✨ Report on Nelson Harbour
68
NEW ZEALAND
GOVERNMENT GAZETTE,
(PROVINCE OF NELSON.)
Published by Authority.
All Notifications which appear in this Gazette, with any Official Signature thereunto annexed, are to be considered as Official Communications made to those Persons to whom they may relate, and are to be obeyed accordingly.
ALFRED GREENFIELD, Provincial Secretary.
VOL. XVI. NELSON, MONDAY, APRIL 13, 1868. No. 17.
Superintendent's Office,
Nelson, 7th April, 1868.
HIS HONOR the Superintendent directs the publication of the following Report for general information.
ALFRED GREENFIELD,
Provincial Secretary.
REPORT ON NELSON HARBOUR, WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR INCREASING ITS ACCOMMODATION.
By JAMES MELVILLE BALFOUR, Esq., M. Inst. C.E.,
Colonial Marine Engineer.
To His Honor the Superintendent.
SIR,—Having been requested by your Honor to report on the capabilities of Nelson Harbour, and to prepare a plan for its improvement and increasing its accommodation for shipping, I made arrangements with the Provincial Engineer to procure certain information (the greater part of which is embodied in the accompanying plan), as I was already sufficiently acquainted with the general character of the Port, and as my other duties rendered any long stay in the district impossible.
The tracings furnished by the Provincial Engineer, and the information accompanying them, have very completely met my wishes, and have furnished ample data for a report of the general nature at present required, though, of course, a considerable number of borings and other observations of a more minute and detailed character would be required preparatory to making out any detailed design for proposed works.
The designs shown on the plan are of an alternative character; thus, an extension of the wharfage along Haven-road and a Patent Slip on Haul-ashore Island may be considered one design, and a Shipping Basin and Graving Dock above Green Point another.
Two small but awkwardly situated rocks exist in the fairway of the entrance, and these—the "Fairway" and the "Buoy" Rocks—should be removed as a preliminary to any other work. This could be done with great ease but for the rapidity of the tides, which renders it impossible to stealy any floating stage over them sufficiently to allow of their being drilled, and even more impossible to work at them by diving bell or dress. The best way to remove them would be to drill a sufficient number of good sized deep holes in them from a stage supported on stout iron rods (as these would give much less hold to the current than any timber framing), and, when the bores have been charged, to fire the whole simultaneously at high water by the aid of electricity. If the rocks be sufficiently shattered by the discharge, the tidal currents will probably sweep away the debris; but, if necessary, the stage can be re-erected, and any remaining lumps either lifted by jointed claws or again drilled and blasted.
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Nelson Provincial Gazette 1868, No 17
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
🏗️ Report on Nelson Harbour, with suggestions for increasing its accommodation
🏗️ Infrastructure & Public Works7 April 1868
Nelson Harbour, Shipping, Harbour improvements, Engineering, Wharfage, Patent Slip, Graving Dock, Blasting rocks
- James Melville Balfour (Esquire), Author of the report on Nelson Harbour
- Alfred Greenfield, Provincial Secretary