HARBOR BOARD FOR WAIRAU.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIX, Issue 112, 15 May 1906, Page 1

HARBOR BOARD FOR WAIRAU.

TO THE EDITOR

Sir, —I am so in accord with the practical remarks made by the llev. T. S. Grace at the recent public meeting on the above-named subject and the uncertain results likely to accrue from its adoption, that I ask permission to supplement them with a few drawn from my own experience and with a special knowledge of.the subject. The cases alluded to at Napier and Timaru, to whicirOamaru should be added, are all unfortunately designed in opposition to the natural laws obtaining at the places selected for harbours, and with the result that they are unduly expensive and fall short in the returns anticipated from .them commercially. In the case of Timaru, the projectors had Sir John Coad's advice and report to guide them (the leading marine and hydraulic engineer of his time). • This was disregarded in favor of opinions from local men, representing the usual amateur class of engineers, while the result has proved Sir John's advice to be almost prophetic. This work has incurred phenomenal expense for inadequate accommodation with questionable stability, and necessitating pai-fetti] rone Avals of its new work with constant repairs, and causing heavy harbour rates to b§ required to assist iii paying interest on the debt, which, unfortunately,is secured on the finest agricultural and pastoral district of South Canterbury. Oamaru, again, though naturally sheltered to the S.E. by a bluff of vast size, is anything but a safe harbour in a S.E. gale, as the vessels have then to haul away from the wharves and seek, safety in the open sea. The rating in connection with this and other of their works results in saddling the Oamaru district to the fullest extent of the letting value of town property, and the heaviest taxation known in New Zealand—anything but a desirable result financiany^aiid a grave warning to our local enthusiasts. Nelson "is also mentioned, but as this would require much space to criticise, I will content myself by- observing that they are now destroying a naturally permanent tidal harbour for a very questionable artificial one, and so saddling the district with a debt, which neither in the present residents' or their childrens' lifetiniß, can. possibly be extinguished. The Napitsr UWtjiOiiil I .qoly know from report, so leave its demyrjtij tg £ims and other experts to deal with. The Qpawa navigation being locally deemed all important, it is now proposed, under the powers of' a harbour board to tinker with this, our main drainage, unwisely increased in volume by our two local River Boards, who, ignoring the laws of Nature, divert the drainage from miles of adjacimt hjUs into one channel —which 50 years ago was a mere riverlet—and with the result that they will possibly make it a riverbed equal to, and in' anticipation of, the Waihopai andWairan overflows scouring through it and flooding a well-settled district— which \s always threatened from Gibson's Creek. However, as this subject would unduly trespass on your space, I only allude to it in connection with the Opawa navigation scheme, which is also a proposal against Nature's laws. This river and the flats through which it flows are Nature's dumping ground for vast quantities of shingle, silt, and debris, brought down by numerous torrent-feeders during rains,and which from the set of the ocean current and the configuration of the coast are retained by the boulderbank to raise this land (eventually to high water mark) before it reaches the Wairau River's mouth. If Nature's laws are therefore to he. considered, it is the Wairau and not the Opawa River that should be made navigable, as from the permanent volume of water it carries, collected back for 100 miles, and forming the drainage of great mountain chains, snow-gatherers as well as rain cloud interceptors, it was, and is equal to keeping open the river mouth direct into the sea, and only requires judiciously assisting to enable its natural flow to rneqt all the requirements of local navigation. 'JJ^fprtHiiafrjly, our town residents don't see b'eyonS their local environment and anything likely to benefit them, and if it requires adjoining land for its accomplishment, cannot be entertained, however beneficial to the provincial district by fostering a seaborne trade. It is now 48 years since I surveyed the "Town of Wairau," then part of the Big Bush, clothing the west bank of that river, for the late Mr llobitiwon, and were it, with adjacent land, made into the permanent position avid depot for our steam navigation with Wellington, all the hopes desired from a Harbour Board might bo realised, and the certain drawbacks to tht> Qpawa scheme which are sure to develop avoided.—l am, etc., H. B. HUDDLESTON, C.E.