A NEW GRAVING DOCK REQUIRED FOR PORT CHALMERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11797, 28 July 1900, Page 10

A NEW GRAVING DOCK REQUIRED FOR PORT CHALMERS.

AT A PROBABLE COST .OF £80,000.

AN INTERVIEW WITH MR JOHN MILL.

The question of building a new graving dock at Port Chalmers has been an important one in shipping circles for :nany years, and it is undoubtedly one that will require to be faced in the near future. The present clock is daily becoming too small for the requirements of shipping; and the Union Steam Ship Company now have two vessels—the Moana arid the Mokoia—that' are too large to be clocked at the Port. With a view of obtaining some practical information on the subject, a representative of this paper waited on Mr John Mill yesterday, and lie kindly agreed to talk on the urgency of building a new graving dock. Mr Mill said: As the shipping trade is increasing so rapidly, and larger vessels are being built daily, the Port Chalmers dock is now not able to take in many of tho large vessels that come to the Port. Several vessels of large dimensions would have been docked at Port Chalmers lately if the dock had not been too small to take them in. The present dock at the time it was built was large enough for the class of vessel that was likely "to enter the Heads for a long time, but that time has passed, and there are indications that the only way that shipowners can compete with foreign vessels in the Australian and New Zealand. trade is by increasing the size of their vessels to compete with the German and other ■ lines running to Australia and other places subsidised by their Governments. The Union Company is just following in the steps of other large companies, and adding ship after ship of larger size to enable them to compete with anything afloat. Hence the necessity now for the Port Chalmers Dock Trust to "take this matter in hand at an early date, and endeavour to get a new dock as soon as possible. If the Trust does not do this, so sure as there are ships afloat, so sisre will tho trade leave Otago and go elsewhere. It might be contended that there is a dock at Lyttelton, and that-the Wellington Harbour Board's engineer is away Home getting particulars about building a dock for Wellington. It might also be contended that there, is a deck at Auckland. True, we admit that ■ there are docks at all these places, and we also admit they are entitled to a'share of the work as well as ourselves. We do not, begrudge them a share of it, but our own necessity for a new dock is becoming more apparent as time goes on. The. ways and means of getting funds for the new clock need not present any particular difficulty, and the proposal can be carried to a successful issue if the Dock -Trust approach tho Government and show, them the necessity of guaranteeing a loan. If the trust guaranteed to the Government that they, will be responsible for the interest, money can le raised at 3 per cent, with a Government guarantee at tho present lime. The Government also should be approached to set apart.an endowment in some part of the- province to assist the Dock Trust lo pay.their interest. The Government has taken ground from Port Chalmers that' was sot apart in the early days for the purposa of improving the Port, and built their wharves and railway station upon it, without giving any compensation for the same. So.-you .see that it is a clear case, if the Dock Trust will go.about it in the way that they ought to do, and approach,the Government at once to get back their endowments, or else an equivalent. Thin matter of a dock affects everyone in the province of Otago: it affects working men, merchants, the -.butcher, the.baker, and the grocer. They are all affected, inasmuch as there--is "no steamer that comes into any of the docks without employing a very great deal of labour, and that of itself is capital distributed amongst the many. _ The present deck has done- extraordinarily good service, but its-capacity compared to the size of the vessch coming in nuts it out of the running altogether.. I knowthat the engineer has been approached and asked that-if be lengthened, and made broader, but this is quite out of the question. It would cost more to do it than it would to build a new dock ■ complete. I. believe that several thousands of pounds have bean snent on a portion of the-new dock, but it has b*een stuck up for .many years. The. people of Otago should be up and doing, -otherwises we shall lose a great deal of the Union Company's trade, and that would be a great, loss to everyone. I think that the new. dock could ' be mode 650 ft long and 85ft broad,, which would be big enough for anything that would come here for tho next 25 years, at a cost of about £80,000. The stone and material are just at hand, and the work could be. gone on with without dela}-. Tho present dock was made'about 25 years ago, at a cost of £48,000, but it transpired in subseqticnt proceedings that it cost only about £22,000. Mr Hay has the plans -and specifications of the new dock in hand, and could give any. information about it that might be desired. About £4000 has been already spent on the dock, and £5000 or £6000 on the sheer legs and other appliances, but the work has been, at- a standstill "for the last 10 or 12 year?. .",