The Wanganui Chronicle. TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1947 WANGANUI HARBOUR PROBLEMS

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 January 1947, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1947 WANGANUI HARBOUR PROBLEMS

THE immediate problem confronting the Wanganui Harbour Board is to maintain sufficient depth of water in the estuary and particularly on the bar. Owing to a combination of circumstances, some of which are of long standing, this problem has grown beyond the power of the Harbour Board to deal with. At base the problem is an engineering one, but the power of the Harbour Board is limited by its finances. The board's financial strength is insufficient to permit of it undertaking ail that now seems to be required to keep the port in a satisfactory condition.

The immediate cause of the board’s troubles arises out of the sea breaking through the South Spit. This break-through must be prevented from enlarging and causing a delta to form at the river mouth. Such a development would add to the problem of keeping the seaway dear enough for shipping to use the port. How can the Bouth Spit now be strengthened? After viewing the scene the Minister of Marine was good enough to say that something must be done ami that the Government would assist the board in its efforts. With this end in view the dredge was sent from Westport to Wanganui to be employed in clearing the river, while financial help was promised in respect to the South Spit. Mr. O’Brien’s views concerning the port of Wanganui are of interest. He is convinced that the port of Wanganui is a national and regional asset and that the tonnage handled by the port should be increased in order that the revenue from shipping dues shall be enlarged. This would assist, the Harbour Board on the financial side, to improve the condition of the port. The Minister believes that the physical problems can best be solved by seeking engineering advice and following it. It would appear that the first step to be taken is to survey the whole of the Castlecliff area with a view to discovering how the sea is likely to operate on the coast in the near future. It is possible that the accumulation oi sand on the seabed behind the South Mole will not continue indefinitely, but that the current will take a turn and eat into the bank. It is this shoaling-up that enables the sea to run up to the beach and go over the South Spit. If the action of the coastal current is likely to go into reverse the policy called for would differ from that required if it is probable the present shoaling will continue indefinitely.

The burden of meeting the situation at the moment, be it either a temporary or a permanent problem, is beyond the finau. eial strength of the Harbour Board and even with whatever finau cial assistance the Government affords it seems to be clear that some part of the cost will have to be provided by the Harbour Board itself. The prospect is not bright of this extra cost being provided out of increased revenue ami the implication is that further rate burdens will have to be shouldered. In view of the Government’s conviction that the harbour is a national asset locally administered the problem is how to find the money to meet current capital outgoings. Obviously the existing rating arrangement is so inequitable that it cannot be used to raise further loans. The anomalies oi! the rating district must first be remedied. The two-to-one loading as between the town and the country must be wiped out and the boundaries of the Harbour Hoard's rating district must be redrawn to conform to the economic region served by the port. When these alterations are made it will be possible to contemplate the prqvision“of further capital to Miable the board to go forward with its endeavours to solve its phj’ical problems. NORMAL HOURS ON THE WATERFRONT -THE return to normal hours of working on the waterfront after 1 seven weeks of restricted activity brings to a close a period of intense anxiety. The community has suffered a very heavy -loss through the tactics adopted by the Waterside Workers’ Union "and those who have endured this loss have no means of redress against the men who have caused them this harm. Nor is there a guarantee that similar action will be eschewed in the future. While the men on the waterfront are to be congratulated upon their loyalty to their union leaders their long spell of low earnings and the intense feeling entered against themselves should cause them to question whether they have been wise in pursuing such a course. The industrial dispute is now where it was seven weeks ago. »The only difference between then and now is that the men on the wharves have earned small incomes where they could have earned large ones. The community loss must also be taken into account for in the end the wharf labourers will share in that with the rest of the people. The Government appears to have upheld the legal machinery for conducting the waterside industry. For this it will receive public endorsement despite the statement of Mr. Barnes that Mr. . Fraser’s letter setting out the views of the Government had very little to do with the settlement. The Prime Minister's letter was appropriate in every detail and his insistence upon normal hours of work obtaining on the wharves before the decision of the M atcrfront Commission may be reveiewed revealed that the Government is unwilling to retract from its position. If the union officials, however, have conceded this point, on their receiving assurances that their demands will be met, the face-saving of the Government will soon become apparent when it will lose the support and approval that it now enjoys. There is. however, no reason for assuming that the Government has indulged in a face-saving play while conceding the real substance of the matter to the coersion of the union. It is to be hoped that subsequent events will disprove that such an assumption ever had a justifiable foundation.