HARBOUR BOARD.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 11236, 7 April 1891, Page 3

HARBOUR BOARD.

-* * The usual meeting of the Wantranui Harbour Board was held yesterday. Present — Messrs Thatcher (in the chair), J. Smith, Bitchie, Nathan, Somraerville, ■ 'Jili. Stevenson, and Hatriok. : The minutes of the previous meeting, -were read and confirmed. j -,'/. The bankbooks were produced showins a credit balance of £2339 5s ]d. Accounts amounting to A 2112 6s 4d ■were, passed for payment. . .-, ■• , " * The tender of Messrs Davis and Wall of . J825, for removal of dredge plant from '' Okehu Beach £p Nukumaru, was accepted. To; a, telegram received from Government, stating thattheipunte.be handed over to, Captain Marshall, who was in charge" 'of the. river improvements, the Secretary was' instructed to reply explaining; the ' Condition of the plant at present. The. painting of the bridge turn-table was 'then discussed, ' Mr Hatncfc moved that the matter be left in the hands of a committee, consisting of the Chairman, Messrs Bitchie and # Stevenson. An proposed' by Mr SmitH, and seconded by Mr Nptraan, That the Harbourmaster be instructed to proceed . ■with the work, as his estimates of the ... cost would be.consideirably less than if it-.!-were done 'by 'the contractors for other portion of the bridge.— The amendment was carried. Letter received, from recent purchasers in Polmpgina Block, complaining that 'the laHd'had not been properl/ surveyed. It was* decided to send a copy of letter received from Surveyor-General to the purchasers in the block, also tracings '■ 'thereof. ■; • * '. .... ..'.''• '.! ; - -Letter read from Messrs Fitzherbert • tod-Marshall ire Bill to be passed through Parliament to enable the Freezing Company- to exchange the site set apart for '■ themby "the 'Government with that por■V tion' 'oriwhich' the Company's .buildings ••i have' been Erected. /Resolved, That a special meeting of the Board (in'com- , xhittee) 'be summoned to discuss the ■■' question, 1 to 'be held on Saturday next, 11th instant, at 3. p.m. .•-;nThe ; Harbourmaster's, report, which •> 'was as follows, was read and adopted : — '' The gap that was caused by the flood at the Heads Wharf, has been filled up with '■■i' fascines, .clay and gravel. New sheet- -■• piling' was driven along the lower end " -and albtig'at'tbe back of the 1 wharf — the .distance that the old sheet-piling had been undermined by the flood. . About 40QQ feet pi sheet-piling had been driven . r .,,iu.to the iiard reef from three feet to five ;

' ' 1200 fascines, were. used, laid in layers at f .; 1 -a ; right,;angle-to the wharf, alternately .'.\witih layers .of clay and gravel, with a ', thick , coat- of gravel on the tcp.. The ...goods shed on the wharf, has also been g' ; shifted along in front of the boiler- houso „'...( 0 f il the,;.fr l eezing> works, the old crossing . ! v taken up, and re-laid in front of the sbed ".i .agaiiu',l A large snag has been lifted out 'HtM'^^?^ in.front of the Town Wharf. 'l p The,, (Soyernmeittt lent their 6-ton crane („. for the purpose, bnfc .the snag 'was found .j(to,be too, heavy for* the crane to lift it without being cat. It had; .therefore, to be cut in four pieces, the root end weighing five tons.-. A snag has also bean lifted down the river, and put in behind ' the 'wall. The punt that was saved Huringthe recent' fresh has been brought up the river to be used in lifting snags, as there are a number close to the walls which may get into the channel. The channel had been sounded and buoyed, and' new,' .beacons and lamps put in the same position as' the old. ones which had' been washed away. One of the punts saved is. now being repaired and fitted up for the pnrpose of lifting snags. — Mr ' Bitchie mentioned that he had heard expressions of dissatisfaction from the employes of Messrs Jamieson Brothers, who assisted jn repairing the damage done by the recent 'freshi that they had not received sufficient acknowledgment at the hand of the Board. : The following is the Pilot's report :-fI have the honour to report for the month ending. 31st instant as follows: The continues in the ■ "same direction as m. last month's report, bearing Bycompass from the flagstaff S.W. £- west, with a dep";h of 14ft;at high »' •water.Bpringtides'and lift at high, watar neaji' tides. , TFhere is a large sandbank making on the opposite side of the Breakwater, but it has not affected -the channel rVin 'any way as yet. . The sandbank in o-i'tnetiver, which' is only some 80ft or 90ft ' from the front of the Heads Wharf, is still increasing rather than otherwise, ■■'• the'ailt peing carried down by the spring '•'tides and lodging on it. Forty-eight i. vessels have'croseed the bar, 12 of which r.vbave crossed during the night. • The last '•• rttme' the' steamer Huia came to the Heads Wharf ' she 1 got caught in . the eddy, and • -•came 'stem on .to the lower mooring pile, breaking it 'off close down to" the wharfs 7 f Th'c report,* as adopted. • . • • I '.'■' "The .following report of .special sound- ' .ings' 'taken ;by Messrs Low and Irvine "••• was' then" read i-^- We sounded the channel

this morning at low water from the deep water near the town end of the training ■""wall to' 'the deep water, near the green -; 'lamp. : The shallowest part of the channel "' is about 1&0 yards below the green light. ; •" Atf' this place there is a tongne' of sand < ; arid light shingle.stretching from the north wall at an angle towards the south , ;«; wall for about '200 yards, and in consequence of the tide rushing over the wall has left the/water somewhat deeper alongside the latter, but leaving no outlet at _-„the, upper end* - The buoy on this tongne is placed about, 100 feet from the north , .wall, and a vessel will have at least six V inches more water by keeping the buoy \ on 'their^port side (coming; < in) than if she passes between the north -wall and the '^traojfts .Shipmasters by ieeping the 'buoyeS. channel. throughout will thereby keep their vessels in the deepest water. -„,-, The Chairman :(Mr ; Thatcher) .reported ' as follows on the damage done to the

, .Heads, Breakwater :— " In the absence of - a repprt.at last meeting on this subject, I thought it niy duty to the Board to

ascertain what ~ damage -^he. Breakwater •h'ati sustained. 'Pot. this purpose, in con 1 4 junction, with, the .pilot, . J visited .the '' BreaKwaier at' low/; tide, > ! it being the lowest Bprings atthe time; : We made a careful survey of the Breakwater, and found about 600 ft had received damage. ,<sn' this' length,- we estimated that from 'edOd'to.vqOO cubic yards, of -stone had subsided! In four places the batter has completely subsided, leaving an almost 'vertical face up 'to. the. tramway. This • leaves" the' centre, of the Breakwater expjb'sed'to the, action of , the sea, and thus, '■composed as.it is, of 'small stones, will be. rapialy eaten away unless these weak* ' places are protected by large stones. -It ■ia a matter of sleep regret that the large picked stones which were left in the cliff' for "tHe purpose of repairing any breaches or subsidences in the. Breakwater have ■;bfeen tised in the experimental work car-, ' ried out' by the late. Board. , It ip im- ■ possible to replace these stones, I believe . 'onles's the quarries are re-opened, whilst .'•for the purposes of the experiment, smaller stones, 'which could have been' p'icireilon the rivbrbank near the quarries, ' would have been preferable, if ■being more like the ston.es that wpuld ibave to be used in the vrotk if it-was continued. " The Breakwater extension, about which no report; was furnished at the last meeting of Board, has been completely wrecked by the late flood, none of -the 'atone or- crib work remaining, except a few stones placed on the foundation of the original Breakwater. ' The , Chairman informed the meeting that'tnes'hbd',' l^hich had obstructed the 'Freezing. Company "in trucking frozen meat? to the fenders lying at the wharf, had been removed. , Mr, Hatriok moved, and Mr Smith f^eco.'nded.jThat., the matter of "repairs to • subsidence of the stone wall at the'town' 'end,o£theCastlecliff Wharf be left over 'mfl next 'meeting; carried. ;' Tilio .report of the committee re plant wai then^, on.the.motion of Mr Hatrick, 'seconded by Mr Smith, discussed in committee. — The Board endorsed the report of tlip special committee, but any action "resulting therefrom will bo held over till . •' itie next meeting of the Board.

For ttio month of March, Mr Hylton, the Librarian of the Public Library, gives the following numbers of books and magazines ■ circulated by him in that period :— Fiction, 962.; history, 22 ; poetry. 9 ; general literature, 64 ; travels, 68 ; biography, 37 f science, &c,, 30; divinity, 4 ; bound magazine, 1 ; children's books, 14; reference books, 3. The total Jiumber of bookß circulated for tha month was '1198. and of magazines in parts, 327. The quarterly totals areBooks 3516 as against 2974 for same period last year., and magazines in paits, 995,03 against 834.