Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, JULY 17, 1916. THE HARBOR QUESTION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14046, 17 July 1916, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, JULY 17, 1916. THE HARBOR QUESTION.

The Volumin'otis ' report.*" p^esieuted to the Harbor Board at its meeting to-day by the Harbor Engineer giveß much food for thought. Without doubt Gisborhe is faced l with "one 'of the most difficult problems that has oc&wred m •the 1 history of its' local 'administration, and a considerable weight of '■' responsibility rests upon the members of the 'Board Tin regard to the definition of future policy. It must h« frankly admitted that the immense quantity of silt brought dovrn,; by the recent 1 flood has, seriously shaken" the faith of many of those who had hopes of seeing a good permanent inner harbor established here, which hopes were buoyed by the assurances given when the *last hai'bor loan was floated that the Maui possessed ample capacity to ' deal expeditiously with the product of floods. Whether, m view of the possibility of ■a' recurrence of such silting-up, at more or less frequent intervals m the future, the Board is justified m going on with cohiiehiplated wharfage -and other improvements is a moot point that is bound to cause the members and the public considerable perplexity,; but for the present the. only, policy seems to be to clear the,-.- river, as speedily as possible with the tools available and to endeavor to restore the channel. to 'sbmeth'irfg.like its former navigability. -.Whether..those6bols" should be supplemented byisomething further' m the way of suction dredges m the hope of being able' to' speedily deal with future accumulations of silt is the question raised m the Engineer's report, and some interesting evidence is adduced; Sis to' what ' has been .accomplished m this direction m other parts of the world. : For' our part we ; should like to be satisfied that the conditions were oii all- points '< similar to those m Gishbrne, pariitfularly jaig- M« gards nature and>xt«nt of the watershed area, character of the silt, and velocity of .the current. .'', It * appearsV- to us)that herb we are dealing" trith" an exceeding/y tenacious clayey silt which -rapidly, deposits .and consolidates, and that tho strength of our tidal current is hardly sufficient to carry it out of the river or far out to sea. Mr rMcDonald seems satisfied from text-book data and from his own observations " elsewhere that no difficulty' would' be -experienced' m. getting Nature to work for us and to .■■■<jrtrry the detritus free of cost out to sea, but we have yet to be convinced that results as good, as he suggests coukl bie attained. T,tye great deposition that occurs m flood time, \vhen #iere is a -current many times the velqcity % 6i the' ordinary, tidal outfall, rather' goes' to show that if we were depending upon the tides tltey would riot wox'k for us quite so rapidly as the Engineer suggests. Moreover, the tendency -would be for the ; silt-charged tidal water to deposit its load near- the "harbour ■ entrance;, for it is- only m flood time that> ;t the river influence • extends several miles 1 to sea as the Engineer Buggestfi,'. Th'e proposal to divert the riyei': to the 'eastern .side of the break;wtiter, appears to us to. warrant more confeideration than has been given to it. ) The ! suggestion that a 1 bar -vvould be liable, td forni and that there might be 'flooding of ' low-lying lands m the Borough.',- is answered by the fact that m the pre-breakwater days ■ when there was a great ' extent' of ba,v, G'isbbrfie was . not subject to inundation. However, the , whole ,'' 7 Subject -la very .problematical and jcontentious, and the Board would .be' well advised not to adjudicate hastily, but to give the whole 'matter its fullest, and most devious consideration, ' ' .-•' '