The Taranaki Harbour.--No. 7.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12280, 12 June 1903, Page 2

The Taranaki Harbour.--No. 7.

THE FIEST PASSEN'GEKS FEOM THE BREAKWATER. tSteamers were .now frequently able to discharge cement alongside the wall, anfd on May 27th, 1883, the first passengers embaukqd there on the Oreti. They were Mr and Mrs Dris.coll anil family. v • The work proceejdetl slowly cluriag liie first half of 18S3, an# nothing of sfpecial in»portan<;e occjurrefcl. On July 17tih* the Government having notified tihat it was unable to coaisftiruct a railway to Moturoa, ihe Boaixl resoljvefcl : — "Thiat iftie sjiwn of £18,000, beiaig t^e estinxateki cost of the line, or sjucih lesser amount as may be required, be paid to the Minister of Ptffolic Works to enable the Government to call for teriders for -tihe immediate construction of the line." The chairman (Mr *T. King) and Mr W. Bayly went to Wellitagiton to interview the Minister and rnajde satisfactory arrangements for pjutting the wonk in haaw, the Boarjd filncling the ntoney. Shortly afterwarjds, (however, the Board was, , adivisetl by rts solicitor, Mr Sainjael, that it haSd no power to acq/uire the neceslsiary lanids ior the pfurpose of tftie railway. Hence the project was dropped and the Government was urged to' uinHerta'ke the work, w.hich as before Pffcatad, eventually it did. THIE FIRST GOODS AT THE BR^EAEiWITER. Tlhe New Plymouth. Gas Company' were tihe firsffc to malke use of i'he' breakwater conjimercially, a cargo ,of, 120 tons of coa,l betoig lau/de'd for them; from i#ie Oreti on September 22tald,' 1883. It was stated at the time that t!he freight from Greyunoluth was 17s per ton/ as compared with 20s to Waitara, awd a fiii»rtfcer saving was made in iclelitvery to tihe gas works. Calptain Bdbertsion, ' then skipper of the Oreti, was one of the most frequent visitors and was always- a firm believer in the breafcw,ater. : Tn October, 1883, Mr John Ballance visited the district and it is interesting to note his opinion. He wrote in the Wangaaui Herald that "experience has proved 'an expensive teacher,, fully, £30,000 having been spent withohit any useful purpose wihatelver. AIL this, however, has been changed, axid elvery pennj'' spent is- now shown in substantial results." ,Regariiing Waitara he said ' — ",T«he Waitara can never be a. good second class, harbour without an enorimsous expendiiure,; blut it will always remain a coniyeiiient place for -a certain class ol steamers to visit. ... It' is doubtful if efveh £i 2&0,000 would Ho .very much jn -t^he absence of a ouxrent sufficiently strong to force the bar baak same 'distance to the ocean." He was prophetic when he wrote >~ 'MhiSch has been hearfcl of the New Plyni,o!ttUi harbowr question, but I may tv^niWe safely to profphecy tha^ the future has in s.tore a con'trbjversy before wjiicfh will pale the battles of the past. The war will begin to rage with sublime ferocity when the time for levying the special rate shall haive arrived:" On October 27th, 1883, tihe GoVernor, , Sir William Jei;vois, piaid a visdt to New Plyjmauth, coming from Nelson i!n the Hinemoa. His' Excellency was brought alongside the breakwater in a boat", artd hoisted oh to the quay in a sedan chair, made for the occasion. The work proceeded steadily during the year with the restalt that by ihe beginning of 1884 the wall liad reached a length of nearly 900 feet. FIRST UNION- STEAMER ALONGSIDE. The first of the Union S.S. . Co's steamers to be berthed at- the, breaik-* water was the Wanaika on March 22, 1884, Captain Neville being in command. It was mafcle the occasioli of a little demonstration at the port, . tihe Harbour Board meVbers being invited' on board by Mr W. L. Newman, the Company's agient, to' celebrate the occasion. On. May 28t^ 18S4. the Board gave notice that on amd a!fter Jiuly Ist all vessels would be tendered at the breakwater instead of the roatlstead. The Lighter "Company's service was discontinueid, - and a landing service established atihe breakwater. . IPhis was about three and a half-years after the commencement of the work. On .Tune 6th the first shipment of cattle wasTnatle from the breakwater, the Stormbird tafcinp- ten bulloaiks ' to O'neilfiingra for" lff . W. JBaylv. Theanimals were slHin^ 1 on boarfd in specially constr^icte'd ibriiclce-. About' ' Hfhis time a diver employed by the Board, named Peters, made strong assertions J'espectinp 1 the stability of the breakwater, ' which, he paid, was beiaior built on siand. Tn October, Mr .John McGre/ror. C/E.. was enframed t6 maVe an inspection and. report upon the woxk. and his report stated that wiiile there was some little settlement in two or three spntions it \njas fio slight that the star bility of the work was not Qti'danp-erpH in any way. He. strongly- advised the discontinuance of tyW par afoet, and al-, so recommenjrleW placing concrete, bloclp^ a nrntcic+ino- a'oron, at th" foot of tho wall. With reornVd *o fiutnre f>\t&r\9non* _"h& s/iifforestesi...., .l+>Hrowi.n£r. pot*crnio blop>a ovor the onicl "nell-'mell;" till they ahowpSrl, fi.V*> or 'six feet abo^vp lrvtfr watpf. nnd on +^(* t^P tTiis fmirjdfttinn >th« rn'oiiolith in Ri+i" qih'rhi.l9 ,bp b^ilt. - Tf, liownver. th** repf p.nnl^ bp kent thp. exis^tmjr rrode of "^npiiru'ctioii was oXiite ripj^t. Mr TH'omgon. thp Board '« consn^tincf, ph-o-inepr. ncl.yisoH f^he Board that t>n» nro'tM.iiiq- apron was riot veqliirp'rt. w^M +hn^ tho. volley could.' be more iV ri: noi' ril v Rinen+-,, • - - ■ - - TWV , Tilvrjtvisoiv's ntio-n.frpmont ns Go lr >- WnHifio- "Rno-'T'^r , n4^w *'t> +llff " of Nftvftm^, ISR4 Mr TW«-i-qti ftt^n minted in M<* nipfp. T n '+.V»iq • j»:tiirtoin+roont tho ftnnrfl an'norvr^'rl to liftV" no'tnr] SOtnPw^ot ovm'Hofliiv.. for Wr WWreppr-'s »miti fllf> .th'n'ji Coo«-1fl lBl B rrtans aim ot»

£80,000, whilst their remaining "fuiids amomiteid to no more than £310,000. Mr MlqGjregor, howeiver, did not repeat his recommendation in. his - next report. By the end of 1884 the length, pf the breakwater had advanced to 1264 feet, arid the shipping of the port made constant v&e of it, goin^; along-?; side in fine weather and- being tendereld in rough. . Occasionally steamers haid to pass by, causing serious incon- , venienice. A COUNTRY MEMB.ER EL,ECTE!D . TO THjE BOARD. At the election of members of the Boaifel on February ' 9th, l-'BBS, Mr <G. A. .Marohant, a resiident ' of • Stratfoncl district, was a candidate. This was the first time the country beyond « tftie vicinity ,of New Plymjouth had endeaivo.ured. to sequre .representation on the Board. The "Herald/ writing upon Mr Marchant's. candidature, said, "it wpuld only, be a- graceful act on the part' of the ratepayers ;pf New Plymouth to vote for him." .The paper further advocated ,the return of the candidates representing the , country districts, saying it "was only rigjht .the country settlers , should be represented on the Board. -Mr Marchant was returned at the head of the poll, sectoring 700 votes, wnile^MrKing and Mr Paul> w!ho were next on the Hsit, secured 489 J each. In New Plymouth Mr Marchahjfc was fourtih on. the list .with 323. votes. On slubseqfuent .occasions coW]£ry nominees rece^vejd siubstautia^ support in town', sjhowing that there was- always a strong desire in New Plymouth tiiatthe cou*nt^y -settlers sjhould .be 1 " represented when they '"chose; to interest iOiemselves. - .''-•- At a meeting of 'the*Board< oii April Ist, 1885, Mr Mauohant' m,o>ved in the direction ' of getting' Sir John Cboiie, •vfax> was -then expected in Western Alustralia,\ to visit the works and, report. Only; Messrs- Carrington and Yoilke rfuJr^Jorted the into ti on, which was defeated, the majority contending tfliat the work was proceeding - satisfactorily and < that the exjpensd of Sir John Coo He's l'eport was not justified. On April 18th the Union steamer Ringairootoa,- -drawing- -15 feet> was berth'eti at the breakwater, being- "ihe largest taken alongside up to Wiat time. v '2 . . RAILWAY TO MOTUROA. In May, 1885, the tender of. Mr G. J. Newjtnah. for £8990, for . the construction, of a railway ffona New Plymouth to Moturoa, was „ accepted, Mr Saniuel, then member for the district, having Succeeded, as already related,' in j in^u;ci^ig Parliament to priovide the Ijuulds' ior the work. The railway wds completed and qpened for traffic Pn May 24#i, 1886^. . • A NJIW LOAN SUQGiESTED.;; As iihe- an& of £200,000 loan : wak now wiijhin sight tiie qluestion of taking srtejps to raise a further sum.' fortihe comjpletion of, the harbour was br*o(ug3it l forward by. Mr Marehant at a Boaifcl meeting' om September 2nd, 1885. ..Mr King stated tfcat it wouldbe better, to poa^one action -until *the railway was completed, as they would tlhen be better able to v> judge of the ,tn#e of the port. The BparU bad. still nearly £3Q,000 in cash 1 and mat-, erial. Mr Marohant asked whether, it iwould nlot .be akj'yigable to, devote- a (portion of the funds to builjdiiig a w%arf, but Mr King- ' replied that., it w.cktld be better to push on with the wall. At the following meettng- Mr. Rhiwl submitted a plan of a wharf for tihe guidance of the members,- and: Mr Paul gave notice to move that 'after the present " season's woitk: a 'wooden, pier ,fee constructed as far as sufficient protection was aflpi'ded. "■' Wihen Mr McGregor paia his halfyearly visit in October He, recommended the Board to construct a, wharf at, a: cost pf £8000 or £10,000; * but ' on it being pointed out that the Board's funds .were running low he said that if it came to a question , between breakwater and wharf he thougjht tbe breakwater wks the more important. Mr. King then, gave- a hint that in all probability, as *the land fund declined^ a tax would become necessary. After some disctussiori, it was.decided, on Mr Paul's mbtion^to instrtiet Engineer to fumisih an estimate of the pr6bable cost of a wliarf." • Accordingly Mr MdGregor prepared an estimate, totalling' £13,500 for^ a wharf 400 feet long, and, approacihes, giving a depth alongside, after Ure«clging, of 18 feet at low water. He alsio strongly urged the Board to,, protect the wall on the sea face by means of an a,pron of blodks. \ The limited means at the Board's comtmartd. prevented these rficp'm'mendations being carried out. tnHeed, in December; tihe Board decided, to give the Engineer. Constultinjr Engineer, anirl- other officers notice of termination- of their several agreements. The Board was conxmittecL to the expenditure of all exc«pib about .£5300 and it was thought thjat might be spent upon a w,harf. Bpt it was hopeel :that a liu 4ther loan would be agreed to. '" (To be Continued).