HARBOUR BOARD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4026, 13 January 1875, Page 5 (Supplement)

HARBOUR BOARD.

Tho Harbour Board met in the Library room of tho Provincial Council yesterday afternoon, when there were present His Worship the Mayor (in the chair), Messrs E. B. Cargill, Neill, Beid, Tewsley, Capt. Thomson, Mercer, M'Dermid, Reeves, and Gillies (Secretary), The report of the Finance Committee was rejul, which recommended that Mr Simpson's whole and undivided services should be devoted to the duties of Engineer to the Board. This was provided for, as the Government had asked that gentleman to superintend the completion of the works initiated by him—liglit railways and Naseby and Waipori sludge channels—and it wa3 statec(. that Mr Simpson was anxious to complete the light railway works begun by him. The report was adopted as read. Mr E. B. Cargill was voted a member of the Commiteee. Before the tenders for jetty extension were read, The OifAißJijpf explained that Mr Broudfoot's had not been handed in nntil an hour after the advertised time. Mr Proudfoot was called, and said the tender was written before eleven, but it might have been a little after twelve when placed in tho receiving box. It was agreed not to entertain the tender. The other tenders for jetty extension were then opened and read as follows :— J. Cormack and Co, £12,943; J. B. Blair, Mosgiel, £17,254 17s 4d ; Hawkins and Co., Lyttelton, £12,651 9s 7dl A telegram was read from Connor and M'Kay, stating that they would not tender, being connected wi; h Hawkins and Co., and it was agreed to refer the tenders to the Works Committee, with power to act after consulting the Engineer, The Works Committeo were ordered to reportupontheappoiutmentof a Draughtsman and Inspector.

A London paper observes : —" The apparently unimportant announcement that Mr Vogel, the Premier of New Zealand, is on his way to England, really means, that, encouraged by the annexation of Fiji, he has come to urge on Lord Carnarvon the brilliant, but impossible policy, of asserting the British dominion over the unappropriated islands of the South -Pacifies.

"The invention of iron plates to protect vessels ia far from being of as recent date," Iron says, "as is generally supposed. During the 12th century, the Normans covered their ships from the water-live up with an iron casing, terminating in a ram on the bow. Still earlier they had adopted a sys tern of protecting the upper works with metal shields. In 1534 Peter of Arragon ordered h.is ships to be ir^n plaied, in order to. Project f r pm burning missiles then in common use. Jn 1530 the squadron of Andrea Poria contained a vessel built by the Knights of St. John, which was armoured with several thicknesses of iron. At the battle of Lepanto several ships protected their batteries with bars of iron. For two centuries no progress seems to have "begn made. In 1782, at the siege of Gibraltar, an engineer officer constructed six ships, which were the types of the modern ironclad. They were covered with an armour of hard wood, leather, and bar iron. It is said that they resisted the fire of the forts for a long period, buti were finally sunk by Shot,"