The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1909. NAPIER HARBOUR.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14002, 10 September 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1909. NAPIER HARBOUR.

Information regarding any forward •step taken by the Napier Harbour Hoard should bo of nioro interest to Timaru and South Canterbury people than to those elsewhere in the -Dominion outside of Hawke.'s Bay, because the deep-water harbour of Xapier was modelled on the first harbour of Timaru, was designed by the same engineer, Air John Goodall, and was commenced by Timaiu contractors, Messrs Stumbles and ■■ McGill, of' whom 3Lr Stumbles is still extant amongst us. Xapier was in a very diffeiont position from Timaru, in respect of natural conditions. A stream, the outlet ;of a large tidal lagoon, into which flowed a river of small account when low, but. carrying a good deal of water when in flood, provided a. convenient natural port for small coasters in the ear,v days, and a few hundred feet of sheetpiling made training walls that secured a permanent channel N suitable forth? smaller steamers of the Union Steam Ship Company, a bar of boulders, however, limiting their exits and entrances to times of high water. , vTo facilitate the loading and discharging of lighters working between the shore and Homo-going vessels anchored in the roadstead, a small dock ,was excavated, with entrance through the southern sheet-pile training wall. These facilities were provided early in the history of the port, and it can be easily perceived that Xapier was much better off than Timaru, with its surf-boat service and launching ways directly on the beach. The difficulties and dangers of the Timaru- boat service compelled the adoption and i)roihpt :i execution of an enclosed deep-water harbour. , Napier, possessed N of the I'neihtios mentioned, was not compelled to apply equal determination and' energy to the completion of such a harbour, and the consequence is- that, though begun in 1886, twenty-three years ago, the ( breakwater harbour is ' far from being completed, ' and the t breakwater so far as it has boom, made', is not of much value as a shelter for even smaller shipping in rough weather. It has cost about as much as the Timaru harbour as this now stands; and last week three engineers who were called in to advise the Harbour Hoard, concurred in recommending the expenditure of about £150,000 more to complete the harbour —by extending the breakwater 1400 feet at a cost of £98,000, and adding an inner mole (equivalent to Timaru's north mole) at a cost of £50,000. Wharfage, dredge and dredging, and necessary adjuncts brought up' the total estimate to £270,000. The Board has at present a loan debt of half a million, and carrying out this work will make it threequarters of a million. The engineers say that a powerful tug-boat will be required," and they recommend a combined tug and grab-dredgo with 200ton hopper, costing £20,000; and as there arc rocks to be removed in order to get the 30 feet of water, desired, a Ldbnitz rock-breaker, costing £SOOO more, is included in the estimates. They think that if the Hoard pursue an active policy in the matter of dredging and rock removal,, therereason why * large vessels ■ should not berth at the wharf in fine weather inside twelve months; while as the harbour approaches completion they will be practically independent of weather conditions, and the whole could be finished in three, years. Seeing that so much money has been spent on the breakwater it would be a ■ great waste not to complete it, and provide a harbour worthy of so flourishing a district as Hawke's Bay, and the advice that the whole can be completed in three years ought to spur the Board and the ratepayers behind them, to get it done in the time. The engineers recommend the completion of the breakwater in the manner hitherto followed, which is the same as was adopted in the construction of the concrete breakwater at Timaru. In the case of the inner mole, however, they recommend tip-, ping rubble on one side of a ferroconcrete staging, the latter_to form part of a future breastwork wharf for large vessels. There was originally, at Xapier, as at Timaru, a drift of 1 shingle along the beach, and the breakwater has acted as a trap to the drift, there as here. The engineers in their report mention that since the breakwater was constructed largo accnmula-' tions of shingle have taken place alung the beach in front of the town and the Bluff, and during heavy southerly , weather it accumulates in the corner | at the ,r,oot of the breakwater, and is \ driven over the wall there. ' They evidently anticipate that in course of time the trap will become filled, and the shingle be drifted along the breakwater to the entrance, though they do not say so plainly. , They say: "There is no trace of shingle beyond the first kant of the breakwater, and the indications are that nothing but fine sand is carried past that work, though it is probable that the accumulation south of the breakwater has not yet reached limit, and that when it does the quantitv passing will bo, larger than at present." " Lnfgc accivmulat.ons of shingle" in the past must inonn lame drift of shingle along the outer kant when the accumulation south of the breakwater has "reached its limit. Some dav therefore the shingle-trap at Xapier will have to be enlarged, as has been done at Timaru.