MOTUEKA HARBOUR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue LIII, 30 October 1919, Page 7

MOTUEKA HARBOUR.

MONTHLY REPORT

The following report bty the Harlourmaatef (Mr Pi. G. Moffatt) was ■•resented at the monthly meeting of he '.Motneka Harbour Board on Satirdny:— ' I have the honour 1. inform you that the wharf revenue, for the past month amounted to £BO 7s Kid. compared .with 1506 *is 9d for the same, •eriod last year.

Th,-. number of vessels entered the >ort fnr the past 24 days was .19, samel/. 16 steamers and 3 sailing vessels. with a total aggregate hr tonnage of 1262.

The quantity of fruit shipped for September this year was 8909 bushels, is compared with 11,978 bushels shipred in September last year.—'Chafing Biles: The work of putting in 10 •luffing piles has boon completed. There arc two spare piles on hand, which may he required for use a little 'liter on.—Pontoon: Repairs t 0 the lontoon. are now being undertaken, hut irnbahly the work will not be comileted until next spring tides, that is. in about two weeks from now.— haunch: The Board's motpr launch is undergoing a thorough overhaul. Practically nl] the decking and the upper itmctinv have been renewed, with neW materials, and the - hull has been strengthened.—-Gravel: If if, is your Board’s dcsir> to lay in further .stocks "f travel, as supplies which wore hand have been used, It may be well to inform you that a large, supply -an be obtained from the locality .at the beach on the south side of the miter channel. , The pontoon and launch will shortly be in thorough good order for bringing gravel to this side of the channel, from whence it can be carried "on to the streets.

Soundings 0 f Channel, Etc

During this month I completed a thorough .survey of the channel and a ■onsiderable area of sea bottom at the approaches thereto, as well as levels and positions of part of the old sand bank. Altogether some 650 levels were taken. From plans, attached hereto, yen will be enabled to ascertain, the changes that have taken place from year to year during the period .since the opening of this harbour. Ini my report of the 28th October last year, I informed your Board that only slight iliing had taken rpla.ee in the channel near the wharf, during the previous twelve months. The present, soundings show no very material differences, except some alterations in positions of silt (shingle and sand), doubtless due to some ' alterations in the “run” of tides. It wou’-d, however, be of great advantage t 0 have this part of the channel dredged out to its original deptp and also to be widened to the full! extent of the measurement shown on the original plans, hut not comnleted during the construction of the harbour. I would draw your attention to longitudinal lines C to E and across sections 19 to 24, marked on plan showing the, present levels. As your Board is aware, the* channel was not dredged to th P fu.l width shown on the on/mai plans. The (~insc\pic'ice of this is that the narrow passage. and at times consequent strong currents at that locality, makes navigation more or less difficult. This is a detrimental condition which should bo remedied. Between lines AD to Z, and cross sections 30 to 42. on. plan, at entrance, covering an area of 25 chains by 24 chains, you will be able to compare levels and contour lines _ with previous plans. In regard to this, you will be gratified to note, that the depth of water ?n the shallowest place -s rather ovW sft 1.w.0.5.t., as compared with 4ft twelve months ago, and although the sand spit has increased In length by 214 ft. in a s.e. direction, it fis now necessary for vessels ■ entering or leaving the channel to make an alteration in compass direction of only 34 degrees on one safe curve, on account of the more defined straight channel, instead of the S shaped .course which it has been necessary 1 0 use during the past two years or so. • In my report ■of last year mention was made that, “Eventually. it may he found that natural action of the sea .-rod -currents will provide a quite satisfactory channel with sufficient depth of water to meet requirements of shipping.’ I how think that ultimately it may bo found desirable to construct a training wad on the south side of the channel to assist the action of nature in keeping the entrance in good condition. But that subject, will require the opinion of an engineer experienced in such matters, and therefore X can, offer no definite proposals. Before concluding my remarks under this heading, I might mention that there should b e no unavoidable delays cadged tk> '.shipping, provided the times of arrivals and departures of steamers usually employed in Working this port are arranged in accordance with the times of Tides, which under 'the worst conditions—spring tides—give a. period of eight hours continuously, out of the 12 hours occupied by flood and ebb tide, while the port can be worked for 10 hours on each neap tide. The depths of water for this, pprt can now he safely recorded to be as follows; —Ordinary spring tide h.w.,,18ft. ; i.w., 3ft.; ordinary neap tide h.w., 14ft. 6ih. add l.w. 7ft 6in.

Leading Beacons and Lights. ■ Owing to the now move clearly defined entrance, it ha%. .become necessary to erect a new set of leading beacons with lights for use at night. This will necessitate. th e use of several different coloured 'lights. The lights on these ww beacons will be tw cj white ones, giving the first lead into the port. These white-lights will be discernable for a distance of six miles at" sea and will prove of great advantage to shipping, as _at the present time our existing lights cannot be seen over a wide radius, and being placed at a low altitude it is now rather difficult for vessels to pick up the position of the harbour by night. Materials for constructing the hew beacons are on hand and no lime will be lost in having them erected, when the whole of these alterations will h© duly gazetted. TV