New Plymouth Harbor Board.

Opunake Times, Volume V, Issue 207, 28 August 1896, Page 3

New Plymouth Harbor Board.

[continued from last issue.] Dredging. —Mr Skinuer makes periodical surveys of the bay. As shown by bis reports, the average gross accumulation of sand within the harbor is 16,000 yards. In his report in the spring of 1894 he gave the accumulation for the six months previous as 18,600 yards, only 8500 of which was removed by dredging, being a net increase of 15,000. The total accumulation within the harbor was later given as 64,000 yards, and this notwithstanding that the Board had been assisted with the Progress at a cost to the Government of i!6000. In the past, somewhere about 10,000 yards per annum were dredged by the Thomas King, at a cost in ’93 of £794 Is 7d; in ’94, £787 Is lOd. Presumably, in each of those two years more than 10,000 yards must have been dredged, for the cost per yard in ’94 was set down at ll£d. Well, after expending nearly £BOO a year, and being assisted to the extent of £6OOO by the Government, an accumulation of 64,000 yards (which meant that the harbor wss almost closed), was what the country Board had to face :

RETURN OP SAND DREDGED.

1895, Yds. January, dredged by Thomas King .. 1100 February „ •• 1400 March „ „ First month of country Board .. 1880 April, drei'ged by Thomas King .. 1600 May „ „ JjJJJ June „ „ n •• I°4o 10,100 August „ „ „ Mr Marchant took charge .. .. 3025 a . (Thomas King laid up most] 17fi0 5, F ’ T of I™ 6to ma^e repair* ■ 4o°ct' [ ordered by inspector. 430 November, dredged by Thomas King .. 3355 December „ „ •• 6280 Coat £IO7O 12s 10d=10|d per yd. 24,015 1896, Yds. January, dredged by Thomas King .. 4070 February „ „ „ .. 5060 March „ „ 3885 April „ „ i, 3190 May ~ 3190 Coat about £4oo=sd per yard. 19,395 (Thomas King laid up, having pumps fitted.) June, dredged with crane .. ... 1620 July „ „ .. .. 2021

In this return of number of yards removed each month, it will be seen that by the end of July last year—seven months—lo,loo yards were dredged, a very great increase on the past rate. In August, Mr Marchant was in charge, and immediately there was still a greater improvement. Notwithstanding that owing to the dredge having been neglected, the inspector ordered certain repairs which necessitated her being laid up most of September and October, 24,015 yards were dredged in the year, at a cost of £BSB 19s ; if to which is added onehalf of the engineer’s salary and expense, the other having been added to cost of rubble work, a total cost for the year of £IO7O 12s lOd is reached, equal to lOfd per yard, as against llsd per yard for the previous year. But whilst the dredge being laid up nearly two months greatly reduced the amount dredged, all the cost of repairs is included in the lOfd per yard. As shown by the return for the first five months of the present year, 10,895 yards have been dredged at a cost of under £4OO, or equal to only 5d per yard. For the last two months the dredge has been laid up, having the sand pump placed in her, and undergoing a general overhaul. The pump was recommended and designed by Mr Marchant. It, and engine to drive, were constructed and placed in the T. King at a litte over £BOO. The contractors have to run it for 80 days, and the pump has to pass a test of discharging 2000 gallons of water per minute at a height of 25ft above the pump, with 800 revolutions per minute. The pump is now at work, and is working perfectly. In the past the dredge used to make one, two, and three tripg per day, which was increased to four and even five by the present Board ; but now that she has the sand pump, things are greatly improved. She has already reached eight trips in the day, which no doubt will be further increased. She was the other day timed, and took just 15 minutes to fill, and taking exactly one hour from the stroke of the pump on the one trip to the first stroke on the next trip. The pump has been designed with the idea of some time being placed in a much larger boat, and also is so constructed that at any time it can be used for pumping the sand ashore and away lb a safe distance through sludge pipes. Since the dredge has been laid up, the Board has used the big crane on the breakwater for dredging with the grab bucket. Bat of course that has not been sufficient, and owing to continuous north-westerly winds during the last few months, much of the sand on the outer bank has been driven inwards and under the wharf, and so temporarily interfered with shipping ; but the Board expects very shortly to have the berths clear. As there is such a great accumulation of sand in the harbor, the Board has made arrangement to supplement the dredge by dredging with a grab bucket from off the wharf and breakwater, using the old quarry crane for the purpose and taking the sand away in trucks along the shore, having laid a short siding for the purpose. It is hoped and thought that by carrying on both steadily the present accumulation will soon be got rid of, and that then the sand-pump will be able to keep the harbor at its full depth. As to the report that Mr Smith has got the Government to place a sum of £IOOO on the Estimates to assist the Board in getting a barge, if correct, Mr Smith has done it on bis own account without a request from the Board, and without consulting them or their engineer as to the suitability of a

barge. Though the intention may bo good, there are distinct reasons why the Board could not avail themselves of any assistance in that way. First, that there is no harbor room for a barge and tug, in addition to the dredge. In the past, the Board has found that all they could do, was to make the dredge safe, and had "to either send the tug they had to Waitara or lift her ashore. Next, the cost of obtaining a barge and tug, even if assisted to the extent of £2OOO, would be far beyond the Board’s available means, which at present are nil. And, again, it would require nearly three times as much annually to maintain the three boats as the Board can spend in dredging. And, further, the Board has already been advised by their engineer, and agreed to a very much better plan, and at half the first outlay that a barge would entail, and no extra annual charge further than wear and tear than they now have, instead of almost trebling it as the barge would. They have not so far carried it out, simply because they can not afford it. It is a sludge pipe, at a cost of £6OO, to run under the wharf ashore and along the shore to a safe distance, through which the T. King would pump sand all day long. Both in the protection to the breakwater and in the matter of dredging, the services of a thoroughly competent engineer like Mr Marchant have been invaluable, and it is not too much to say that it would have been impossible for the Board to have overcome the difficulties that they had to -face without such assistance. It is more than probable that had the Board not secured Mr Marchant’s services at the time they did, to-day the breakwater would have been a mass of ruins; instead of which, a task which seemed almost ..hopeless has been performed, and now the breakwater is safe, and with such an excellent and serviceable piece of machinery as the pump, the sand question is no longer the difficulty it was. Wharf and Railage. —The only real difficulty now before the Board is the wharf and the carriage of goods to and from the port. The Board recognises that having secured tho breakwater and done what they hope will overcome the sand, they must now devote the whole of their attention to proper management of the trade of the port, more particularly so as they recognise that from one cause or another it .is decreasing. Though the district that should be tapped by the port has of late years very greatly increased, probably doubled, the trade of the port has actually slightly decreased, as shown by the revenue from wharfage, port dues, &c. In 1894 it amounted to £3999 9s lid ; in 1895, to £3968 10s 2d. From these figures the decrease seems much less than it really is, for during the first three months of ’94 only 2s per ton wharfage was collected, while in 1895 3s was collected for the whole 12 months. Though to some extent the failure of trade may be due to the increased rate of wharfage, it is undoubtedly almost solely due to the exhorbitant railway charge. The Railway Department charge 3s 6d for taking goods the short distance between the port and New Plymouth. Whilst the Harbor Board only charge 8s per ton wharfage, when their harbor cost £230,000 and over £4OOO a year to maintain, the Railway Department charge 8s 6d per ton to convey the same goods over a short piece of line that could not have cost £16,000 at the outside. The Board has appealed to the Department to reduce the rate again and again, but without success. The Department not only charge that extortionate rate, but compell you to let them carry your goods whether you wish it or not, even to the extent of forcing shippers of goods down the coast to take their goods right past the breakwater, and then pay 3s 6d per ton to take them back again—a class of injustice quite unique; and that is how the few of the coast ratepayers (all of whom have to pay so dearly for this doubtful benefit) are treated. So far the Government have refused all appeals to reduce, and the Board is powerless, as at the time that one member of the Board was urging on the Board' to order up the rails the Government passed an Act which practically confiscates the wharf, which cost £IB,OOO of the ratepayers’ money (part of the sinking fund). The only course that seems open to the Board is to abandon the present wharf (which the Government, by the' way, is continually pestering the Board to repair), and to provide some other wharfage accommodation for themselves, on which good care should be taken at all times to prevent the Government ever having anything to do with. The Board hopes by some means to be able to do this, which would not only make a saving of Is 6d per ton on all goods going to New Plymouth, as carriers will cart by contract at 2s per ton, but it will allow, what should always have been, all people from down the coast to take delivery of their goods at the breakwater. This and the saving of Is 6d on all other goods would doubtless make all the difference in the trade, and so increase it that the revenue of the Board would before long allow either contributing towards payment of interest, and so lessen the rate, or then resuming payments to the sinking fund which never should have been stopped. Rate. —Last year the rate was reduced by i, and it is hoped that by next year a further reduction will be possible. The district has been divided into six wards, and the next general election (in February) will he for a member for each ward ; and as the country rates represent about six to one in New Plymouth, the member for the district should be pledged to get the Government to make at least one, if not two, of their nominees country men. With reference to Mr Smith’s remarks in the House, there

can be no two opinions as to whether they were in the least justified. One has only to review the amount of work done by the country Board, the undeniably beneficial results, the nature of it showing that they have at all times done their utmost in the very best interests of the port, and none are more thoroughly satisfied, and acknowledge and appreciate what the country Board has done, than the people of New Plymouth; and Mr Smith must, indeed, have very far forgotten himself not to know that hardly a single elector would endorse his statement. If his behaviour in this matter is a sample of how Mr Smith will consider the country electors, then it behoves them to look after their own interests.