GROWTH OF PORT FACILITIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21117, 26 February 1932, Page 8

GROWTH OF PORT FACILITIES.

"When Auckland was deliberately founded on what is now known as the Waitemata Harbour, the situation was favoured because, among other advantages, it would be conveniently in contact with inland waterways and coastal shipping. That was a venture of faith, amply justified by events. In what is published to-day about the development of the port there is a story of further foresight, exercised in the earliest days of the Harbour Board and continued throughout the period of growth since then, The publication of even a bare summary •of shipping tonnages and amounts spent' 011 berthage accommodation and facilities is enough to impress the value to the whole provincial area of this alert policy. That the outlay has not involved any direct charge on the community served, being provided largely by revenue from leases of reclaimed land, is a cause of gratification : in particular* it prompts praise of the business acumen of the board's first chairman, who did much to secure for the board its title to the bed of the harbour and so obtained for it the legal right to revenue from reclamation. But gratitude is due also to those who have steadily pursued a policy of wharfage development, with the result that accommodation is ample for present requirements and can be improved to take vessels of deeper draught without disturbing the structural scheme of the wharves. This anticipation of further needs is wise. Among the assets of Auckland, having regard to the near as well as the remote future, is its situation with reference to oversea trade. A halt can never be called for long in the progress of the South Pacific, to look no farther than the immediate maritime setting of this port. A glance at the map, coupled with a knowledge of the resources awaiting exploitation in island groups within reach of New Zealand, reveals a commercial outlook of vast promise; and Auckland is so placed that it will naturally profit most from that contact by necessarily seaborne traffic. The gain that came to Sydney in early colonial days indicates what may be reasonably expected to happen under new conditions as they arise in this region. To have that in mind is essential to progress here, and it is well that the board has been preparing, without undue expenditure, for assured expansion.