THE HARBOR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14986, 13 August 1919, Page 5

THE HARBOR.

(To the Editor of the Herald.)

Sir,— Now that the harbor has reached' an almost hopeless condition— almost hopelessj not quite so — I should like with your permission, again to call the pub lie attention to the only real remedy— the Kaiti The present condition of £tbe: harbor may justly be called, hopeless because however sue-, Cessful the converted 'Townley"^may be it can only succeed m digging a hole which the first flood will fill up. There can be no .possible hope of permanent improvement, but only an endless succession of wasted effort and expense as lbng as the silt- is allowed to come down the Wairaata river. It seems perfectly absurd to allow the mud to come into the channel instead of turning it off ; to 'a place where it would do no harm. Many /people seem to think that an outer harbor is the only remedy, but there are many . and great difficulties m: the "way of this large work. , In the first place it. would take at least seven or eight years to build this harbor so that it would affdrd shelter to vessels of any size, even if the Government will allow the board to borrow a million foi the purpose of its construction m the present state of the finances of the country. But the great difficulty >is this: Supposing the harbor to be built, would the insurance companies allow, large vessels to ' use 'it, or would the captain of such a vessel bring his ship on to a lee shore with a gale of wind behind him? *If the Harbor Board cannot convince the masters of these large vessels that the harbor is safe to enter and swing m m any weather it : will be a failure, and the mutton and wool ships, will still have to depend upon lightering for their 'loading. Whether it is worth the while of the ratepayers to authorise the expenditure of a million with thisrisk starring them m the face is a matter for their own consideration. The outer harbor may satisfy the people on shdre, but will iV equally please the men of the sea? Of course this harbor will be -a fine thing. It will mean a lot of money to be m the shops and bars and picture shows. It .will provide a safe investment, for those who have the money 'to* buy/ harbor stock yrith-and. it will be a fine' place for boating and fishing m, but as a port for large vessels m; heavy weather, that is another. matter altogether. .It ; may be said that the v canai : scheme hag Seen inquired, into and foun'cT impracticable.. It has not.; it has never been before the/Harbor Board or examined by the engineers butonly outlined . Jn. the ;colhmns of the Herald. —^l am, etc:, - t ■'..: .' ■..':.". '.-.,..,.' jb.t: [The correspondent overlooks the fact that the Kail; scheme was investigated and.reported upon byMr J. B. Thomp-son,-Government drainage engineer, . on behalf; of the Gisborne Harbor Board. —Ed; Herald.l

(To the Editor of the* Herald.) Sir, — May I suggest through the medium -of your valuable paper "a way out.'.' to remedy: the silting up of the Gisborne river? * How would it be to erect a lock near the entrance, say a few '/chains from the end of the present pier; the lock to be filled by the' river through the medium, of a spillway. You' could : have a full -tide depth of! water all the time, the flood .water pas-, sing away over the. ; spillway. If itshould" silt iip. -at all you have only to' open up the gates' at, low tide and shewould . soon scour .'herself out. The time' occupied by passing m and out by shijipihg would be longer, but. I think it woiild be more satisfactory and les8 J expehsive m the long run.— I am, etc., \ "DIGGER."