THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, JULY 29, 1929. HARBOUR BOARD POLICY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20781, 29 July 1929, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, JULY 29, 1929. HARBOUR BOARD POLICY.

It was perhaps scarcely to be expected that the statement presented by the chairman of the Harbour Board at its meeting last week respecting the board’s policy would give unmjsed satisfaction to all of the members. It was a general pronouncement which was made by Mr Gow, and it was accompanied by the reservation that it represented the position as he saw it so that it did not bind the board in any way. A salient point in the statement was the declaration that the board’s policy has not changed in any way since .1915, when it was set forth as being; ‘f In the first place to secure a sufficiency of water in the channel at tho entrance and in the lower harbour for all shipping trading to the Dominion, and in the second place continuously to carry out its scheme for the accommodation of shipping at Dunedin and the deepening of the .Victoria Channel.” It was recalled that in pursuance of that policy the hoard secured some years ago legislative authority to raise a loan of £350,000 to enable it to carry out certain plans, including the re-establishment of the mole, the purchase of a new dredge, and the extension of the Victoria wharf in order to make possible a railway connection with it that is much needed. These projects, as the public

is aware, are well advanced. The reinstatement o£ the mole has been proceeding for some time past, the dredge has been ordered, is completed and is about to sail from the Clyde, and the engineer has reported that the second extension of 160 feet to the Victoria wharf is now practically finished. Mr Loudon raised, however, the question whether the forward policy adopted by the board in 1925, and represented in the prosecution of these major works, was not being whittled down. Criticism of a more contentious nature arose out of the fact that Mr Gow’s statement seems to have provided an opportunity for the rointroduction of • the issue of Dunedin vexms Port Chalmers. Perhaps the provocation was contained in the chairman’s explicit pronouncement that the board’s policy in respect of the Victoria Channel has not altered, and that “ the discharging of ships at Dunedin, is.of much too great importance to the commercial community to' admit of that.” Possibly the Port Chalmers representatives on the board '.will always look with a grudging eye on expenditure on the Victoria Channel, but it is about time they reconciled themselves to the fact that this channel is a very important feature of &ie Port of Otago and has to, receive due consideration. The. chairman, it is to be noted, laid a good deal of emphasis on ,the point that the new dredge has not been secured, simply for the purpose of. deepening the Victoria Channel,, the type of dredge that was ordered being based, on ’the requirements in respect of deepening the Lower Harbour. That seems to imply that the board’s policy, in the chairman’s view at all events, is to do all that is necessary to put and maintain the fairway to Port Chalmers in such a condition that it will be navigable by the largest vessels coming to the Dominion. Unquestionably that must be regarded as a necessary feature of the board’s programme. It is to be gathered that the representatives of Port Chalmers on the board are not altogether satisfied with the prospects of a pursuance of a policy of this nature, otherwise there would be'.little need for a motion of which Mr Scollay has given notice. It is possible that the Port Chalmers members are apprehensive lest the new dredge may he so employed in the Victoria Channel to such an extent that the Lower Harbour channel and berthage will be neglected; The capacity of the new dredge to carry out the board’s channel-deepening programme in both the. Lower and the Upper Harbour, the manner in which the dredge is to be utilised, and the question of precedence in relation to the operations undertaken are matters upon,-which light may usefully be thrown in the discussion of the board’s policy which may be expected to take place at the special meeting that is to be' held for the, consideration of the chairman’s statement and of the motion tabled by Mr Scollay. The question of the railway connection with the Victoria wharf’ is one that urgently demands the attention of the board, since, for lack of such a connection with the berthage for overseas vessels, the port of Dunedin is at present certainly placed at a disadvantage.