AN IMPORTANT RESOLUTION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2486, 27 April 1909, Page 4

AN IMPORTANT RESOLUTION.

The decision of the Gisborne Harbor Board to purchase a now dredge fit a. cost of £31,500 is one that will in all probability have a very important bearing on the future of the port. he believe the investment will prove to be a good one, and certainly some such step was demanded of the Board by the public, which had got heartily, sick of inadequate attempts to keep the river in a fit condition to deal with the rapidly increasing requirements of the vessels trading here. An effort was made on the part of some members to cause delay in taking definite action, but it is difficult to see how anything could be gained by such a course. As it is, more -than twelve months must expire before the dredge can be landed in Gisborne, so it will be recognised that time is all-important. The new dredge is guaranteed’ by its manufacturers, to

do precisely the work tint is needled in out* s channel, and considering its capacity and the stringency of the guarantee given to the Board, tile price does not seem at all unreasonable. The question of barges, has, as we suggested, been left over for separate treatment ; and it is more than probable that they will be obtained in the Dominion. If the dredge turns out as satisfactorily as is anticipated it will not bo long before the port will be so far improved that, vessels of medium draught will be able to travel freely up and down the channel; and another stage in tho development of the district -will have been reached. This, in its turn, must be followed later by the provision of an outer harbor capable of handling ocean-going steamers as satisfactorily as is clono in the other Dominion centres.