MUDFLAT RECLAMATION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLI, Issue 317, 4 December 1906, Page 2

MUDFLAT RECLAMATION.

WHARFAGE EXTENSION. Mr Graham, M.H.R., Chairman of the Nelson Harbour Board, and most of the members, waited on the Premier to aslc that the Government should give the services of a competent surveyor to design plans and estimates of mudflat reclamation. Mr Graham said the Board had very valuable endowments which, when reclaimed, would give 8000 acres of land to the district. He was not going to ask the Government for a vote or grant but he asked the assistance of the Government in giving them the services of a competent officer for the purpose of making a comprehensive report on the foreshores with a view to recommending the best way of proceeding for permanent reclamation, and an approximate estimate of the cost. The work would be of the utmost importance to this part of the Colony. Mr Hanby said they were not in a position to do anything without a comprehensive plan of mudnut reclamation, and the Board did not feel justified at present in expending three or four hundred pounds in obtaining plans. If the Board did not carry out the work they would have to consider the advisableness of allowing it to be done by private enterprise. In fact the private enterprise idea was gaining ground, and on the Board at present there was at least a balance of parties, if not an actual majority, in favour of leasing the mud-flat endowments with the object of having them reclaimed. The Board, however, needed an enabling Bill, and yet was pledged to spend no money that might entail a rate however small. Mr McKenzie said the request was a reasonable one, and the amount involved for survey was a very small matter indeed. Sir Joseph Ward said he considered the request reasonable. When he returned to Wellington he would look into 'the mattor and see whether a competent officer could be spared .(Loud applause.) Mr Graham further pointed out that the extension of the railway wharf as planned and promised should be undertaken at once, and he asked Sir Joseph to urge his colleague, the Minister for Railways, to push on with the work as authorised. Mr Hounsell also spoke of the need of hurry with the extension. Sir Joseph Ward said he would bring the matter under the notice of the Minister for Railways at once (tomorrow) on his return to Wellington. (Applause).