MOTUEKA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 16 August 1910, Page 6

MOTUEKA.

HARBOUR LOAN PROPOSALS

ADDRESS BY THE MAYOR

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

MOTUEKA, This Day. By invitation of the Borough Council, thv Mayor, Mr F. W. Thorp, who is also a member of the Harbour Board, addressed a public meeting in the Church Schoolroom on Frulay eveuiug on matters concerning his views on harbour matters. Mr .). 11. Eankin was voted to the chair, and briefly explained the object of the meeting, and introduced the speaker. The Mayor, on rising, stated that he thought it was quite necessary, for the best interests of the borough and The districts as a whole, that he should publiclv explain the stand he Lad taken on'the Har.bour Board hi, ;conniH-3ion with (proposals brought forward. Several engineers had submitted reports to flic Board, and , the question was which was the most J capable engineer, and the one to fol- - He stated h'is reasons for believing that Mr Marchant's advice was the best to act upon. That gentleman, in 190(5, submitted two schemes—one was for a harbour at a high cost, in deep water; the other to cost £13.000. to "improve the present harbour; thi< latter amount to supply the cost of a dredge. The dredge could be sold on the completion of the work for £+ooo. and the actual cost would therefore be £9OOO. Two members of the Board went to Wellington to submit the plans and report of this scheme to the Minister; ,but the delegates were not sufficient,!y ex-pert to explain matters to the .Minister. He could not remember .who the delegates were; but he had ,no doubt thi'v did the best they .could. To .'how the want of knowledge of the locality by the Minister and 1 li'o Government Engineer, they pointed out that as the Motueka .river e mptie-d into Motueka harbour, .they cou-d not sanction the scheme, the speaker at the time saying that they must be mad. Later on, Mr Lutlejohu was engaged by the Board, .and a' loan of £13,000 was sanctioned .by the ratepayers for the purpose of .carrying his scheme out. But the .Board thou made a grave mistake by .not getting on with the work right away; but cho.e to wait on account of the current rate of intere -t, which was. (hen tlrought too high. This delay had caused the present trouble. He had said at the time for every £1 saved in that way. £lO would be Jost through waiting. At that time he was not a member of the Board; but he invited members to go over to the sand bank with- him, and two went, while one of this district members refused 1o go. lie pointed out to them .what was going on; but no notice was taken. However, lie predicted .that tire sand bank would make up again. Mr Marehant was confident that the harbour would have stood if the matter hud .been taken in hand in lime; but when he was engaged in 1909 he advised the proposed extension of the wharf to bo withheld, as the sand bank had gone to such an extent, and he recommended a pile and boom construction as a means to assist in th'o re-forming of the bank. Although the engineer would not guarantee that this would be a success, lie felt absolutely certain that if would. The Mayor then read extracts from Mr Marchant's report. Mr Marehant then estimated that the work to provide improved facilities at the present harbour would cost from £IO,OOO to £II,OOO, and added that the sand bank would again make up according to present indications of nature. The speaker went on to point out that tin: engineer stated that, failing suece s at Motueka, a useful harbour could be made at Moutere Lagoon. He impressed on his bearers the reference to Moutere as a useful harbour. He had seen .*> ieyort of Mr Marchant's in the newspapers; but he could find no trace of it in the Board's office-. This was the report the Board was going to act upon. Then the Board sent off X> Wellington again to see if they could get the sanction of the Government. The estimated cost was £17,000 to make a hanbour at the Moutere. Mr Marehant, on June 5. HMO. submitted detailed plans and report on Moutere Lagioon. and the cost was to be £21.000. although the whole amount may not be spent. The speaker said that lve would admit that ut harbour "of a sort" might be made at the Moutere. He would have them note that the Board had agreed to Mr Marchant's scheme ?nr Motueka; but through tb-e current rate of interest they del; vcd. Then they Middenly woke up-—in fact, they lost their heads over it —and wanted co depart from the Engineer 'st ' advice, and go to Moutere. Then Mr Austin came along, and after traversing the plan, and reports, advised the Board to go to Motueka, and he rh-ought that the work would cost •ibout £20.000. The Mayor then compared Mr L.Ta reliant's experiences ivith those of previously employed engineers, and showed that the former's reputation wai superior to the others. There was no man in Aus:rnlia at present who had a record qual to him,; then surely he could .be trusted to carry out a £15,000 job. Ue 'aid, give him the job. and let do it. He then read a resolution by .he Board., wherein w ;l s stated that it would cost from £IO,OOO to £50,000 to make a Avail to protect the harbour. Me failed to find any estimate in record of an engineer where' that ■'.as mentioned. If the £20,000 were '.orrowed to carry out the work at Moutere. with revenue at £970 per uiuum, and with the amount of rates :o collect, the £SOO Government subndy would be reduced by £ for £ after the revenue from all sources imounted to £IOOO. In fact, it -;eant that the sub-idy would drop as :" o revenue, including rates, would be raised to £2OOO. 'ff £9OOO would 2o the work, as Mr Marehant suggests, the sneaker asked why tlvev shculd spend £24,000. All we need ;s 2ft. of water at the wharf; that would do us for the next 20 years. Xot one of the engineers on his own account had uggested going to the Moutere Lagoon. The reason because they know a good Irarbom could not be made where a river runs into it. (A voice: A five-yea r-old child could walk across it). The time would come when the railwav wiil come down the Motueka Valley; nie Minister of Railways had told •him to. Nelson had spent £75,.0<M1. V:d i•i! I \ had a scuml-'h;-,, harbour

.--> show for if It tv.js iaipo :-ib!e to M'ike a rii'st-ela.-*.-. harbour at Nelson. A first elas harbour could be made at Vlotucka. If we to the Moulere wc will bo everlasl iiijjly committed to a sorond class harbour. He was not favourable to {Toiiiy io Astrolabe. The present is the bet ~ite. JUo'-aeka

could be the chief harbour on this end of the South Island, and would bo the railway terminus. Tirt? Board nullified by "a. proposition the loan that -was .-auctioned for the present site. it was said if the present loan was not carried we would be without a. harbour. He s-.;id we could go back to the Government and make a good ease, and they would say, very well, you will do what you want. To sum up the whole thing, none say go to Moutere but Austin. Cut down, the cost of the work to the ulmost. He doubted if the work could he dene for the amount estimated.

TL'? Chairman expres-ed the Mayor's wilJingnes to answer questions.

Mr P. llerrick asked if Mr Thorp and Mr llewetson were unanimous in their opinions en the matter.

The 'Mayor. "We are practically of the same opinion." Mr Drogemuller said from the reports he had read they showed that the work .it Motueka proposed to be done was experimental, while the Moutero was sure, Mr Thorp had only read facts that suited himself.

The Mayor replied he did not consider it necessary to go through every detail of reports. The question was was the Moutere or was Motueka the best place for a harbour. Mr A. I. Manoy : Is Westport a firstclass harbour '!

The Mayor: No. Mr Manoy: Is it a success? The Mayor : As a first-class harbour No.

Mr Manoy: Does Mr Marchant say Motueka can be made a first-class harbour

The Mayor : Yes. A vote of thanks to the Mayor and to tiie Chairman brought the meeting to a clos». PAINFUL ACCIDENT. On Saturday morning Mr H. Guest, while dressing a sheep at Ngatimoti, had the misfortune to inflict a large pash in his thigh when cutting through the brisket. He was putting considerable pressure on the knife when it slipped. He was brought to Motueka in a trap, where Dr Jeffreys stitched up thelarge gaping wound.