HARBOUR IMPROVEMENTS.

Western Star, Issue 143, 3 June 1876, Page 5

HARBOUR IMPROVEMENTS.

- ' I’Q TUP. EDITOR. Sir.—/The citizens of most of our seaport terms arc at the present moment ail more or less agitated by the question of Barbour improvement, and as

there is no doubt that a town situate as Riverton is can never bo of great importance without a good harbour, I think that something ought most certainly to be done to investigate the matter. Promise after promise has, I hear, been given by the Government to have it thoroughly surveyed and attended to ; but I am sorry to say that, so far as I can sec, those promises have n®t been kept. Kakanui and other places, with less natural resources, are pushing forward the matter; but, alas! the Harbour Board of Riverton seem to have fallen into a torpor, and to have made up its mind to let the matter rest, and neglect that important trust which has been placed in their hands. It is reasonable to suppose that, unless the harbour is improved so as to admit vessels of moderate size, the railways, when completed, will convey all the timber and produce direct to the Bluff, and the carriage will aid so much to its cost that settlers and millers will be unable to - compete in exportation with those nearer to the port. But if, on the contrary, it possessed a good harbour, the produce brought in by the three lines could be immediately shipped, and thus the district would have a complete and cheap system of exportation entirely in its own hands. If, as proposed, there should eventually be a line to the Nightcap and Orepuki, a splendid trade in coal could be opened from Riverton, and directly the present section of the latter lino is comp.eted there would be plenty of bush available for sawmills opened up and an almost everlasting supply of timber could be shipped to places where it is in great demand, as it is generally considered that Riverton timber is of a specially good quality. We know from thorough investigations made by the Harbour Boards of our Colony and others equally competent to judge, that for many classes of work our totara and other timbers are the most lasting -grown in tho Colonies. So that it only requires the expenditure of a moderate sum to open up a trade which would make Riverton a port second to few in the Colonies. I will not endeavour to design a mode of improvement; but from actual observation, I would recommend that a breakwater be made near Howell’s Point, and a line carried down to it ; and I feel quite convinced that, for a moderate sunt compared to that which, is being expended in other places, a harbour could be made so as to admit vessels as large as any.that enter Port Chalmers, Trusting that this matter may be taken up by abler hands, 1 may conclude by hoping that , the members of our Harbour Board may bo soon risen from their lethargic state, to show that there is such a body in existence, and prove to the people that they have done their duty. —I am, &c., A Advancement. Riverton, May 26th, 1876.