The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1907. ADDITIONAL WHARFAGE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13270, 26 April 1907, Page 4

The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1907. ADDITIONAL WHARFAGE.

We do iio;t know how far it is intended at once to pursue the question of providing additional wharfage accommodation, a matter which: is set down for consideration by the Harbour Board at its meeting loday,. but we venture to think that it would be a' mistake, to launch out upon an ambitious scheme'until more enquiry has been made than appears to have been made .already, into the extent to which the present berthage space 'has failed to meet, the demands of the shipping that visits the port, and'the inconvenience that has been occasioned by this cause. So far as we are aware, very little information has been prepared upon this point, and what information has been made public has taken a shape that does not convey a clear idea of the pressure to which the existing wharfage . accommodation has at times been subjected. Qur recollection may be 1 defective in this respect, but if ; t is, we are probably no more in the dark ■than most, of, the members who will make their firsi.acquaintance with the business of the Board. The new members at least will require to have: the position clearly laid before them in...order thai they may arrive at a, proper conclusion regarding the. advisability of sinking a considerable sum in the l provision of extra-berths, and we daresay ,that they will require time to .assimilate whatever, facts are brought forward 1 by those responsible for the appearance; of this particular.item on the order papa - of to-day's meeting.. \ To our mind, the prudent course appears .'to be that advocated by Mr D- C. Turnbull in the interview which appeared in yesterday's issue of this paper. : Mr Turnbull expressed the opinion that so far the' accommodation already provided has sufficed to meet the-, requirements'.of'the.-port, but that if more is considered advisable,. the Board should proceed- as circumstances dictate), and not add immediately a lot of wharfage which will be seldom, if ever, used. To the casual observer, it certainly does not appear that shipping people have had much reason to complain in the past' of detention through insufficient berthage, nor does it seem reasonable that the Board should make a point of providing facilities to meet exceptional and infrequent demands for space. It is desirable, of' course, that no vessel should be' kept waiting for a berth, just as it is desirable that shipping operations should never be retarded by the inability of the railway authorities to supply trucks when there is aq exceptionally severe pressure on the rolling stock. But the counsel of perfection is not always any more feasible in the affairs of the Harbour Board than it h in the affairs of the Railway Department, and if once in a way a vessel was obliged to submit to a little inconvenience, Ave should scarcely regard that fact as a proof of the imperative necessity for increasing the wharfage accommodation. We are of opinion, however, that the present wharves are not more than sufficient for the average requirements of the port, and we agrea with Mr D. Stuart, whose views also appeared yesterday, that it is sound business for the; Board to have.something co spare in the shape of berthage. The harbour has been singularly, free fconi damage to its wharves by the mismanagement of vessels during berthing operations,but as Mr Stuart pointed out, that is a contingency which has to be reckoned with,' while even if no berth is ever put out of commission from that cause, there still remains the necessity for the periodical overhaul of the wharves, which can hardly be done hi a satisfactory manner unless the part under inspection and repair can be temporarily closed to shipping. For this reason alone, extra berthage seems to be advisable* but the matter ..is not of such urgency as to demand settlement offhand without a full' consideration of the extent to which the Board wotild be justified -in building more wharves.