NORTHERN FREEZING WORKS.

Northern Advocate, 13 November 1917, Page 4

NORTHERN FREEZING WORKS.

OPITO BAY SITE SUGGESTED

DIRECT LOADING FACILITIES

The following report concerning a site for the North Auckland Freezing works has been submitted to the directors by Mr Bevins:—

As instructed by you I have iiispected various localities between Okaihau and Opua on the line Of rail with a view to discovering a suitable site for the freezing works your company propose to erect. I havft alsb inspected various points on the harbour to find if possible a deep-water site for the works, a site workable by ocean liners and having also the necessary access for stock. If such a site is available it would be practically needless to consider any site inland, however suitable in bthfer .respects hs the cost of hahdliiig frbzeii produce from the works to the ship is the deciding factor. For instance if the works can be put on the waterfront where ships can load there is only one handling of the meat from tho works to the ship, cutting the cost and assuring the condition of the frozen article from the works to the ship. If on the other hand, the works are on the railway at an inland point you have to handle your goods from works to car, then from car to lighters, and from lighter to ship, making six handlings instead of two. All this handling is costly as special wages under award rules have to be paid for handling frozen produce. Then again there is the question of providing inBulated cars for conveyance of the produce from works to shipping pdint. To efficiently load a ship and give proper despatch, four trains of cars would be required with gangs of men at each end. The Railway Department has no plant of this class on its Northern section and it is not at all probable that for the sake of two days work in every month or six weeks (which is about what you would load out) the Department would supply tho plant. You would probably be called upon to supply your own plant, as other works have had to do, while you would pay the Railway the schedule hauliiigs though you supplied the plant. To the railway charges the cost of lighterage has to be added. For this work four large insulated lighters would be required with necessary labour gangs to work them. There is also the point to be remembered that when the produce is brought from a distance and handled several times a percentage is liable to be rejected by the ship's refrigerating engineer, and has to be returned to the works.

On the other hand, the stock-owner may view the question from the standpoint that the shorter the distance ho has to move his stock the greater will be his profit. This is not so. It is cheaper to drive the stock the greater distance, than pay the accumulative costs of railage, lighterage, and successive' handlings. These charges may and often do amount to %th of a penny per lb., which on a 800 lb. beast amounts to 8s 4d. It must be obvious then that it is considerably cheaper to* move live stock to the works than rail the dead beast from an inland point to the ship. For this reason it will be seen how important it is if possible to assure for your works a deep-water site, and I have consequently given this point my principal attention, and in this connection my nautical experience and knowledge of the Bay of Islands have been of much assistance. Before indicating the site which I consider the most suitable for your works, I would say that Opua itself is unsuitable for two reasons. It would involve considerable reclamation expenditure, and would entail lighterage as a Home liner could not get nearer than Sororareka Point (North of Russell) 5 miles from Opua wharf. Tanmarere on the Kawakawa River, is navigable for lighters at half-tide but is less suitable than Opua. There are other places more suitable but none are equal to a deep water site.

Fo rthe reasons stated above. 1 dismiss from my calculations all inland positions and select without hesitation the site most suitable for your works as Middle Point, Opito Bay, Kerikeri Inlet. This is a perfect site for the purpose, being accessible by a big ship, a channel equal to the entrance to Auckland harbour and having at the actual site itself 8 fathoms of water (48 feet) at low water mean spring. At a comparatively small cost a wharf to accommodate the largest ships could be erected here, and produce could be loaded direct from works into ships. This is ideal. The position is landlocked and completely sheltered. During the time of my inspection a heavy easterly sea was running in the Bay, but there was hardly a ripple at Middle Point.

An effective drainage is one of the most difficult problems.to deal with in connection with freezing works, this difficulty would not occur here on the harbour front. As to water supply I am informed this could be obtained from either the Waipapa or Kprikpri Rivers, both of which aro quite handy, and possibly a nearer supply may be found. I had not time to further investigate this matter but it would not in any case be a serious question. Electric power could be obtained from the Kerikeri Falls where there is a largo power available and not more than four or five miles distant. Coal could be obtained from the Ngunguru mines with direct water carriage. As to position, Middle Point is the nearest possible site for Hokianga, and northern districts, while it is also nearer for the Mangakahia district than the works at Whangarei Heads., The position is easily accessible and

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I am quite confident that few if any ■ farmers or graziers would use the rail- I v,-.i.y for transport of stock to the works, as the minimum charge i n normal tim.. in 15. per M miles per truck. This means Bto a truck, or 2s per head, and cattle can be driven from any part to the works for less and with better advantage to the cattle from a freezing point of view if carefully driven. Just above the site here indicated the Kauri Timber Company has a railway running from the Waipapa River i to Pukete at the back of Okaihau. The line is nine miles in length, and may possibly be of an advantage to the works as affording a short road across from Hokianga district; and should your company establish their works at Middle Point and make that the deep-sea shipping point of the Bay of Islands it is within the range of possibilities th_t eventually the Government might utilise the Kauri Timber Companys' tine by connecting it up with the Government line at Okaihau. The distance from Okaihau to Middle Point is only about i 2 to 15 miles over very easy open country. There is abundance of shingle on the spot for concrete andY building purposes. When the Government made the railway wharf at Opiia there was no thought of having to accommodate the • leviathan steamers now forming the Home fleet of produce carriers, and if the Bay district is to be served by those steamers the Kerikeri Inlet must, owing to its deep water, be utilised for the purpose, and Middle Point is destined to be the site of the new shippihg port. The site is unique so far as this iJoihihiori is concerned —a site where frozen produce can be loaded from the cooling chambers direct into ship's hold.