LIGHTER OR HEAVIER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 2826, 13 October 1883, Page 3

LIGHTER OR HEAVIER.

TO TBE BPITOB 07 THK TIMABU BBBAIJ). ' Sib, — I vras much surprised at reading tho , ridiculous arguments made use of by Captain < Butter at the Harbor Board meeting jester- \ day, respecting the employment of larger size lighteri. From his title of captain I was ' always under tho impression that he hid ' formerly been connected with maritime j mattere, but his experience muet date a ' precious long way back, probably about tho ■ time of the invasion of Sngland by the i Spanish Armada. I fail to tee how two t lighters carrying one hundred sacks each can ( hold as much as one holding six hundred, ] and as to a lighter of that size running the j riik of doing nvjre damage than s small ono ( requires but little reply. I say it is tho little c boats that are likely to do the damage, as they naturally pitch and knock about a good 1 deal more m a sea- si ay than a larger one, and n it is more difficult to fix fenders of sufficient size to the smaller boats. A lighter of the , size proposed would be longer, deeper, and have higher topsideß, the cargo would ■ be well protected by covered hatch- ' wayt>, and work could be done were it t necessary m a sea that the present small t lighters could not look at. I would ask bins o haw are goods transhipped m Napier, r Qisborne, Now Plymouth, Hokitika and i Ore; mouth, or at Bast London on the coast < of Africa, the latter especially, being known r as one of tho worst open roxdateads m the a world ? Certainly not m little eight or ten >] ton open boats. j However, I am glad to see that all other . members of the Board have sufficient common senßf, although they may not have had the exploded experience of Captain Sutler, to £ discuss the mater from a favorable and a workable poißt of view. I am, ite., \ William Iceland. c