HARBOR BOARD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 201, 4 May 1912, Page 6

HARBOR BOARD

ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN. The annual meeting of the New Plymouth Harbor Board for the election of a chairman was held yesterday morning. The members present were the retiring chairman (Mr. J. B. Connett) and Messrs E. Maxwell, Newton King, C. A. Wilkinson, E. Dockrill, W. Swadling and D. J. Hughes. la proposing Mr. Connett as chairman for the ensuing year, Mr. Wilkinson described him as the best man for the position, and one who had always pleased members of the Board. As there were no other nominations, that of the retiring chairman, which was seconded by Mr. Swadling, was put in the form of a motion and carried unanimously. Returning thanks, Mr. Connett expressed pleasure at this renewed expression of confidence on the part of members. He briefly reviewed the operations of the past year, and remarked that he thought the Board ought to be congratulated upon the amount of satisfactory work carried out during that term. Through various unavoidable delays it had not done quite as much as was anticipated, but everything was working satisfactorily, and he hoped to push on the harbor improvement scheme during his ensuing term of office. Touching on the dredging operations, the chairman recalled how originally the intention was to dredge 30ft all along the wharf, but subsequently, on the suggestion of the superintendents of the shipping -ompanies, it had been decided to ind ;e this depth to 33ft. The additional o3ft was very difficult to dredge, owing to the hard nature of the material excavated. He had no doubt, however, that the Board would carry out the work satisfactorily with the money in hand, even though it would take longer than anticipated. LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL. A copy of the Local Government Bill was laid upon the table. In view of the yital changes it proposed to introduce, Mr. Maxwell held that local bodies should have larger representation on the forthcoming conference to consider the questions involved. As it was, two representatives would have to represent a multitude of bodies, in the affairs of which they could not hope to be sufficiently well versed. He accordingly moved the following motion:—"That while the Harbor Board recognises that it would be unreasonable to expect that each individual local body should have representation at the proposed conference on the Local Government Bill, the Board considers it essential that each district should have separate representation, and that the proposed alteration would make the conference more thoroughly representative." The motion was carried and the Board ' ; decided to forward copies of it to the ( f various local bodies in the Taranaki hospital district, for their endorsement. HARBORMASTER'S REPORT. The Harbormaster (Captain G. Holford) reported that during the two weeks ending Saturday, April 27, 15 vessels, of an aggregate tonnage of 15,094 tons, had worked the port inwards a'nd outwards. The total imports for that period were 2537 tons of general merchandise, including 346 tons of coal. The exports, which comprised produce and sundries, amounted to 297 tons. Captain Holford also submitted another report, to the effect that the weather for the past ten days (prior to April 30) had been exceptionally bad. In ■ consequence, a heavy sea had been thrown over the breakwater, causing a 1 great quantity of sand to accumulate J inside the wall. The bad weather had j prevented the small dredge from removling the accumulation. Owing to the prevalence of bad weather, soundings had not been taken since last report, j and he anticipated a somewhat heavy ) shoaling in several places. Captain Holford also intimated that he was submitting a rough plan of berthage, which he hoped would meet with members' consideration after the extension of the wharf had been completed. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. In a report on the works, for the two weeks ending Saturday, April 27, the superintendent of works (Mr. F. Henderson) mentioned that the Paritutu had dredged on seven days. The net time occupied was 65y 2 hours, the spoil removed amounting to 17 loads and equalling 6800 tons. The quarterly boiler cleaning on the dredge took up three daya, from April 22 to 24. Dredging was resumed on April 25, but after taking ou;fc two loads the buckets slipped off the bottom tumbler, and it took two days to disconnect and place them on the ! ladder. This accident, remarked the superintendent, was liable to occur while dredging amongst boulders, especinlly at high water, when the ladder was at a steep elevation. When the present work of re-bushing the connecting links was completed, the chain of buckets would be shortened by at least twelve inches', and would be less liable to slip off. the report continued that the Thomas King dredged on 8% days, removing 02 loads of spoil, equal to 4960 tons. Three and a-half days were lost through bad weather. In connection with wharf widening, the superintendent reported that the remaining three poles had been driven. The decking was now laid to