CHAIRMAN’S OUTLINE OF HARBOUR BOARD’S EXPANSION POLICY

Wanganui Chronicle, 2 November 1950, Page 2

CHAIRMAN’S OUTLINE OF HARBOUR BOARD’S EXPANSION POLICY

The Wanganui Harbour Board’i policy of gradual expansion over the past six years was outlined by the chairman, Mr. E. A. Millward, in the Opera House last night. Mr. Millward who is again contesting the election as a Citizen’s Association candidate, said he hoped the electors would endorse the board’s present poHcy by supporting the association’s candidates. Having been chairman of the board for nearly six years I wish to emphasise that, prior to the elections in 1944, three important proposals were placed before the ratepayers as a long-range policy,” said Mr. Millward. "One was to concentrate on the port at Castlecliff instead of having two ports; secondly, we were to endeavour to sell tne dredge Kaione, which was unsuitable for the fiort. thirdly, we were to investigate the best type of dredge for our work. "In 1945 the board, after hearing evidence at a public meeting of all interested parties and local authorities on transport matters, resolved to concentrate its efforts c-n Castlecliff, and in 1946 final arrangements to build a new wharf shod were completed. This was the Victory Shed, costing approximately £20,000 and by arrangements with the Marketing Department the revenue secured from wool storage has made this store practically a debt free building and most suitable for general cargo when the final concentration at Castlecliff is completed. SALE OF KAIONE “During the same year we sold the Kaione for £48,500 —quite a good price when you consider that the board had been trying to sell it for over 20 years down to a price as low as £23,000,” Mr. Millward added. "Finally, we purchased a new dredge which arrived this year. Since May, when it really started work, we have taken out to sea more than 420 loads of spoil from Castlecliff, equivalent to over 105,000 tons. This has made a huge difference to Castlecliff. "The finances cf the board are not strong, but over the last few years the position has improved. We are, however, faced with fixed annual charges amounting to over £35,000 to cover interest and sinking funds on loans. The total indebtedness on these loans is under £500,000. “Unfortunately, when these loans were incurred we had phosphate shipping coming to the port as well al ships taking frozen meat and wool in the roadstead. These two items gave the board a revenue of something like £25,000 per annum, and when we lost them both duo to war conditions expenditure on dredging, etc., had to be cut accordingly. This loss of revenue continues, but we are making efforts to get this trade back to the port. “It has been mentioned by some of our independent friends that when building a harbour the cost should not be considered, and I wonder what the ratepayers would have to say about this if we went on ipending indiscriminately. The procedure laid down by the board over the years is to estimate the revenue likely to come in, and after deducting fixrd charges the balance is available for works, repairs, maintenance and improvements. You can see, therefore, that w<i are limited as to the improvements we can carry out because revenue received from rates alone only just pays our loan charges,” said Mr. Millward. DREDGING PROBLEM “Over the years many em’nent engineers have «-oniirmed that Castlecliff will always be a dredging problem, and I am confident that with our new dredge we will be able to improve the conditions and accommodate larger ships. To give an indication of what has been done I would mentic>i that last month we had the co’Zcr Puriri up at the Meuli Wharf, where she discharged 1000 tons of coal. Only a few weeks previously we only had Gft. of water at this wharf and the Puriri came in drawing 13ft. 7in. This does indicate that we have reason to look forward to the future with confidence. “Finally, I would speak about the channel to the Town Wharf, which so many people say has deteriorated as a result of the board’s policy. This is absolutely incorrect, as the depths today are within a few inches of the regular soundings over the past 20 years. If we were to continue using the Town Wharf indefinitely we would be faced with an expenditure of something like £lOO,OOO to renew this 60-year-old wharf during the next 10 to 15 years. Furthermore, we would also have to build up the river training walls, estimated by the Minister of Works to cost anything up to £500,000. Evex after doing all this the Minister’s report indicates that the depths in the channel would only be approximately 13ft. This shows how unsound the suggestions of some of our arm-chair critics can be. “If we are to get phosphate and larger ships, sucn as the new Shell Co.’s tanker to Wanganui, we must concentrate our efforts on Castlecliff though the final concentration of all shipping at Castlecliff will certainly take several years to accomplish,” said Mr. Millward.