Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE MONDAY. FEB. 22. 1901 THE NAPIER BREAKWATER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11515, 22 February 1909, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE MONDAY. FEB. 22. 1901 THE NAPIER BREAKW ATER.

One of the most' striking features of the breakwater controversy ht Napier which ended, so unfortunately, with an adverse vote of tlie ratepayer was the manner m: which AeYHon. J. t*. Orniond came 1 forward, and championed the scheme. Himself ! '«ne- of tbe- laTgest; land owners and owbdV , p'roiniiers of tlie district, he ' set Ya' splendid example of public, spirit and enterprise to his brethren.Yof broad .ricres.Y' rlis- arguriients should have carried ' great weight w itli the country settlers,, , foi'i as the Daily Telegraph remarks, obviously it was not a case of. a ri»ari to 'convince the ratepayers that th^y should adopt a v iine< ot action, m .whi'c}i failure would,7nOt prejudicially affect' him. He .appealed to the district' aa one of those who had ■deep ' and wide > financial and business.iji•terest in-its welfare.; Was a rate , neces- j shry?" He must pay it. He must pay a /substantial proportion {rfrwba't -was levied. Would the district. obepefty;- as, a .p^pdileY ing area, by liaving provided for it,' fni-'. proved shipping vf acililies? If that v 'was the case, he would beriefit. Standing m such'a position he. calmly and dispassion-. lately set' forth the- reasons which justified him m believing that, it would be (for the laLstirtg " goodo of the j>rovince7if the projected loan was' carried ard the' breakwater completed; Further.} our ; contemporary , .points out the personal" feq nation, enters largely into Mr; Ormcnd's advocacy. His reputation as one quite out. of, sympathy with mer? enthusiasm as such; as a man whose whole life has .been fdrinSd upon' •' habits" of calril and close reasoning ; and ; as onre whjof-e remarkably sneceesf ul '.'■ career asla-' settlor and >as X statesman has marked him out jas an exceptionally shrewd and far-seeing man— this reputation demands that importance should -be attached to his. words. Mr Ormond gave a most interesting -survey of ..the history of Napier harbor. His 'first .acquaintance with the po"rt ways m 1853r -. Tho Ahiiriri harbor was then a ftne sheet of Syater, and was , as fine a natural- harbor for oa number of years as early settlers could want. - Thi? entrance was good '; \there whs 15ft, 17 it, nnd 18ft •of writer,- aiid the vessels that traded o there • came m . without difficulty. _n those days the best place •of entertainnjent m, ( Napi.er^. which was a. 'town of sortie five or six houses, was kdpt* byCaptain, Munri. This hotel was a-raupd (whate'' kind of place and was where the 'fclaYifjettlers spent their money. It was >ittiaied „close to '.where the Napier pound IS now, some three or four chains below the Recreation ground. Here, there was at thatotime ancliprage for the vessels of 60 and' 70 .tons '.that came to tbe, port. The country settled by ' degrees, but as it becanie settled floods neaa me" very frequentY V Debris wa? brought down, and this— increased lemprmoiisly,' with the result that the harbor filled, up- I" 1876 the first. Harbor Board was coniititut&d for ? the distri ct, and. he ■ was . ', el ected the first 7cliairman,7 Ao ljipsition; which ha bad up' to. a few years ntgo. Mr Ormond fold of the early Ystrnggles m barbor ; building, the crentioii of "the Iron Pot," and the. extreme ly /anxious time experienced when the breakwater was first commenced and whajY was done to-day was washed a.w ay to-morrow . H e.,.vva._ a%Ve to shOw, . boweveiv that; good and^ubstanUal progi*-e?s had bee|i made, ' ami. at a cost not out of range .of the en^irtse-r's estimates., ..Messrs Biellando Maxwell -estimated, the cost of. copi.tr ncti on at £71 a •foot, and Mr. Marchant at from £74 to £75 . a foot. A The Board's staff had con- J structed -57^ feet at a cost of £74 a foot. Aa,' regards, the 'financial position, Mr 'Ofhiorid ; pointfcd : out* that the Board had decided to raise. bnjy;. half the rates -this ye-^r '{igaiußt la^t.y&uv The estimates for ,1910 would alfp\v '/^he rates to b© sti 11 further i«duced,.rjq^ 'nn the actual. \ returns' quoted it was.nbtvunroasonable 5tQ •expect 'that before long rates -pn the pro.posed loan of £200,000 would be unneces•sary, which meant sliift^trg the burden on to thosf! coming after, who wou^d -■be better able to pay. ♦ The mcst strik* (mg ■'.; feature .of his speech was that m which ; lie deta\kd • the actioif taken by tlie; Board to make assuranc? doubly sure rogaVdmg ' the safety aiid suitability of the harbor, arid it is here that, "we com Gisborne should 'take leaf out of Napier's book. 1n '4892, , whVn the Board desired- to 'raijse its second/loan; of £200,---.000, yiv Onnond got together, air the' heads of the pi'ihcvpal shipping oompanies m the colony,, placed tlie. officials at their disposnl, and a«ked them to give opinion a?, to whether the "was succeissful.' When the Cdirimi'sision was\appointed' the did ,not provide lor taking the breakwater out to the Auckland, rock. A mole, how,'evcr, was part pf.Jthe. then approved -design. V The. Obinmissioh, ' consistinig •< of Captains Rcse,< Babbt, Davidiion,'. Cameron, and Toddf - ; made aii exhaustive inspection, of the' works, studied the plans, •the. tides, the general -poissibili'ties premised or.otHerwiseAtQ* jthe .Work' wbeni completed.,- They'-'i^omihendedY-that the ■bfeiikwater should be carried out to the Auckland rock, and that the western mole forming part Of the c\esign should, be completed, to a point suggested -by them, and forming, as they pointed out, a safe and -commodious entrance, and they coi--cliided: "If this recommendation is ,carrie^l out, we have no hesitation Jn saying tlttit this would be the finest artificial :harbor m the Austn»lasian colotiks." We would urge upon the Gisborne Harbor Board the propriety, of following such a course as was adopted' atTNap'ier. If a Commission consisting of repiesentativco of the great shipping interests and marine insurance companies of the Dominion could be got together to investigate local conditions, to examine the plans andi reports of the en.gineei'S', and to report uoon the outer harbor scheme from a shipping point of view, we are sure that a fimd.of meat valuable information would be obtained, and that the practical advice submitted by the nautical expevtß would carry great weight - with .the ratepayers of the district. 'Yv'hat iso\yanted here, as m Hawke's Bay, is that our pas-toralif-ts slinuld follow the example of the Hon. J. D. Ormond s .and talc^ an interfest m the breakwater question. If tliey do ao, they, will see thnt the construction of a, harbor mast be of 'general* ad Vjaiitage to the district and. jihrticular benefit to their own properties arid ihtierreis. Twenty -five years ago, Ivh-en settlement was restricted to' \\ ; sni nil radius from Gisboi:n(»« the . sett jejr;s'.tfcfic,3ii:-s2d -the n^ed for a harbcr, and we.re practically unanimous m their vote for a YO2CO,OCO loan, and: tlioyiV cl||iEjrfally rated thenif^lVfs to eSieirti of- Id ncr ■£ m- y^eocc^uitijy aaid m 't>er £ the town«ols|f. the>ittaj^ pojnilaition and '.rating arefc»of ' tliose days could .^md-ertako ari enterprise of such rrtagnitudo^ and did y?o wjtlnput any, dire ; results,. foll,ovfring,i .ho^y much bett^^able is t|ie comihuinty of to-day ,to bear the exj>ense of a £200»000 oy £40Q,000 loam and, with a vastly ..increased volume .of trade pauring in\qhd- out, of ytlna. port'' of Gisborne^ how much- gjeater is the neces-

dty? We. believe that if facta were ooUed stjua^ly. m the, fac*i and the. po.<ncion reviewed as a ocol'd business-like proposition, as the Hon. Air. Ormond would regard it, it ' would be found that the project 'was not only well within tbe neans of the community, but one that •hould certainly be undertaken at an .arly date, m order to promote the development of the district to the fullest degree.