THE RIVER ENTRANCE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2445, 9 March 1909, Page 6

THE RIVER ENTRANCE.

[To the Editor.] Sir, —I was pleased to see that M: John Townley was a passenger by tin Victoria on Saturday and that he hat to be hoisted on board by the cliai lift. He would also get a taste of the .jobble that is sometimes to be seer in the river. In a progressive town like Gisborne it is a nice state oi affairs when 150 passengers are kep' waiting in the Bay from five o’clocl in the morning until 2.30 in the at ternoon before being landed. I con sider it nothing short of a calamity tc this district that a majority of tin members on the Harbor Board are op posed to the outer harbor. The largi land owners in the district who- have returned these men on the no-outer-harbor ticket are standing in their own light. The .want of a suitable harbor where a steamer can lay along side a wharf and load from three to five thousand sheep is accountable foi the low prices ruling for store sheej in the Poverty Bay district. Hat there been a suitable harbor for load ing such vessels we might have gel rid of some 50,000 store sheep whicl ■would have enhanced the value ol those remaining by about 2s (id per head ; but owing to the difficulties arc’ risk of shipping and crating by ligh ters this is now impossible. Here w< are offering store lambs at from 4; to os that would fetch 9s to 10s ii (Addington, and -which prices are bo ing secured by Hawke’s Bay, Wan ganui and the Sounds sheep farmers through their shipping facilities al lowing them to take advantage of a good market. Now that the main trunk line is opening wo have practically lost the Waikato and Auckland markets for store sheep as they car ho railed from Taranaki cheaper and quicker than sent -from here If the members of the Harbor Board are going to shelve the question of an outer liar bor the public should get up a petition to Parliament and have them re moved as obstructions to the progress of the district. They should also be prevented from wasting the public money by attempting to dig out tin bottom of the river, just making holer for the silt to settle in when coming down the Waimata in flood time. If they are determined to spend money on the river entrance let their first action be to extend the present breakwater another two chains which will overlap the groin and secure a safe* entrance at all times and not have it the boiling pot or miniature Niagara it was on Saturdav last. —I am, etc., “KAITI.” '