TIMARU HARBOUR BOARD.

Timaru Herald, Volume LX, Issue 2357, 31 March 1897, Page 3

TIMARU HARBOUR BOARD.

The monthly meeting of the Timaru Harbdur Board was held yesterday. Preent — Messrs A. Hayes (chairman), Lyall, Pringle, Sullivan, Wilson, Thew, Fraser, and Skinner. Apologies were received and accepted from Messrs Jonas and Guinness. chairman's statement. The chairman stated that there was very little general business to detain members more than an hour. He congratulated members on the fact that since last meeting the Aotea, one of the largest steamers m the trade, had visited the port, and the master was highly , pleased with the .accommodation and : despatch received here.' Such a thing , was worth taking notice of m the case of such a large vessel, nearly 7000 tons. , Since last meeting a complete survey of ! the harbour had been made by the ■ resident engineer, and, members would

see from the plan that ?re was no material difference m the 6th of. water m any part of the area sujyed. This was very satisfactory indeet In reply to Mr Pringle J Marchant said he had not re-surveyodie shingle bank, as there was no chanan it. In reply to Mr Fraser t] chairman said he had not called the rqganisatlon committee together, becau^the mover m it, Mr Evans, had been csd away to Australia, and other menira of the committee agreed to his stjestion to put off the matter. » CORRESPONDENCE.; The Mount Peel Road Boa inquired what steps are necessary toive their clerk put on the roll to rejjsent the Board at local elections. -Thßoard to be referred to its legal advis. , Mr Ootterill, local agent N< Zealand Shipping Company, applied on 10th March for a refund of chargeSncuned on 481 bales of wool brouglihere by steamer for the barque Caegie, by landing instead of transhippi; it, the harbourmaster saying that thiepth of , water alongside the barque w insuffi cieut to allow the steamer to'ranship direct. Other wool was conrig from^ other ports for the barque and lie company claimed some consideration the matter of charges, as the vejel was berthed where the steamers c(ld not come alongside. \ The secretary explained that t? extra charge incurred was for railway lulage. The Carnegie was berthed at theidoody wharf, and there is only a nariiv gutdredged alongside the wharf, |> that large steamers could not go ahgside ships lying at the wharf. The Paerua, which brought the wool, is a large'essel, larger than the Carnegie. ; The chairman said the Board cofd not make any deduction, m the facof the auditor's remarks on the last stajment of accounts, about a refund of wlrfage on stone landed from the Eurydic Mr Fraser said the Board shoul take into consideration the widening f the channel at the wharf to hold two visels. The application for rebate w* not entertained. The Railway Office reported th net amount of wharfage collected irifour weeks ended 27th February, at £!?4 9s. Price, Forbes and Co., London, 'rote that they had renewed the insuratie on the tug-dredjie. Mr Parr reported that in' the last >yen weeks 14,600 tons of spoil had beeu iken to sea, all except 600 tons from ieide the harbour. ; The harbourmaster reported the anval of 17 steam and 7 sailing vessels, i all 15,877 tons, and the departure ofthe same number, of 17,869 tons, dtii.ng February. The weather that monthsvas generally fine. He asked for ceiain coils of cordage. The rope required to be ordered. It was agreed to give a small order fc a Sydney manufacturer to give his corage a trial. Mr W. H. Foden wrote forwardig a number of early files of the Timru Herald, a present to the Board. STANDING COMMITTEE. TheStanding Committee recommenced that the attention of the police be dram to the present practice of bathing fnra the Moody wharf, and that they beasted to put a stop to it. Twenty tons of sUel rails having arrived, all more or les rusty, they had instructed the secretaiy to write to Messrs McEwan and Co. *n reference to the matter, with orders n»t to send any more m the same state. An enquiry having been received from tl,e Waimate County Council as to the. amount required for harbour rate during the current year, the committee recommended that all the local bodies m the harbour district be informed that the levy would be the same this year as last. The committee recommended that the thanks of the Board be conveyed to Mr W. H. Foden for the gift of tiles cf the Timam Herald, from 1864 to 1881, and that the same be bound for reference. Tenders for ironmongery for the current year had been opened and scheduled for the information of the' Board.— The ac^ ceptance of a tender was accidentally overlooked. STAFF ENQFIUY. On a motion to grant an extension of time for the Staff Enquiry Committee to report, Mr Wilson objected to it. It was unfair to the Board's servants to have such a resolution hanging over their heads. The mover of it had often been pretty severe upon other members who were not present to attend to their business, and he did not see why the work of the Committee should be hung up because one member was absent. The chairman said the matter had not been postponed at the request of tbe absent member, but because the members of the Committee agreed that the mover m the matter should be present. Mr Pringle spoke against Mr Wilson's objection, and the motion was carried, Mr Wilson dissenting. engineer's report. Mr Marchaut reported as follows :— " Harbour survey.— l have re-surveyed the whole of the roadstead and recorded the soundings on the plan. Owing to long continued absence of south-easterly seas there is no change m the depths to speak of since my last survey, except that a sand deposit 2ft m depth has formed some 30 chains E.N.E magnetic from the end of the breakwater. The position of the shingle bank is practically unchanged since the last survey was made. " Dredging.— The sand pump lining and runner shaft being completely worn out, we have just put m a new set of linings, new runner and shaft. It will be necessary to order frcm the makers duplicates of these for renewals. I recommend that a set of the old lining plates be sent Home as patterns so that the new ones can be fitted m here without alteration. After a good long experience of this pump I have come to the conclusion that itcannotbedepended upon to do heavy.continuouswork m shingle without very frequent re-lining and repairs. It is quite possible to partly rebuild the pump so as to make it somewhat m accordance with the specification and details sent to the makers, withoutgoing to the expense of a new pump, but I think that when the vessel is called upon to do battle with the shingle drift— that m my opinion will form as a huge shoal round the end of the breakwater — it will then be necessary to reline the pump very frequently, or else partially rebuild it to make it more wear-resisting. As there is no knowing when a large amount of shingle pumping may have to be done at the entrance, I think two spare sets of side lining plates should be procured m addition to the runner shaft." The engineer gave members some information as to the pump linings, and explained that they wore very rapidly m shingle because the pump was not built for shingleHbut for sand. The correspondence would show that the Board insisted strongly on having a pump built on the lines shown to be best for shingle by colonial experience, but the makers persuaded Mr Darling to accept their pump, which had proved satisfactory for sand. Mr Marchant explained that the wear of the linings iB caused by stones grinding between the revolving armg _and the linings ; m the colonial pumps 'the arms were cased, and this grinding did not occur to any great extent. Hf thought the Board should get ready to rebuild the pump when it appeared to be absolutely necessary, but not to do it m the meantime. On the motion of Mr Fraser it was reI solved to order two sets of linings at , once. j ACCOUNTS. ! Accounts amounting to £3140 14s 7d j were passed for payment, including £200 C | for interest. ■ NEW OFFICES. The chairman brought up the question of erecting new offices, to give the Board better accommodation, and chiefly to provide a strong room for the safety ol the Board's valuable documents, which now largely overflow the two iron safes, It was not right that so many important papers should be subject to the risk ol Being destroyed by fire. He suggested

that the offices should be built beside the breakwater, on their own land. Mr Fraser and Mr Lyall supported the proposal, and Mr Wilson opposed it, except as to erecting a strong room. On the motion of Messrs Fraser and Lyall the engineer was instructed to prepare plans and specifications for suitable offices to accommodate the Board's staff, engineer, and harbourmaster, with a board room and strong room, A RUBBLE QUARRY. The Board went into Committee to receive certain information from the resident engineer respecting available quanies, and on resuming it was resolved that Messrs Sullivan, Thew, and Wilson, with the chairman, should examine certain quarries with the engineer and report to the next meeting of the Board.— The Committee agreed to visit certain places after lunch. The Board rose at 12.30 p.m.