NEW PLYMOUTH HOSPITAL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 4067, 14 June 1882, Page 2

NEW PLYMOUTH HOSPITAL.

The following is the weekly report of the Colonial Hospital : — Malei Femalet In Hospital on Saturday r 3rd June 6 0 Admitted during the week ... 2 0 7 0 Discharged during the week ... 0 0 7 0 Died during the week 0 0 Id Hospital on Saturday, 10th June 7 0 P. J. O'Carroll, Surgeon Colonial Hospital. Oscar Wilde has written a poem on the Atlantic. He calls it "La Mer," and likens the foam on the waves to " bits of raveled lace." Master Benhiim, aged thirteen, pianist, and Niss Nettie Carpenter, aged fourteen, violinist, are two American prodigies, now appearing in Paris. Three foreign theatres have just been burnt down — the Crystal Palace Theatra, Marseilles ; the Opera BouflV, St. Petersburg ; and tho Algiers Theatre. It ia sa ; d that Genevieve Ward's new play, "The Spider's Web," has proved Hiich a failure that all tho negotiations for its performance h.ivo been broken off. One of tho most interesting facts lately developed is that Byron and Shelley were both descended from tho great-grandfather of Sir Philip Sidney — William Sidney.

HARBOUR BOARD. The Board met on Monday. Present :

Messrs. T. King (Chairman), Carrington, Dingle, Davidson, Rundle, Scott, Yorke, and Bayly. Metsrs. McEioen & Co. — A letter was read from Messrs. McEwen & Co., stating (inter alia) th&tthey regretted the shipments of cement had arrived too rapidly for the requirements of the Board. New Member. — The Returning Officer notified that Mr. Scott had been duly elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Kelly. Legal Opinion. — The solicitor to the Board (Mr. Samuel) forwarded a legal opinion re tho proposed action of tho Board in, exponduag money for the protection of earth deposited on the sea beach, part of which land would be required for railway purposes. Mr. Samuel considered the Board- had full power to expend the money id the manner proposed. — He also stated that with regard to the proposed action of the Board in opening up a street through Mount Elliot he was unable to form an opinion as he had not been supplied with sufficient, information. — Mr. Davidson moved, "That the question of making the road through Mount Elliot be postponed until the solicitor gives his opinion, and that the Chairman be requested to give the solicitor tho necessary information."-Carried. Steam Launch. — A communication was received from Mr. J. Jones and Epiha Karoro stilting that they agreed to pay the actual expenses of the h.h. Moturoa during her trip to Mokau. — The Secretary stated that the expenses amounted to £6 Is., and Mr. Jones had promised to call and settle the amount. „ Jiailtra// iJtevT— A letter' was read from Mr. Rhind'asking the Board to obtain, through Mr. Kelly, M.H.R., Minister's permit to search, free of charge, the register at the Deeds Office, for the purpose of obtaining the owners' names of the sections included in the limits of deviation of the railway line to the harbour works. — Mr. Davidson said that the searching for the titles should be left to the Board's solicitor; which was agreed to. Engineer's Report. — The report by the Engineer was read as follows: — An 18-feet section of the breakwater has been bti'lt, and four large bags of concrete laid as pa-t foundation for another section. We had some time ago commenced to proLcct the sea wall of blockyard with a toe of concrete, but the last heavy gale having laid bare the foundations and made a breach in several places, L find it necessary to suspend the making of tho blocks, and attend to the repairs to wall by placing a concrete apron a length of'etbout 300 feet along the bottom, so as to prevent any further damage. The late continuous S.E. gale, after three days 1 duration, caused the drift sand to completely overtop the barricades of barrels oh the sandhills, and make its way to the road be.tween the quarry and mixinghouse. I find that it will be necessary to further heighten the, barricades, and form others, so as to confine the accumulated sand in its present .position. The grass seed sown had sprouted, and was coming on well, but I am informed that the gale has blown a great portion of it out by the roots or buried it with sand I will, therefore, cease sowing seed, but will continue to transplant grass and ice plant. The following monthly report was also read :—: — I have the honor to forward the following report showing the extent and cost per cubic yard of breakwater during the past month. A length of 18 feet of pier has been built, containing 499 cubic yards, and four bags arc laid as part foundation for the uext section. The total concrete made during the month is 623 cubic yards. The total expenditure is £1,208 14s. Id. ; from this is to be deducted £177 Bs. sd. (for repairs to machinery, &c), making cost of concrete, £1,031 ss. Bd. ; or at the rate of £1 13s. Id. per cubic yard. Letter from Consulting Engineer. — A letter from the Consulting Engineer was read as follows : — As I see by the papeis that there is a much larger quantity of drift sand at the end of the breakwater than usual, I think it would be advisable to try a sand pump for its removal. My proposal is to have a' centrifugal pump fastened to the deck of tho steam launch, and driven from her engines, with a suitrble suction pipe, which could be directed by the divers. Captain Williams, of the s.s. Westport, is said to have a suitable pump for hire. Enclosed is an account of several works where the sand pump has been found to work well. The information contained therein is sufficient to enable the Resident Engineer to understand what is requisite to be doae should the Board ' decide to try the pump. I would be glad if monthly returns of the progress of the work were sent me, as requested in my letter of the fith February last."— Mr. Bayly asked Mr. Rhind what amount of sand there was now at the end of the breakwater? — Mr. Rhind stated there was a depth of 2J feet, but he believed it was diminishing by the change of weather. — Mr. Davidson thought it would be advisable' to' obtain information from Captain Williams on the subject, and ho moved, "That Captain Williams be communicated with as to the cost of hiring the pump, amount of horse-power to work it, whether it could be worked from the deck of a vessel, and all other information ; also that tho Consulting Engineer be supplied with the reports requested by him." — The motion was agreed to. ' Depositing Earth oh the Beach. — The Chairman said that the Works Committee recommended the Board to grant permission to the contractor for depositing earth on the beach. — It was proposed by Mr. Davidson, seconded by Mr. CAitßiNcrreN, ami curried, " That Messrs. Scott, Rundle, and Dingle bo a Committee to make arrangements with the contractors with reference to depositing the earth on the beach." JOINING MIKOTAHI TO LAND. Mr. Carhinoton, in accordance with notice previously given, moved, " That it is desirable and important for tho wellbeing of our harbour works that Mikotahi be joined to the main land." He delivered a lengthy statement in favour of the project, a full report of which will appear in another issue. Ho stated that he attributed the great amount of drift sand at present at the end of the breakwater to bo due to the filling in of the bay to the westward by rock and debris from the heavy cutting made in constructing the railway from the root of tho harbour to the quarry, and from the quarries also. Between tho Mikotahi and the northern part of tho breakwater there is at tin'cs a Rtrong current, which together with the heavy seas which sweep along tho curve of the cove, in westerly gales is fast carrying all that has been deposited from the quarries into the harbour, hence the cause of the Band with which they had been troubled lately. Unless immediate steps be taken to prevent this

drift sand the harbour would prove to be J unnecessarily costly till the curve of the \ work in the open way is reached. It would also greatly lessen, as it is now doing, the depth of the water within the harbour, because the drift sand from the cove in part sweeps round the head of the pier and settles down on the inner side of the harbour. He concluded by urging upon them the importance of the matter. Mr. Scott seconded the motion jyro forma. Mr. Dingle asked what proof was there that joining Mikotahi to the mainland would stop the sand drift ? He did not think it would do much good, and he was afraid it would be very costly. Mr. Bayly said it appeared to him that it would cost at least £2,000 in connecting Mikotahi to the mainland, and he did not j see what advantage would be gained by it, for if the same amount of money was expended in lengthening the breakwater it would take it outside the current which brought the drift sand. Mr. Davidson said he was not willing to enter into a costly experiment as proposed by Mr. Carrington. If it had formed part of Sir J. Coode's plan to join Mikotahi to the land, he (Mr. D.) would have voted for it. He had heard engineers say that the breakwater should have been commenced from Mikotahi, and not from the place it hud been, but he was not an engineer hinißelf, and would not pretend to know anything about it. Mr. CAKUiN<;roN said Sir John Coodc had not made provision for it simply because he had never intended that the deb.-is should have been deposited where it was, and consequently did not calculate on the drift sand being so great. If they had not thrown the debris into the bay, the sand would never have accumulated at the end of the breakwater. Mr. Rdndle thought that the sea must have an extraordinary power to convert the loose rocks and debris thrown into the bay into the kind of sand which was found at the end of the breakwater, for it was iron sand and pebbles. He thought it was impossible to prevent the sand drifting towards the breakwater, and that they would not be justified in incurring the expenditure. Mr. Carm.vuton : I have done all I can do with the harbour, and I have been baulked in every way ; but it is on record what I propose to do. I am sure, when some marine engineers visit here (which I expect they will do shortly), they will say that I am right. Mr. Scott said he had examined the sand at the end of the breakwater, and he was decidedly of opinion that it was the iame kind of sand that was always found below low water mark, and it had certainly not come from the stone and debris thrown into the bay. It was a different kind of thing altogether. He had seen it come frequently on the beach after n strong northerly gale. With reference to the wall proposed to be built, he could not help thinking that it would be a great mistake. If they built a wall to Mikotahi the water would rise over the wall during a gale, and would \ cry likely wash away the block yard. He thought the wall would do a great deal more harm than good. The motion was the il put, and was declared lost oa the voices. A NEW LOAN. Mr. Yorke moved, "That the Board apply to Parliament for power to raise a further loan for local security to cover the cost of railway and reclamation works, opening of new streets and other local undertakings within the Borough and suburbs of New Plymouth, in order that the balance of the loan already raised on the security of a rate over a large district may be solely devoted to the construction of the breakwater." He said his reason for proposing the resolution was that the money which had been raised for the purpose of building the breakwater was proposed to be used in making railway! and streets. He Hd been opposed from the first to the Bo^rd constructing the railway, for there was no doubt that as soon as the harbour was completed the Government would be quite prepared to construct the railway to the harbour. The Government would be forced to do so, for all the traffic would then be from the harbour. He considered tha* the money already raised should be de /oted solely to the construction of the harbour. The reclamation proposed to be done on the beach at Ne .v Plymouth would involve an expenditure of £200 in addition to legal expenses, »S:c., and if that money was expended it would be £200 less money for the construction of the breakwater. He had spoken to several Taxpayers at Hawera on the subject and they wee of opinion that the money should not be spent on loads and bridges in New Plymouth, but on the breakwater, as it was for the breakwater alone the money was raised. He did roi expect that his resolution would be passed, but he entered it as a sort of protest. He gathered from the reports which had been read that the cost stated per cubic foot was not the actual cost to the Board, as a number ef extras had been omitted in estimating the cost. He was certain if all these extras were included in the total cost, as they ought to be, they would find that each yard of the breakwater actually cost over £2. Mr. Dinole seconded the motion pro forma. Mr. David.son said there was no doubt Mr. Yorke was right respecting the method of reckoning the cost of the breakwater. Mr. Bayly agreed with Mr. Yoike's remarks with regard to the railway from Now Plymouth to the Harbour Works. If there was a Government line of railway, and also a line owned by the Board, it would cause great inconvenience to storekeepers at Hawera who had goods larded at the Harbour, because they would require to have an agent in New Plymouth to transfer the goods from one railway to the other. He thought the Government should construct the railway, and not the Board. He did not. however, agree with Mr. Yorke in his remarks respecting the opening up of! v road and reclamation works, because the Board's reserves would be improved 50 per cent, by the proposeu expenditure. The Chairman said the question lay in a nutshell. It was believed that as soon as the railway was completed, the Government would purchase it and take it over. It was even now very likely that the Government would construct tho line if the Public Works Loan was raised as proposed . The reason the Board had undertaken to construct the railway was that it was considered necessary to commence the line at once, so that it would bo completed by tho time the breakwater would bo available to vessels for discharging their cargoes. Mr. Davidson understood that tho railway would be a Hource of revenue to the Board, and that if they had the railway in their hands they could run trains whea they liked, but if it was in the hands of the Government the trains would only ran the ordinary twice a day.

Mr. Carrisqtom thought it would not do to leave the construction of the railway until the breakwater was finished, for their goods would have to be conveyed by carts from the harbour to the town.

The motion was then put and negatived. Tenders. — The Churman stated that he had received and opened the following tenders for the erection of an engine-shed :—: — F. W. Revell, £86 135.; J. C. George, £118; McLauchlan, £10G 10s.; T. S. Bond, £110. He had accordingly accepted Mr. Revell's tender, as it was the lowest. — The Board confirmed the acceptance of the tender. Account*. — Accounts were examined and passed for payment to tho amount of £7<U 17s. The Board then adjourned.