HARBOR BOARD.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11864, 31 May 1909, Page 5

HARBOR BOARD.

The monthly -meeting of the Harbor Board was held -this afternoon, when there were present: The Chairman (Mr .1. Townley), F. Harris, W. D. Lysnar, JY B. Kelts, J. Clark, and Hon. ('apt. Tucker. . * Mr G. Matthewson applied for leave of absence, having left on a visit to the Old Country. — Granted. . Mr W. F. Cederwall, manager of Gisborne Sheepfarmers' Frozen Meat Co., wrote acknowledging liability re- ■ spect ing a claim of £5 6h made by the Jor f replacing a beacon f in,, rK*_r but pleaded extenuating circumstances. On the night m question the Karoro entered the river With one barge alongside and two behind. The -Tuatea left the wharf about the same time, and tho vessels met at- the most confined pprt of the channel, opposite the heacon. The night was intensely daiic^ with a drizzling rain, and the beacon was not seen until -they were right on top pf "it. The vessels barely , passed witliout touching.: — Company to •be • requested to pay the account. The Town Clerk wrote inquiring if the Board would cut a channel m the papa rock at the mouth of the Waikanae creek to allow ingress and egress of, the tide. — The Chairman proposed the wrdrk be done on account of the drainage lhat went into the creek. — Carried. The Borough Council forwarded a copy of the recommendations of Chief Inspector of the Public Health Department, respecting, the convenience on the wharf, and gave/notice that the same must be complied xnth.-^Work tp be done. REPORTS. , ''-'„ The Harbormaster, Capt. W. Cumming, reported that ' the cliannel and river along the wharves was m a very bad state, having silted up a great deal since the last fresh on _7th and _Bth inst. The working of the sand pump also caused a lot of silting up along the^ town wharf. Soundings tnis day were as " follows V — End of breakwater 14ft, 6th bollard 7ft, Snark's landing 6ft, big crane 6ft, Waikanae 7ft 6in, along new .wharf sft, half way along: town wharf 6ft, upper end town wharf 3ft to sft. - He suggested thai the dredge should be worked overtime until an\ improvement was made. Steamers: Arrivals. .s3, departures ss. .Sailing, yes.-, >els : Arrivals 6, departures 6. Moorages 18s lld, lighter dues £13 ss. f Mr W. B. Mackie, dredge engineer,, reported that nil the machinery on thfe John Townley was giving satisfaction:, the new grab had not given satiafac-' tion owing to the mud getting amongst the "gear, and had been taken off and the old grab replaced. Captain Solvander, dredgemaster, re■ported that the dredge had been laid up o^-days during the month through yarf--jops causes ; it had removed 500 yards «-f sand and 4075 yards of mud from the river.

T'he overseer, Mr^D. A. McLeod, reported that the new power-closing grab, although well adapted for dealing with different kinds of material above water, could not profitably be employed under water on the general class of spoil m the river, other than papa clay. Owing to the. working parts of the rope gearing getting clogged with silt and Rand which made the wear on the wire ropes very severe, the makers, m order to haVe the grab made more serviceable, had added teeth tb the cutting edge, which was an improvement for dealing •with hard dry material, but not fpr cutting papa clay. It was like a rake m place of a knife to cut cheese, he explained. As the scoops of the grab, were reversible it was proposed to grind the opposite edges sharp, and use the grab .exclusively for pupa clay. He had prepared a sketch showing- berthage for dredges and barges, and had no hesitation m recommending a proposed extension down stream from the end of the Kaiti wharf, a distance of 490 ft. In addition to the 50 turpentine piles now m bond £600 worth of timber would be required for this extension, which would include a coal storing depot for 500 tons. Substantial moorings would be required ior the new dredger. Mr Blakey had unformed him they would need them •every two rliains on" both sides of the •river from the end of the breakwater to the Kaiti bridge, and that none of the present ones, except perhaps those on the breakwater, would stand the strain. The overseer suggested that this work should be put m hand at once. The hand rail, extension of shelter shed, fenders and repairs to town wharf had been completed and the Kfaiti wharf repairs would b<e finished this week. The John Townley took 46 loads of spoil to •sea* during the month ' and the small dredge on the breakwater had worked ■26 day*, and the suction dredge had worked all but 4£ days. Gravel removed _rom the Kaiti beach totalled 250 loads.