rrom the Borough Council refused the Board’s offer of a lease of the foreshore of Caroline Bay, now becoming a popular bathing resort, in order that the Council might control the bathing, which the Board has no power to do. A resolution passed by the Board in November, assigning certain limits to the bathers, was rescinded, a petition declaring these limits to be unsuitable. The control of bathing is now left entirely in the hands of the police, and the officer in charge has threatened to stop it altogether. The Harbour master reported the arrival, during December, of thirty-one vessels, aggregating 9003 tons, and the departure of thirty-two, totalling 9332 tons. The weather during December was favourable, but on Jan. 10 a very heavy sea was experienced, accompanied by a beavy gale from the Souih-aouth-west. At 4 p.m. the s.s. Banks Peninsula arrived in harbour, and at 4.30 p.m. the s.s. Hauroto put in,anappearance in the roadstead, wnen, considering the rough state of the sea, he Hid not deem it prudent to allow a large "boat of her description, to enter, and Mr M'Laren, of the National Mortgage and Agency Company, therefore requested him 'U> order her to proceed. engineer's report. The Engineer reported as follows: Breakwater.—No tenders were received for lifting the random blocks from the South side of the breakwater. I hope, however, to make satisfactory arrangements for the execution of the work in the course of a few days. North Mole.—The staging for piling the end of the mole is to be taken out to-day. Slipway.—The extension of the way is laid and connected on to the original work. The late stormy weather has interfered with its progress. Dredging. Since last meeting the Taniwha has dredged and discharged 1420 tons of spoil, and 80 tons of rocks and boulders, in fifteen working days. The total amount of work executed during the past year is 21,440 tons of spoil and 820 tons of rocks and boulders, a very large proportion of which was removed from the mam wharf berth extension in extremely hard aud stony soil.

ACCOUNTS. The Bank of Now Zealand advised the transfer of £750 with interest; total, £/66 11a Id, from deposit to current account. It was stated that so far £BOO had been collected for the harbour rate, from about one thousand ratepayers. The wharfage return for the four weeks to Dec. 7, was £485 4s 6d. The total income for 1889 was reported to be about £I3OO more than last year; wharfage being about £IOOO more, the balance*being from ship charges. Accounts to £1446 14s 7d were passed,for payment.