KARAMEA HARBOUR

Taranaki Daily News, 16 August 1933, Page 7

KARAMEA HARBOUR

BED LIFTED BY EARTHQUAKE. CHANNEL THROUGH BAR. Since the Murchison earthquake on the West Coast of the South Island in 1929 the harbour at Karamea has been closed to shipping as the result of the lifting of the harbour bed following the seismological disturbance. A sum of £35,000 has been expended on machinery and a quarry to build a retaining wall, it being assumed that the wall would cause the flood waters to wash away the bar. These efforts, however, have not been the success hoped for. The citizens of Karamea, under the leadership of an old resident, Mr. W. R. Simpson, are now cutting a channel through the bar in the hope that a rush of flood waters from the high surrounding country will clear the bar, and by opening up the channel again make the harbour suitable for shipping. The channel now under construction is about 12 chains long, one chain wide and about ten feet deep. There are said to be orders on hand for large quantities of timber which it is impossible to get out from Karamea, except by transport by road to Little Wanganui. This, however, adds too much to the transport costs to make the industry profitable.