NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13781, 20 June 1908, Page 5

NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOUR.

PROPOSED EXTENSION. ' [BY TELKGRAriI. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] New Plymouth, Friday. A vkrv important report, bearing upon the proposals to borrow for harbour extension at New Plymouth, was submitted to the Harbour Board to-day, from Mr. F. W. Merchant, consulting engineer, who forwarded the first systematic survey made since the breakwater was commenced. He stated, " The harbour is capable of receivingvessels of the very deepest draught if sufficient dredging were performed under the ice of the breakwater, and when extended, its great depth of water, and its sheltered site offer facilities for making this harbour a really first-class port, and that at much less cost than has been expended on some of the other artificial harbours in the Dominion." Mr. Marchant, in another report, stated that the estimated cost of extending the New Plymouth breakwater, lengthening the wharf in ferro concrete, purchasing a dredge, and excavating the harbour, including repairs incidental thereto, would amount to a total of £133,000, including engineering contingencies and sundries. He was, however, of the opinion that the actual cost of the works proposed would be considerably less than the sum estimated.