IDLE SHIPPING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20058, 22 September 1928, Page 12

IDLE SHIPPING.

Fluctuations in the volume of intercolonial commerce are reflected in the presence in Auckland harbour of a varying number of temporarily idle steamers. Slackness in the coal trade is responsible for the withdrawal from active service of four colliers, now lying at anchor in Hobson Bay ; with them is a steamer that has probably made her last voyage. It is not easy to'provide safe accommodation for such idle shipi ping; the vessels must all have room to swing on their anchor cables to wind and tide, fhey must not intrude on the fairways to the wharves, or impede ferry traffic, and the clear- ! ancc must be wide enough to avoid their being a hindrance to navigation in storms and fogs. These conditions no doubt led to the selecttion of tho area in Hobson Bay as the anchorage for unemployed ships. Other considerations suggest that another place for them should be chosen. There, they lie right across the first prospect of Auckland that opens to shipping entering the harbour; there, they dominate the view from the eastern suburbs. Tramp steamers are important instruments of commerce, but they are certainly not beautiful, especially when thoy arc anchored in idleness. It would be unconventional at least for the City Council to use Albert Park for the accommodation of superfluous roadmaking machinery. Yet such thoughtless disregard of the city's dignity and of public sensibility would not be much worse than the manner in which ships that are not immediately required are carelessly dumped at the city's front door. The upper reaches of the harbour are surely sufficiently spacious to provide room for idle tonnage. It is a matter that should receive the attention of the port authorities, to whom citizens are entitled to look for co-operation in preventing unnecessary disfigurement of the harbour and the city.