THE PORT OF AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11869, 22 January 1902, Page 4

THE PORT OF AUCKLAND.

We need not impress upon the Ha bour Board the imperative necessii of providing suitable wharf and do< accommodation for the huge stead evs which will soon be visiting 01 port, since this necessity must 1

patent to all its members. • The facilities which we have hitherto beta able to offer have given to the port if Auckland a very creditable and prj fitable reputation and no expend must be spared in maintaining it 1 The Calliope Dock now contains thfe largest vessel ever docked in tli colony and one which no other NeV Zealand dock could take. With very little alteration— the. nature .rf which we understand the membeß of the Harbour Board to be agreed — can be made capacious enough to receive the very mlich larger steamers which Messrs. L. D. Nathan and Co. have informed th« Board are about to be placed in the trade between this colony and the United Kingdom. An exceptional amount of activity is now noticeably in the world's shipping circles, this famous White Star linewith which the Shaw, Savill and Albion Com pany is associated very prominent in the movement. Mr. Ismay, whose name is identified with the White Star line, was recently in Auckland in the course of an extended tour, which includes the great ports of Australasia and which was doubtless inspired by the present development of the world's carrying trade. The communication of Messrs. L. D. Nathan and Co., to which we refer, has therefore the weight of the personal opinion of one of the great captains of the shipping industry; the requests made for sufficient wharfage and for sufficient depth of water to enable the great steamers mentioned to trade , with our port are so reasonable that only one answer can be given. Those who have seen the marvellous growth of our port may well look back to the early days when • few were so ambitious as to dream that vessels of.- nearly- 13,000 registered tons would ever be able to lie at wharf, no matter what the tide, much less to find convenient and effective dry-docking. Yet this ac- : commodation the port of Auckland can now provide with very little additional outlay, which we may be sure the Harbour Board will promptly expend. ■ ;