AUCKLAND HARBOR CONTROL.

NZ Truth, Issue 243, 19 February 1910, Page 1

AUCKLAND HARBOR CONTROL.

A Bossed Board of Nominee Noodles.

JLgckland^s nominee Harbor Board has never stood high m public favor. As a public body it is as autocratic as :it is brainless. It has a complete disregard for. -public convenience, and its profligate expenditure of loan monies has established a -/record for recklessness, even m God's loan country. , Witness, for instance, the £55,000 ferry buildings^(the stone for which is, like the Board's engineer, imported), the fleet of steamers and dredges— most of which are ic^ and others advertised for sale, the palaitial shed covered railway wharf, the bign,\warehouses which are available for winter agricultural and horticultural shows, but w;hich have only been partially utilised by the refuse from the stranded Kafipara and otherwise remain idle. This useless, effete, unintelligent and recklessly extrayag an j, Board has at' last received a much-needed cheek m its headstrong, hea.dlong, ruinous career. During the past few . days the Board has been keelhauled by Magistrate Kettle and his confreres forming ; the Board of Nautical Inquiry, and almost simultaneously about '£20*000 worth of Engineer Hamer's retaining wall has slithered into the sea, being too weak and top heavy to hold itself up even m the semi-shallow water of Freeman's, Bay.

It will be remembered that the New Zealand S.S, Co.'s Kaiparf. left the railway 1 wharf, about an hour before low water on the 14th ultimo, beug m charge of Captain Sergeant, the Deputy Harbor Master," -^who left the vesfel opposite Calliope Dock. Less than ar hour later She struck an • uncharted shoal m Raugiteto Channel, and sank forward, completely 'filling Nos. 1 and 2 holds and the refrigerating -chamber. The resultant loss to* the ship and shippers was nearly £150,000. Although the ship had a list' and was drawing 28ft aft, she was seawbrfky notwithstanding, and was steered a course justified by the latest published chart. She nevertheless stranded where that chart showed. 31 feet 6 inches of water to exist. The court unanimously agreed on all these points and exonerated Captain' Cornwall and his oflicers f rbm : all blame, returning them their certificates: "Truth" is not further concerned with this decision, which was only just.

> B ? u\ what the Auckland public is concerned about is that the Harbor Board officials have known of* this shoal m the . faifyay for 2<) years past. It has ".'at' various times been reported to them, ancl several vessels have struck it, includr in|' the French 'frigate Duquesne, the 102. Shipping Company's Waimate, the American mail liner Sierra, and the Kaipara. Within a few days of the disaster "the rocks were located by Captain dprnwall, of the Kaipara, and his finding has f tieen ' corrobbrated by the surveying oTncefs of H.M.S. Challenger, who undertook the work at the request of the jftarine Board. When the vessel struck, Witchuison, ex-chairman of the Board, .Nominee: Entrician, the present chairman, jrtrno knows 'more dbout sugar than nayi\^«tionV and Captain Duder, the barborall rushed , into print m the dai.'iies and were cocksure that . the captain .rod gotie off his course. Meanwhile Captain Cornwall '-held his whist," located/the '^obstruction, and ' prbmptly buoyed it. ..-.This so incensed the Harbor Board notninee ncdles that they removed the 7h buoy, and; it \yas not until Magistrate ; Kettle was hot on • bouncing Brigham, .the autocratic . secretary of the Board, ..that the spot was again marked and no- r

tice was given to mariners oi the exis-

lence of tde obstruction m the fairway. '= The actions of the Board have all along -1 indicated a Uesire to suppress facts and I " '" s D *ft responsibility. , Bri 6 ham's attempt i^ To make a scapegoat recoiled on "■■' T - bim whea the correspondence demanded •* p by the court clearly proved that the W- harlormaster bad repeatedly asked for a «■'''"'' survey of Kan 6 itoto Channel. But the 3 ' Board could not see its way cleat to *" approve of this course being followed, *^ tonlcss it -were , done by the Admiralty,' ~ r ' which i seems never to have had a ship ' r - idle • long enough to do the job. The esx -'- tiraatcd cost of a local survey was £450, *]7 C but a Board which has allocated expen-

diture of over a million at a sitting was

r . bo oblivious Of the safety of ' shipping % - UJ " and so regardless of the. welfare of the t ' i ' X'K ' port and city of Auckland as "to decline \^' to make a local survey even 'at such a trivial cost. The Nautical Court iav '" ftbat the Board and its permiiaeh.* »ffi'■■■■v-' ■■ ' - ■■■ i '-•

cials have displayed "masterly inactivity and' supinehess" and '• that' these seem to be 'the "most prominent characteristics; of the ! c6nduct of the Board," and that there is urgent' necessity for an early and exhaustive ' surrey '\ot Auckland harbor from Rangitoto beacon to, the wharves. This condemiiation' ■ is certainly scathing enough and points distinctly to the gross incompetence ';ot the permanent officers of the Bciardi r who' have: allowed a grave danger to 'be perpetrated until such time as a fin* ship is wrecked within the harbor limits;. The Kaipara was the • first direct steamer ' to leave Auckland for London, and for a long time, and (at least till a survey is made) she is likely to be the last. Shippers must return to the old style „ol shipping;, via Onehunga to Waitara or Wellington, where transhipment is made to the home boats. It is a bitter pill for Aucklanders to swallow, but there is no surety that there are not other shoals lurking about the Rangitoto Channel, and the residents of the northern capital have only themselves to blame for calmly accepting the effete^ nominee system that legislation has forced upon them m connection with the management of harbor affairs. Nominee boards are a relic of the past. They should be shunted to oblivion with grand jury and other similar farces, and a democratic people should demand that all such public trusts should be administered by boards elected on the i popular franchise. . , :

During the inquiry .it waSidisclosed that the luminoiis buoys-' shown,- on .the. ; Adf miralty "bhairt had' -by/ resolution, -of tne Board .been shifted several ..hundreds of feet but. 'of position ; 'that they 'did not mark the" channel at; all,, but wiere placed m shoal water, v When . they. court inquired . regarding . the "notice given .to shipmasters,' ; it was* staggered to. find that none had been ' issued, and that this rule of, thumb business ■- was . characteristic of the rdann'er ' m? which ;th.e ! Hamer and Brighattl-bossed o ;nomiiiees . ■ „ ( did .^tbeir duty' to' tjie ' pnb'lic; • With ;\such careless{ ness raippant, it is a 4 wonder: that, Qther vessels hayernbt piled 'up m. Auckland harbor, airt'tbi inactivity y: of the harbor officials borders closely 'L on- criminal negligeflCe.' *'" ■'"' <■*''■ ■■;;.:: _ . „"' '■

For some- considerable ''..time past 'the work of reclaiming qd . odd acfes of fore-' shore has been .•proceeding at Freeman's Bay, and on the eastern!, side of It 'contractor Julian '.fea§ completed a 'concrete wall, which;- is .apparently a very good job. ''At any. rate, it gives no indication of cracking or ; . weakness. From Julian's job along the Northern, front to. Ponsohby, engineer ■ Hamer of the .Harbor ' Board has been erecting a wall', by' "day labor," arid at - low water. , on Friday morning last 427 feet v of,, this structure collapsed into the 'sea. „- The damage is Variously estimated ; by members pi tnfe board to approximate . £20,000 . Chairman : Entrican officially reported to a meeting of the board m committee that a ""sad' acciderit" had 1 occurred* at Freeman's Bay, and Engineer Hamer attributed the collapse of .the wallVto the fact that 'the dredger had not been .shifted when. Jie gave instructions for it ' to' 1 be' done." "I'hc general tone of his .story" indicated that he is ' already looking for "a V scapegoat. The public are, : however, aroused; and a shilly shallying, inquiry at the handc of the Harbor Board .pfficials will ' 'hot 'be acceptablc-to ;them.\, When'a retaining wall suddenly -tumbles down, long before it is called upon , to bear the Jateral strain that it- is. expected to jbeaf, :^ it indicates clearly to .the layman' that there is a screw- loose somewhere. The Auckland'public will .not b«s* satisfied to accept Hamer's ipse dixit as to the cause, especially as that official has over a million potirids worth, of public money at his disposal td. carry out all sorts of, schemes already approved' by the nominee noodles. Engineer' Harrier floutsr v the idea that ,the loss is so great, but- if it,, took £20,000 to build' the "'waHvifr /is reasonable that a similar anibunt will be- required <to remove the debris andre^rect \it. V: , The Harbor Board's pretty, picture , maker announces that all railway , rails, collards, fenders, kerbing, arches; piles, beams, bolts, etc., wiU be recovered,' and allowing credit for these, he thinks he can rear the wall again at a cost of £4300.. Even that ! sum of moriey is a wicked waste, allowing tiiis op"timistic< estimate to be correct, "sn& looking at the matter m the best lißht, it is not gratifying to know : that such,, thinw can happen of their own

accord, or that the general stability of tenner's day l«bbr jobs are being called m' question. "Truth I 'has no desire to whip Hatner, or any other official of the Board, but the public demand an independent inquiry into the cause of the demolition of the; wall by its own weight and volition, and the person responsible must bear the brunt. ' ,