WAIKOKOPU HARBOR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16423, 6 May 1924, Page 5

WAIKOKOPU HARBOR.

FIRST' VESSEL BERTHS AT OUTER wharf.

A party comprising l Mr. C. Britnell (deputy-chairman of the Wairoa. Harrboard Board) and others visited Waikokopn last Wednesday. The occasion was the berthing at the new wharf of the first vessel, the s.s, Rum, one of Richardson and Co.’s fleet, 158 tons, drawing 10ft 6in, which, was lying, gaily beflagged from stem to stern, in 21 feet of water at low tide. The vessel, commanded by Captain A. Haraklsen, left Fort Ahuriri after midnight, arrived at. Waikokopu at 6.30 a.m., and at 8 o’clock commenced discharging the general cargo on board. The work was finished in a little over half an hour, the goods being trucked by the Railway Department to the Harbor Board’s shed for delivery to consignees. The outward cargo was being taken aboard ready for the sailing of- the vessel, no acount whatever being taken of the state of the tide. Mr. K. MeLeay, manager of the company, stated he had been discussing with Mr. Packwood, the engineer, the question of the loading of meat into the lighters in the very near future, it being understood there were no difficulties to speak of, and any there were Mr. Packwood was prepared to surmount. It was stated that twenty insulated meat trucks were ready for shipment afc Gisborne, and this number Mr. MeLeay did not think would be sufficient, but more could soon be added, stated Mr. Packwood. There are fifteen men at work on tho wharf, of which forty feet have yet to be added, involving the driving of 51 additional piles. The bulk of the decking is done l , and a temporary line of rails laid as far out as the .decking is complete. When the rest of the pile-driving is finished the superstructure will be completed, and a double track laid, so that Iwo vessels can be worked at the same, time, one on the sea side and the other on the landward side of the structure, cargo being discharged or shipped in the shortest possible time. It was satisfactory to find that the sea bottom in the neighborhood of thei wharf was free of boulders, the ocean floor being covered with fine sand or mud, the anchorage outside being also good. Work was also going on to lower the level of the permanent way to bring the rails down to the wharf level, and this work is expected to be finished shortly. Arrangements are in progress for shifting the newest half of the large shed at the point of the boulder bank to a site near the station yards for the housing of merchandise, wool, etc. The whole work, to the onlooker, is evidently being cafried out in view of future developments, including a short, stumpy breakwater and a second wharf, both of which will be a necessity as trade increases. At the time of the visit the sea was as calm as the proverbial mill pond, and residents stated that during the last three months the port was only unworkable on one day, the: date of the March storm. The belief is general that the wharf and railway to Wairoa are essential to the carrying out of the major hydro-electric scheme at Waikaremoana. The heavy machinery, parts of which weigh twenty tons, can be handled on the outer’ wharf and railed to Wairoa-, all the bridges and culverts being equal to tbe load. From Wairoa to the Lake specially built lorries, drawn by tractors, will convey the plant to it» destination, and here, again, the work done on the wharf and the road will greatly cheapen and expedite the prosecution of the main scheme. The girders, etc., for the Mohaka viaduct, on the route to the East Coast railway, in which half a million of money is involved, will also have to come in via Waikokopu, and as there is a .sum of about two and a half millions sterling to be spent on the major hydro-electric scheme it goes without saying that both the wharf, railway and road works will save such a huge sum that a large proportion of the 1 cost of the railway will be recouped. It is stated that the direct shipment of piles from Australia to Waikokopu resulted in a saving l to. the Department of at least £2OOO. It is earnestly hoped in some quarters that not only will Napier, Hastings and Gisborne form power boards and thus cofne into the best and cheapest hydroelectric proposition - in New Zealand, but that the Poverty Bay people will, for’ a time at least, miike full use of Waikokopu, and to that end offer no obstruction to the Waikokopu-Gisborrie connection if a suitable route for the railway is secured.