TIMARU HARBOUR.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13435, 6 November 1907, Page 2

TIMARU HARBOUR.

WORK OF MR*".!. H. BAYNES,

As Mr ,T. IT. Bavnes, resident engineer to tilt? Tiinaru Harbour Board, is relinquishing his petition, it may be well to 6v-t- down what lie has done towards the improvement of the harbour 'since lie took charge of the engineering "department in September, 1904. • For th:* facts stated in these notes we are, of course, indebted chiefly to Mr Baynes himself. Recognising that while the work then m hand, the construction of the Eastern Extension, required little more than supervision to ensure its successful completion, and that the nest important work to be undertaken was the deepening of the harbour, Mr Baynes immediately after his- arrival at* Timaru set about making a complete sounding survey of the liarbcur bottom. His report on .this survev, with plan and section, was presented" to the Board on September 21st. The. survey showed that the bottom' of the harbour was extremely uneven, the result of unsystematic dredging. He plotted out the whole in rectangular portions, with distinctive marks, so that- dredging- could carried on methodically. At the. first meeting of the Board which he attended, it was "agreed that he should be given full control of tlie two dredges—Timaru and Taniwha—and their staifc. At.the following (October) meeting of the Board he submitted a proposal for deepening the inner harbour throughout to 26ft, with c estimated quantities, and having now seen from experience tlie inadequacy of the dredgers to deal with the obdurate character of the greater part of the harbour bottom he recommended the Board to procure a self-propelled ladder dredger, lilted with cast <*Uel picks and buckets. The Board agreed that, a dredge of till is tvpe was nece&saiy if the harbour was to be effectively and* tconomically deepened, and enquiries were made for secondhand dredgei>i available for puicha-ve. As one result of these inquiries, Mr Bayn<s was sent, to Australia, in December, 1904, to negotiate for the purchase of a dredge from the West Australian -Government. Nothing came of this, the- offer of the dredge being withdrawn. Mr Baynes returned in February. During his absence Mr J. IV Maxwell had been consulted by the Board ra dredging, and he advised that- the Timaru be given a continued trial at the approach to the inner harbour, and if she did not succeed, the question of hiring a bucket dredge might. t>? considered. ilr' Baynes replied at length to this report, on February £lst, pointing out the folly of further expenditure on , attempts to make the Timaru do work ihe was manifestly unfitted for. The ineffectiveness of the Timaru being still further proved, on May 20th lie recommended that she be laid' up; in connection with this gave detailed comparative statements of the cost of dredging per Timaru and per up-to-date bucket dredge. On May 23rd he submitted to the Board a isp.'cial report, with sections, of the Eastem Extension, .showing that the sectional area of the completed work was much in excess of that dt6igned. ' The constructive methods -were then altered, with the result that about £4OOO was saved before the- work was completed, by reducing the amount of stone used, without .in any way reducing the effective strength of the mole, but on the contrary, by more careful packing of the heavy surface blocks, increasing its resisting power. The Board, after much consideration, agreed that a bucket dredge was a'necessity.;, a specification was prepared, and several tenders for the construction of such a dredge were received from British makers. On -July 26th, .1905, Mr Baynes selected that of 'Messrs Fleming and Ferguson, of Paisley, as the most suitable, . this b?ing for a 1000-ton hopper, stern-well dredge- The Board consulted Mr Cyrus Williams and Mr Blair Mason, engineers respectively to the Lyttelton and-.Ota'go Boards, and both reporting very, fav.o'urab-yr on th? offer, the tender of. Messrs Fleming and Ferguson was accepted by the! Board on jJsth August. In -view of the prospective arrival of a bucket vdredgel. .wliicli coula do the w'ork much more economically,. iMr Baynes again recommended the laying up of the Timaru, and tlie, Board; accepted this advice. • .In Deoemhbr, 1905, the last pile was driven of the fia.stern' Extension staging. In March, 1906, Mr Baynes obtained the assistance, of Mr'F.Crowe,; and the survey of the outer harbour was completed, enabling him to submit, on April 21st, a detailed report with plan of both inner and outer harbour, showing a general scheme for future improvements. In July two new screw moorings were laid, and plans for repairs to the main wharf and for a north mole wharf ; were prepared and submitted. The question of the suitability of ferro-concrete as a material for the north mole wharf having been disfcuesed, in August he visited Auckland, to inspect the i'erro-concrete wharf work there and on his return made a special report on the subject. The Board having determined to erect a wharf -alongside the North Mole, the mole itself was widened and raised, .chiefly by waste irom the Board's quarry; and* then, in pursuance of the idea, of building the wharf, the making of the necessary approach to. the mole was undertaken, combined with the reclamation of the. shoal, rock-bottomed head of the harbour to serve for shed and store site. The reclamation for .this reclamation was commenced in September, 1906, the Eastern Extension being nearly completed. Tlia Board deciding to prepare an effective representation of •the Harbour and projected Avorks for the Christchurch Exhibition, a large model and plan were prepared by Mr Crowe 'for the purpose, and on October 15t1i.. .the plan and report showing a comprehensive scheme for the complete development of the port were, submitted to the Board/; On November Bth, 1906, the «bucket -dredge •No. 350, arrived at Port Chalmers from Paisley, was takeii over qnct-- docked.;! In November a plan and report on a protective work at end of breakwater were submitted, and a report witli recommendations on tlie method of • working the bucket dredge when ehej arrived at Timaru, which she did on IDjecember 23rd. A plan and description of the north mole wharf in ferro-concrete were presented. In January. 1907, the reclamation breastwa]l was completed. At the end of January, Mr Baynes was able to present to the* Board a* very satisfactory report on the cost of the dredging done by 350, working under the Queensland system, that cost being only 3£d per ton, the cheapest work of the kind ever done in Timaru. At the end of the following month, the results of further work of the bucket dredge at Moody wharf in stiff yellow clay and stones, permitted him to import that the estimates that he had made of the economy of using this type of dredge, before 350 was ordered, had been verified. \ On March Bth, the builders' guarantee period having expired, he made recommendations as to the .staffing of the dredge, and in the following month, pur-, suing the subject, showed the advantage of working the double shift system in the interests of economy. In May he pointed out an unsatisfactory element in the working of the dredge, in the excessive time spent in mooring, as compared with the Lyttelton dredge Manchester. The question of constructing a north mole wharf was still under diiscusssion, and in May, 1907, a fresh plan, for a wharf 650 feet long was prepared and submitted. In consequence of some agitation, within and without the Board, a report and series of sections and models were submitted in June, to prove that there was no necessity _ for spending thousands of pounds on raising the Eastern Extension mole. The reclamation between Moody wharf and North Mole were completed on August Ist. The estimated jcost of this work was £4454; the gross cost was £4430 16s, and the net

cost _£4lßo. An approach to this reclamation across the remainder of the harbour head being required, a survey was made and a plan ana estimate for a solid approach were submitted on August 15tli, and subsequently, borings were made to test the bottom for the purpose of preparing a design for a ferro-concrete piled approach. In iSeptember plans and estimates for stiffening and repairing the Moody wharf were submitted, and in the followjno, month a new plan for the fender at the end of the breakwater was prepared and the work put in hand. It is evident from the foregoing that Mr Baynes has not been idle during his three years' service under the Board, and that lie lias left indelible records of his sojourn in Timaru. Passing over the Eastern Extension, which was designed and approaching completion when he came, the raising* of the north mole and the extensive reclamation attached to it, are massive monuments of his service. Ihe additional screw moorings are inconspicuous trifles; the ungainly but useful "dolphins ' and the breakwater fender, are also trifles. Blit his persistent advocacy of a bucket dredge until the Board procured one ; and the methodical system of working dredges which Mr Baynps introduced, will probably prove, in the invisible but- appreciable result of a deepened harbour, the best reason for looking back with satisfaction upon liis comparatively short regime as Resident Engineer. As a supplement to these notes Mr Baynes' letter of resignation will find a fitting place. It was as follows:—' ( "It is with regret that 'I beg to tender my resignation as Engineer-in-Charge of your works. "Before leaving Timaru it was my hope to have seen in full swing some of the main works outlined in the Comprehensive Scheme and Plan submitted to you, and to have recorded not only 30 feet- at- your wharves but also 26 feet .in thei approach channel at low water. "That the Board should have sanctioned such arrangements re dredging as placed the attainment- of the latter beyond my control is to be ,involving as it did a breach of the conditions of my agreement with your Board whereby it was expressly stipulated that 1 was to supervise all harbour works, and also dredging operations. •• . . "It had been niy Earnest desire to see that your works were carried out witli the utmost despatch and as economically as possible. • ■"The.work done at the Eastern Extension, whereby some £4OOO was. saved by .altering constructive methoods to bring, the profile of the work to the designer's plan; the reduced cost of quarrying stone, which in 1906 was the lowest recorded notwithstanding thei . large quantity of small stuff loaded; the reduction of the cost of your dredging from 2s per ton to 3d during the month I had the Queensland system in force with Dreuge 350; these are proofs of economies I have been able to effect. "To the members of the Board, pastand present, who have given me their support I tender my most sincere thanks. "As I have not been able to avaiL myself. of the.provision made for an annual holiday for your executive officers, I trust you wi|l see. fit- to grant me one month's leave of absence, and would ask to be relieved of my duties at- earliest convenient- period." „ \ - As recorded in yesterday's issue _ the Board, in accepting Mr Baynes' resignation-, without a single' dissentient agreed to comply with his final request. •»