HARBOUR DEVELOPMENTS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17534, 29 March 1919, Page 5

HARBOUR DEVELOPMENTS.

CAPTAIN REYNOLDS OX NEW

PLYMOUTH PROSPECTS

I In conversation with a "Nmrs" representative, Cuptniu Keece Ite-yiiolds, of the s.s. Glaums, which has brought a cargo of guano from Noumea to >;<?w Piymout-li, expressed some disappointment at the conditions prevailing at' New Plymouth, which necessitated his vessel lyimj idle »t the wharf for tavo days on account of. tho shortage of labour. He suggested that the difficulty was probab'y caused by the liiryttxi facilities for shipping, Avhich, if developed and increased, would probably attract sufficient labour to the port to work vessels without necessitating such dclayn, which were really a great expens© to shipping firms. Captain Reynolds said that -with such country at the back of the port as there was surrounding Now Plymouth, the people of the district should set about improving tho harboiir with oil possible speed. The accommodation was altogether too small for anything but the ordinary coastal trade, and he said the country deserved ti hotter hm'bour. Captain Remolds said there should be no difficulty in snaking a harbour ait New Plymouth, such as was contemplated in the proJxxsed improvements, and he sincerely loped that the people would give the Board tho authority to proceed with tho work at ow.e. Even a little more berthing accommodation would be a big advantage temporarily. The captain went the length of saying that it should be possible, if such a, proper harbour v.ero provided, to make New Plymouth the landing port for al! mails from the West, as the port was, he believed, about 100 miles near Sydney than Wellington is, and some 150 nearer than Auckland. That wmild be a great boon, not only to this district, 'but to the whole Dominion. He also saw the fmmense advantage to the district in the matter of handling its export produce, as the necessity of transhipping from there to Wellingtno would be done away with, thereby effecting considerable economy, while the advantage of direct importation needed, no stressing.

Captain Reynolds said it was likely that something in the nature of direct regular shipments of guano would be attempted, and he hoped to see the harbour improved in the near future. He said that in th© two and a-half years ho had been on the Glaucus he had never on any previous occasion, at any port, been held up for two days on account of shortage of labour.