HARBOUR BOARD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6814, 19 September 1883, Page 6

HARBOUR BOARD.

The ordinary fbrtnightly meeting. -6i'■■■. the Board was held yesterday. Present .• MeSsra,C. B. Stone (Chairmanj, Waddeij' DaSre, Nathan, Lamb ; : Mays,' Harperj Owen, Ai'ckin, McKeazieil and the) Mayor. The minutes of the preceding meeting were read and confirmed. ' • " ' \ letter Was read f rorn the Secretary of the Marine Department requesting a return of endp\vments, loans, &c., to Harbour Board in accordance with a resoln> tion of the Legislative Council.—Ordered that returns be made, asi requested. RETUBif OF HARBOUR IIIBROyEMgKTS.— A letter was received from the. Secretary of the Marino Department requesting informir tion as to ajj improvements of harbour, in order to be iithographed when forwarded in the proper, form, and to be published for general inform ation. Pilot Boats. letter was received froan the Secretary of the Marine. Department drawing attention to the recent accident at Nelson, and requesting that all pilot boats shall bs provided with a sufficient, number of life belts for the crews. The letter further requested that instructions be given to. complete the pilot service.in this respect. —Ordered that the Harbourmaster be requested to ea/ry out the suggestion according to the terms of the request. CoSveyance. —A letter was received from Mr,. E. Browning asking on behalf of a client for a conveyance of a. certain piece of land according to plan,—Referred to the Finance and Legal Gamtiiittos. Mail Arrangemests.—Mr. T- T. Gambia brought tinder the notice of the Board the arrangements hitherto subsisting for berthing the mail steamers. He reminded the. Board that there was aa understanding that the mail boats were to have the berth at the end of the wharf/ in deep water. He desired to be informed, whether he should report that the old arrangements were at an. end.— The Chairman said there was no intention to determine previous arrangements as suggested by Mr. Gamble's letter. Any change was merely temporary, and occasioned by special citeumstaness.—lt was ordered that the Secretary should write to Mr. Gamble in terms Of the Chairman's explanation. Northcots YViiart?.—A letter Was. received from Messrs. Beaton, Denby, Lee, and others calling attention to the above wharf. They said the wharf had not had any eubstantial repairs for several years. It was necessary to extend it into deep water. Steamers had been unable to land or take away passengers, at certain states of the tide. —The letter was referred to the Engineer to report Upon. Mechanics' Bαv (Swingßridge),—Messrs, FraSer and Tinne announced a rather serious accident to the Annie Milbank (Captain Morrison), by coming upon the stonework forming the foundation, which injured her machinery.. It would cost £60 to make* the necessary repairs.—The Mayor : Who caused this obstruction ?—The Secretary : The Government.—Mr. Waddel: Or rather the. contractor, There is on the business paper a letter to be read from Mr. Bassett. the Government contractor, refusing £1500 offered by the Board. It may be an important question whether this Board can be held responsible, or Whether the Government and its contractor are the parties liable.—T&e letter from Messrs. Fraser and Tinne was referred to the VVbrkß Committee. The Reclamation* Contract.—The letter of Mr. Bi'ssett was read in which he respectfully declined to accept the £1500 offered in full of all demands, and said he was reluctantly compelled tp instruct hie solicitor to take, legal proceedings.—Resolved that the letter be acknowledged.—The. Mayor thought it would be advisable to pay the £1500 into Court upon receiving the notice of action or the first step in legal proceedings. There was. this advantage in paying the money into Court, that if the plaintiff should recover less or no more than the sum. offered, he would have to pay the costs. If the ifioney Wer& not paid in, then the costs would fall upon the defendants, though Mr. Bassett should recover less.—Referred to the Finance and Legal Committee. Discharging Cargo.—A letter from Messrs. Nathan and Co. was read, enclosing plans for improving facilities for landing and delivering cargo, and showing that a double, line of countersunk rails might, be laid on the Railway Wharf; that communication should be made between the two wharves without second handling of cargo; that a. substantial shed for goods should be erected; that consignees ehould be allowed a Week's storeage ; that open or covered trucks should be provided, according to the state of the Weather, and that no delivery should be made except from the Board's goods shed; that there should be double lines, of rails running through the proposed goode shed, occupying the whole space from Break-water-rpaid to Queen-street; that a prohibitive tariff be charged on goods not delivered within the week ; masters washing to diecharge at night, be allowed, on payment of overtime,—Mr. Nathan said that every day the necessity of facilitating the discharge of cargo from vessels coming to this port was becoming more imperative. If something were not done soon there was no knowing when any improvement could be made. He remembered that when he returned to the cplony, after an absence of some fourteen months, the allotments, which would have afforded greater accommodation, were on the point of being sold. It Was notorious that the expenses of vessels in Auckland were greater than in other ports owing to this want of facility for discharging cargo. Even freights were more favourable to Sydney and other Australian ports, because the facilities at despatch were, greater than at Auckland. Rapid discharge should be secured. Tho public Was interested in this, inatter, as well as shippers and consignees. The prices of general merchandise must sooner or later bs influenced by the difficulty in the Way of discharge.—Mr. Harper had examined the plan accompanying Messrs. Nathan's letter, Hβ believed that it vras a. very good arrangement. The truth was the Auckland wharf had always been in a bad way for receiving goods. It had not the suitable sheds or other machinery. Indeed the town was pretty much in the. same position. There were no suitable plac63 for cabstands.—The letter of Messrs. Nathan was referred to the Works and Tariff Committee.

Refund.—A letter was received from the Manager of the. Bank of New Zealand, in reply to a letter from the Board asking a refund of £362 {brokerage) updn loan being & a charge which, in the opinion Of, the Board, they werenotliable. The'letterofMr.Kisaling pointed out that, in consequence of the assistance of brokers, a much better price had been ob.tai.aed ; that there was an actual gain to the Board at a greater sum than was charged for brokerage, and therefore the bank could hardly he expected to refund the sum which had been charged to the Board for brokerage.—'The Secretary, in reply to several questions, said the bank undertook to negotiate the loan at £1 per cent. Their terms were half per cent, for negotiating loans in Australia and onfi per cent in London. The charges upon the loan were altogether £2000.—Mr; Lamb : 1 am Of opinion that it will be desirable to allow this matter to stand as it is. There are expenses of various kinds which are often not taken into account in negotiations of this kind. I. do not think that we will gain anything by insisting on this refund.—The Chairman : Bat this was a negotiation under a special contraofc with the bank. The sum proposed by themselves was one per cent. Upon that they were paid £1500. The only reason for asking this reftind was that it was altogether outside of the terms of the contract with the bank, There was no reason given for its payment except that brokers had been employed. But the contract was that the one per cent, would cover all Bu.eh charges.—Mr. Harper : The Chairman and Secretary have made this matter very clear. The amount charged to the Board did not come within the contract, and therefore it should be refunded.—Mr, Lamb : 1 think we should consider a great many things in Connection with this matter. | [' Tiie Board might some day be placed at a disadvantage by reason of their action on the present occasion.—After some discussion it was resolved, on the motion of Mr. Harper, seconded by Mr, Nathan, "That the sum of £36:2 asked by the bank for brokerage cannot be allowed,"—Carried. Finance.—The Secretary read the following statement: —Payment of Accounts : General Account, £1162 7s 4d. Statement of Funds : General Account—Balance ii bank, £7427 3s; cash in hand, £12 18s 4d : total, £7440 Is id. Accounts to bo paid as above, ,£116.2 7s 4d ; balance, £6277 14a. Loan. Account : Balance in bank, £2854 Us : on deposit, £140,000. . TARIFJb* COMMITTEE'S KEPOKT. Weighbridge,- —~ The committee 'recommend that the existing weighbridge be retained and offered at a nominal rent to Mr. J. Russell, subject to usual notice ; bridge to be

committee mended ftata traffic wharf, twenty feet wide, 2oW.opp*ttek!re. of Church-. atoeet, DevonpQrt,. provided the inhabitanta 0 ?. 1 " 0, ")? 37 o °e-^lf.thecost.of auch: from old .material from wharf sold/ Money/ 2p&SSS 6%aftortendeHSß " : SSS r / com «enxi e d that Mr, Morrin for- h IS ormed: that, the Board propose taking action in the matter of harhour Works in That the be instructed to prepare * ft 13 " o .* Harbour B-ard works e^tending to. Orakei Bndge.. ThattheGeneral tibvem? ment: be requested to make a survey of the proposed railway routes from Penioae to. Orabei, thenqe to new station in Qaeenstreet; to acquire the land from Penrose to Urakei neceseary for railway, and that this .Board assist in the proposed route and afford every fscilityasregardsforeAore.— Agreed to Drainage.—That the attention of the City Council be drawn to the want of drainage in Customhouse-street. West, between Al-bert-street and Hobsou>street, and. that a copy of the Chief. Harbourmaster's report tie Bent to the City Coaaqil.—Agreed to. Dock.—That the Engineer be instructed to overhaul and complete the flushing prpe at the Graving Dock.—Agreed to. NOTiCES OF MOTION. Storage Rates iya Sheds.—Mn Nathan moved, "That instructions be given to the Works and Tariff Committee to reconsider . the storage rates and sheds on the wharf," He drew attention to the great ihconveiiience that importers were put to by the present inadequate arrangements. — Mr. Harper seconded the motion, which was carried.

Berthage.—the Chairman moved, "That, in view of the want of increased berthage accommodation for the larger class of steam vessels, the Engineer be instructed to prepare plans and spec:fications for the extension of the Railway Wharf, as provided for in lease to the Kew Zealand Frozen Meat and Storage Company, 7, He said the necessity of accom-. modation. for ocean-going vessels was. made, apparent by the fact of having two large steamers (the California mail steamer and the Doric) dne in this harbour during the same week; only one of these eteamern could ba berthed at the same time.—Mr. Aickin seconded the mqtion. He considered that tne motion of the. Chairman was in the fight direction, and he had great pleasure in seconding it.—Carried.

Deeeging.—The following two motions stood in the name of Mt\ lamb :—''That it is desirable that a backet dredge be purchased for use in the harbour." " That the Engineer be instructed to report as to the best description of dredge required for harbour purposes."—Mr. Lamb, in movingthe first resolution, said that, according to the Engineer's report, there were 746\000 qubic yards of mud in the harbour; This present plant took but about 550 cubic yards per week when working, and when tbe new Priestman's dredge should he added 1600 yards a-week would be taken out. From the above figures it was to be seen that it would take from nine to ten years to clear the harbour with the present The Mayor suggested that the second, resolution came first in order. If Mr. Lamb moved the second the Engineer would make his report, and the Board from that report would have fuller information. The first resolution wouldjthen be in its proper order, and could be moved under circum. stances most favourable to ita full consideration,—Mr. Lamb : I have no objection to withdraw the first resolution, and to move the second. 1 therefore move the second resolution.—Mr. Mays seconded the resolution, which was carried.