TIMARU HARBOUR BOARD.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVIII, Issue 12933, 29 September 1902, Page 6

TIMARU HARBOUR BOARD.

The monthly meeting of the Timaru Harbour Board -was held on Friday, all the members being present except Mr J. Manchester. Among the correspondence read were letters from tho Union Steamship Company, in reply to a request that its steamers should call regularly at Timaru. The general manager stated that tho question had been considered, but it was impossible do compete with the train service in the passenger trade, and l to call for cargo only would cause delay, disarrange the timetable and cause inconvenience to through passengers. Timaru cargo must therefore bo dealt with by special steamers, and cargo boats could not be run to a timetable. Since tbe beginning of 1901 Timaru had ‘been served with si monthly boat for Sydney, and several of them had got no outward cargo. A member said that these boats, the Whangape andi Ilotokino, were tho most unsuitable in the company’s fleet for carrying potatoes to Sydney, as they had l no ’tween-decks, and the produce had to be piled thirty sacks high. The present arrangements permitted two large cargoes to be dumped down in Sydney together, and, owing to this cause,- Timaru had lost £2OOO by the last shipment per the Whangape, the glut caused by two cargoes arriving at onoe putting prices down- £1 per ton. Messrs Holmes (chairman) and Rose, members of the Oamaru Harbour Board, waited on the Board to request the loan of the pump dredge for a few weeks to remove an accumulation of shingle at the entrance to their harbour. The Board, received the request favourably, .and decided to prepare an estimate of cost to be charged to Oamaru. An inquiry from Mr Sifilivau, of Dunedin, as to the facilities available for the establishment of a trawling industry, was favourably considered, and' it was agreed to provide coal, water and the assistance of a local certificated officer for a fortnight free of charge, in order to help Mr Sullivan to establish the industry. A reply had been sent to an inquiry by Mr H. G. Ell, M.H.R., that in the last ten years the Board had paid £266 13s 9d in interest on overdrafts at tho bank. The Engineer reported that rubble had now been tipped out to 1375 ft in the eastern mole, and showed above low tide to 1175 ft. The total quantity of stone in the mole was now 123,781 tons. Since last meeting the delivery of stone had averaged>33s tons per working day. Heavy seas had been experienced, and the mole had shown no sign of weakness, and settlement had been very slight, even at the tip-head. The work of opening up a new quarry twenty chains further on was well in hand. Double shifts haid been put on in the quarry, from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. ; in the overlap in the middle of the day the extra men were employed in stripping. Dredging during the month had been interrupted! by tie docking of the dredge, and also for seven hours by the runner of the pump getting jammed by a piece of railway iron 2ft long being pumped up. No serious damage was done by it. He submitted a return of the cost of dredging. During the first six months of this year the Timaru dredged 48,900 tons at an average cost of o[d per ton, and the Launceston 7325 tons at Is 41d per ton. The cost last year for the Tima.ru was 7d, the difference being due to more suitable material being operated upon. The receipts for the past month, including wharfage for two months, were £4985. Accounts amounting to £2740 were passed for payment.