HARBOUR BOARD.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 12861, 20 May 1905, Page 2

HARBOUR BOARD.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Harbour Hoard was held on Friday, flrerii being- prestyjt :• — Mtt^-r* J. B. jConnett (Chairman), Newton King, G. McLean, J. Thomson, R. Price. R. W. Hornby, J. Hinc, and E. .Maxwell. A NUISANCE. The Borough Sanitary Inspector pointed out the danger and annoyance of the practice of burning and depositing refuse or rubbibh on the vacant land belonging- to tho Board noar Brougham and Aiikistrouts. The Secretary reported that he had notified thu tenant in regard to tho matter. A NECESSARY WORK. Mr Morgan, branch manager of tho Uniou Steam Ship Company. wrote, ■stating that when instructed to pa\ the Board the cost of repairing (the wharj 0X153 17d sfd) r <;aus^di U?y Takapunu accident in January last h^ was desired to point out .that --.tho oost would not have been as heavy by £'iO had th<J wharf- ibeen rebuilt by a square corner. The rounding that has been done was, however, agr^at advantago to vessJels. berthing in baU w;cather. and thereforo the clainJ had 'laedn jyaid in full. Mr Morgan further stated that masters had pointed out the work was not quite-" complete, the sheathurgV. requiring to be taken down to 1 low water mark, and ho asked thol^ Board to do what was necessary before tho winter comes on. The outlay was. said to be very small. The Works Committee reewmm.-nded tohat the work be carried out, und thu Board approved. ACCIDENT INSURANCE CASE. Mr 15. Garner, district manager of the Accident Insurance Company, wrote correcting a report . that he had offered to settle the claim of a casual employee who had been injured while unloading coal« on tho wharf, at the rate of Is 6d per week-. It w-as pointed out that BJyde (the person injured) had only been in the Board's employ about two hours and under the old Act the albove set,tkment would havo been a perfectly conjede one, butj'a recent amendment allowed a casual employee's claim to be settled on a slightly different basis. Blyde "was practically a permanent hand of the 'Railway Department, and his claim w,as being settled on a basis of wages at £'2 5s a week, with which he had expressed his satisfaction.

HARBOUR IMPROVEMENT. The foreman (Mr F. Henderson) re. ported that eight piles comprising two bags of the wharf extension had been driven and the head stocks and longitudinal stringers had been fitted on. Altogether 1000 square

feetl of decking had been put. down. Referring to the breakwater extension, tho. foreman .stated that uflrr completing the second section and extending the rails, stone tipping was res u lived on Monday, 17th ult., for a

few days.. The , sea , was rather rough and they could only work between half tide and low water. Afterwards getting a good spell of lino weather a

total quantity of 1500 tons was put over and three concrete blocks were worked in along with. it. The foundation of concrete was then put down for the third section and was completed on the 10th inst. The following day the sea coming up heavy from the N.W.. Welled down the advance rubble and washed out a portion of the- concrete in the front. The damage was only slight, however, and would cause no delay to the work as

it could be , repaired while putting down the concrete for the following section 1 . The Ktonc now being ob-

tainod from the quarry wa* rather small and beyond the reach. 1 of the crane, therefore it was advisable) to

move to the other face fronting Paritutu. This would take from fix to eight days, and quarrying could be commenced at the new face at' once.

The rails were wearing badly in some parts, and about 50 rails and ' '200 sleepers would be required and the work of laying them could be tlonc late in the winder. „ The foreman's recommendations were approved. * REQUIRED TO BE. PROTECTED. The Chief Engineer to the Railway Ddpartimcut ('Mr Coon) wrote, pointing out that ho, observed by a paragraph in the Taranaki Herald that the County Couucil has decided io take stone from t>h.P beach between the New Plymouth station and breakwater. It was understood, the writer pointed out, that in accordance with the Department's.' request the Botord had hitherto decided not to agree to the removal of stone aud gravel f'um

the foreshore, and as this was v«.sied in the Boand he would be gUd to know what steps it was "proposad to take to prevent the County Council carrying out its intention. As far as

the Railway Department was concerned, strong , objection would be raised, and the Solicitor-General had »been requested to advise , what l«'gal stops were necessary to protect its interests: Jfc may be advisable to take the foreshore by pro'-lnma-t'on, and vest it in the Department, but it waS not desired to Interfere with the Boai'd's mtflowmunts «f it could possibly be avoiklnd. Section 103 of the Harbours Act, IS7O. gave^ the Board power to make n I.<y-law prohibiting the removal of the gru^'l and stono, and on behalf of the De J partmont the Chief Tpnjfineer asked the Board to exercise its rights, and

if not already done issue such a l.v* law. The CHairman reported (hat the County Council appeared to have gone about the matter in an informal wcy. but he beliovrd the intention to remove gravel from the foreshore . was to be aUlaridonrid. the Chairman, Mr Okcy. having told him Mat they \vitp carting from the , Waiwaka'ho. The Boat*d had a by-law prohibiting \\v removal of any material from the foreshore without the written permission of the Secretary of tho Beard Tlw Chairman remained that V had three inti'ttvirw in Wellington on thi* particular matter, and as- tKc Oopartmenf! throatundd to take the inrc- | shore by proclamation he ('-he '. hnn • man) considernd it necessary to potocl the Boards interests, ••Kpi-ially as tho, Department had uinudy lie approach to the breakwater. ...ho : Popart men t spent annually money to keop the railway line in repair, nn, it was contended that ihe line would bo jeopardised if gravel w.is allowed to be removed from the fon«*lioi". In oifclrr to avoid such a thirty owwrvng the Deportment had carted «ravel )eqiiired by (hem on the lino sc»m"th.lig lik<« five miles. On the suggestion of Mr Price it was decided to wrfd a t""v cJ Hie Board's by-laws to the Kail\vnv| TVpartanrnt) ' with n« iniintV'on iliat they would be strictly culorecil.