The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. "Luceo Non Uro. ” WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1934. BLUFF HARBOUR

Southland Times, Issue 22472, 7 November 1934, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. "Luceo Non Uro. ” WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1934. BLUFF HARBOUR

Lacking knowledge of the original plan for the new harbour at Bluff, and being still unaware of the extent to which the modifications required under Mr Hinchey’s proposal would affect the original scheme, we could say but little about the board’s resolution beyond urging it to be cautious before touching the project and drawing attention to the need for action. Mr Hinchey’s motion was to limit the improvements to £200,000 in order to allow the work to begin, but it is obvious that the Harbour Board will compromise the future dangerously if the modifications made necessary by such a resolution involve a reduction in the harbour area or affect any of the essentials of the major scheme. The views expressed by Captain Charman, the Marine Superintendent for the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company, are those of an experienced master of shipping, whose duties give him a special knowledge of ports and port requirements. Captain Charman puts his finger on the danger of the modification project when he directs attention to the fact that if the comprehensive scheme were altered in a way that would diminish the harbour area the future of the port would be prejudiced. Undoubtedly if such a modification is made now, no future board will be able to rectify it except at great expense. Captain Charman does not suggest that the whole plan for the expenditure of £350,000 should be put in hand at once, though there are strong arguments in favour of that course, especially when money is so cheap and in such plentiful supply, but he cites Wellington as an example of a great harbour improvement scheme carried through in sections. If Wellington had adopted a modification of its original scheme its great betterment plan, which has made Wellington an efficient port, would have been crippled at the outset. The board looked ahead, envisaged the needs of the port for fifty years to come and proceeded with its improvements on a well-defined plan, advancing by stages to the completion of a comprehensive plan. This is what the Bluff Harbour Board must do. If it does not care to undertake the full expenditure at once, the sound course, in view of the general endorsement of the plans so carefully prepared, is to put in hand the more urgent por-

tions of the scheme and to proceed step by step as Wellington did until the whole work is completed. In the next ten years there will be a further development of the port’s trade, unless schemes for the concentration of shipping on four ports are assisted by the lack of improvements in the outlying harbours. Napier is undertaking a costly harbour betterment scheme, and the Bluff Harbour Board is in a much better position to handle a construction project of major proportions. As we said before Mr Hinchey’s idea appeared to be to reduce the commitments in order to induce the board to put the work in hand with the least delay; but it will be better if the board reconsiders the position in the light of what Captain Charman has said, keeping before it the essential fact that any scheme put in hand at present must commit the port of Bluff, for good or ill, for the next fifty years. Captain Charman’s advice to the board is sound, and he has buttressed it with examples that cannot be ignored.