The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1912.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3689, 26 November 1912, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1912.

The Harbor Board, at its meeting yesterday, had

The Harbor Improvement Proposals.

before it a very interest-

ing and instructive report by Mr McDonald, its Engineer and Secretary, with reference to the utmost extent to which the liver could be developed in furtherance of the existing inner harbor. 'For the most part the proposals, it will be noted, relate to the scheme which the Harbor Engineer recently formulated with a view to turning the lower stretch of the Waikanae Creek into more profitable account. But on this occasion Mr McDonald has also dealt

at length with the important problem , as to how best to ensure a safer, as well as a deeper entrance to the port, j hhe broad lines of the proposals are not difficult to grasp, but as so many proposed alterations would be essential if the /scheme meets with the approval of the Board, wo have prepared an approximate plan (which is published with this issue) in the hope that it will enable our readers to got with less difficulty than would otherwise he the Blete idea of what is sug>w it will be observed in ico that Mr McDonald's rs very materially from irbor improvement propose ever been brought forst most of the other exave studied the problem lly those of the past few insisted that ft would be r best to go outside the river if a much bigger harbor than that which at present exists were desired, he affirms that a harbor of fairly large dimensions (not of course big enough to accommodate the monster ocean tramps of to-day) could, if it were agreed upon by the Board, be constructed at /an outlay which seems very reasonable within the river itself! In this connection? what will appeal to most people inpegard to the matter is that underbuy such scheme all the improvers cats that have so far been made to t\m river would prove a very substantial advantage. Mr McDonald, it will Jriext be observed, does not propose (that the whole of Iris harbor extension " scheme should he undertaken as speedJ ily as possible. Till at he suggests j shoum be done at the outset is that the breakwater should be further extended ; that the channel should be deepened; and that sufficient drilling, blasting and dredging should be carried out in the TVaikanae Creek to permit a wharf to be built between Xo. 3 shed and the slip-way. If this work were undertaken it would, the Harbor Engineer says, enable a vessel drawing up to 18, feet and possibly up to 20 feet, to come up the river and discharge her cargo at the new wharf, which it will at once be generally acknowledged would be conveniently situated. There are many interesting features of Mr McDonald’s report, but none is more so than that which deals with the necessity for the further extension of the breakwater. Xot ujilike most other Engineers who have reported on the question, Mr Holmes, who planned the present extension, seems to have followed Sir John Goode’s "line of heaviest seas.” He was of opinion that the range in the river could be obviated either by cutting off a section of the groyne or by adding another 200 feet or so to the breakwater, and the Board favored the latter proposal. Mr McDonald, how-, ever, declares that the proposed extension would not be sufficient to effect the purpose on account of the fact that “tlie line of heaviest seas’’ was incorrectly given on Sir John Goode’s plan j and adopted by so many without checking subsequently! It is important to note in this regard that it is believed that an additional extension of 2do feet, apart from that upon which Messrs Langlands and Co. are now engaged, would almost completely remedy what has all along proved a very troublesome difficulty. Ine Harj hor Engineer further shows that it j would be impossible to spare the room for a patent slip—which, at any rate, would prove a heavy losing concern. -Mm', before any sound opinion could be expressed as to whether it would he prudent to proceed at an early date even with a section of the proposals, | information would, of course, have to be available, firstly, as to the financial resources of the Board at the present juncture, and secondly, as to what would likely be the result (in the event i of the initial section or the work being undertaken) from a monetary aspect i as well as from the viewpoint of great- j ly adding to the importance of the harbor. These are matters which it is understood were considered by the Board in Committee yesterday, in reference to which further deliberation will take place at tlie next meeting of the Board.