NAPIER HARBOUR SCHEME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21577, 23 August 1933, Page 11

NAPIER HARBOUR SCHEME

AUTHORITY FOR FIRST STAGE LOANS BOARD'S APPROVAL [BY TELEGRAM OWN CORRESPONDENT^] NAPIER, Tuesday The Napier Harbour Board has received advice that the Local Government Loans Board has approved its application for authority to use £71,000 of unexpended loan money, authorised some years ago, for work at the inner harbour, which, as the result of the 1931 earthquake, was raised some 7ft. and has since been reduced in depth bv extensive siltation from tho repeated flooding of the Tutaekuri River. The board contemplates the expenditure of the £71,000 as a first step in a scheme estimated to cost £375,000. Tho acting-Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, visited Napier on Saturday and spent several hours inspecting the present condition of the harbour and discussing with the chairman of the Harbour Board, Mr. T. M. Geddis, the proposals which the board has in view.

At a meeting of the Harbour Board yesterday it was stated by the chairman that tho board's application had been approved by the Loans Board. Mr. Geddis said he had that morning been notified by Mr. Coates that he had sent tho report of tho Loans Board to the Minister of Marine, advising the latter that it would bo necessary to recommend to tho Governor-General that an Order-in-Council ,be prepared. It would then bo necessary for the Cabinet to approve the Loans Board's recommendation. The Cabinet would meet later in tho week.