Harbour, Wharves, And Tides.

Lyttelton Harbour is not naturally an ideal port, as one portion of it is very shallow, and much of it is exposed to the ocean swell. But the half million of money already spent upon it has made it one of the safest and most commodious of all colonial harbours. The first jetty ever erected here was that built by Captain Thomas, surveyor for the Canterbury Association; and it was ready for Mr. Godley and the “four ships” when they arrived in 1850. The site of this jetty was long since buried in the reclamation works along the foreshore where the railway sheds now stand. The next work of the sort was Peacock's wharf, which was purchased by the Lyttelton Harbour Board in 1877.

When the Provincial Government was established the Council controlled the harbour works, and by the time the provinces were abolished, had spent on them about £141,000. Up to that time the Council had constructed the two breakwaters (from Naval Point and Officers' Point), portions of the screw pile jetty, what is now known as the No. 1 intermediate jetty, the tunnel jetty, and two boat jetties. A good deal of the foreshore reclamation work was finished; but this has since been completed by the Harbour Board. The harbour works were planned by a commission which included Robert Stephenson, the famous engineer. After the Harbour Board was constituted, the works were carried out by the Board's engineer, Mr. Napier Bell.

From January, 1877, to December, 1899, the total revenue for the port was £677,852. The expenditure, including interest and sinking fund, was £504,064. This shows a surplus of £173,788. On the other hand, there was a total deficit on the harbour works of £162,283, which has been met out of the above revenue surplus. The total credit surplus in 1899 was thus £10,167, and, on account of dredging, £1338.

The breakwaters enclose an area of about 107 acres. The Officers' Point breakwater (eastern arm) is about 2010 feet in length, the Naval Point arm is 1400 feet long. The Officers' Point arm is faced with a timber breastwork along the inside, and is there known as the Gladstone Pier. Between 1877 and 1885, and at intervals up to 1895, the inner harbour was industriously dredged. About four millions and a half tons of clay and mud have been removed at a cost of about 6d per yard, or a total expense of £83,436, spread over eleven years and a half. The rise of the tide is about six and a half feet, and the low level within the breakwater varied originally from eight feet to fourteen feet. That depth is now increased to an average of twenty feet to twenty-six feet at low water. Vessels drawing up to twenty-seven feet can now be berthed at high water, and several of the wharves can safely accommodate vessels of 8000 tons burden. The total berthage is 10,750 feet, and, without any doublebanking, there is room for nineteen ocean steamers, nine intercolonial steamers, and six sailing vessels at one time. The wharf for ocean steamers can take two of the largest steamships that visit the Port at the same time.

The graving dock at Lyttelton cost in all £105,000. It is 450 feet long, eighty-two feet wide at top, forty-six feet wide at bottom, entrance, sixty-two feet wide. The depth of water on the sill is twenty-three feet. It can thus accommodate a first-class ironclad, and is long enough for any of the ocean steamers now running to the colonies. The large patent slip is able to take up a 300 ton to 400 ton vessel. All the wharves and jetties in Lyttelton have rails laid down and are worked by the Railway Department. In the large sheds, including cool and freezing chambers for meat and dairy produce, there is storage room for over 15,000 tons; and this does not include large grain and produce sheds held by private firms. The wharves and sheds are lighted with the Harbour Board's own electric installation, so that the work of loading or unloading, for which powerful cranes are provided, need never be interrupted by night.

For the year ending the 30th of June, 1900, the shipping returns for Lyttelton were as follows: Number of vessels inwards, 1495; tonnage, 1,184,998; number of vessels outwards, 1506; tonnage, 1,246,761. Total number of vessels, 3001; tonnage, 2,431,769.

This shows an increase over 1898 of half a million tons. For the year ending the 30th of June, 1900, the exports from Lyttelton were valued at £2,761,839. The imports for the same period were valued at £1,635,947; showing a balance of out-going trade in favour of Lyttelton of £1,125,892. On the whole, the £500,000 expended on Lyttelton Harbour works—including dock, jetties, dredging, and steam-tug—has already given a handsome return, and will certainly repay the town and the province tenfold in the near future.

The rise and fall of the tide is, on the average, only about six feet and a half in the harbour; and this is reduced to five feet or five feet and a half on the open coast at New Brighton and Sumner. There is thus nothing to necessitate such long and expensive wharves as have been required, for example, at Auckland; where the tides rise and fall nearly twelve feet, and it is impossible, because of the gradual slope of the beach, to get deep water at low tide anywhere close to the shore. From the first, all the natural conditions have facilitated the construction of wharves and jetties at Lyttelton.