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Harbor Facilities and
Other Matters.
DEPUTATION TO CHIEF SECRETARY
MINISTER SYMPATHETIC ON MOST
QUESTIONS.
P#rt Pirie. May 1
When the Hon. J. G. Bice (Chief Secre
tary) alighted from the train at the Ellen
Street Station on Tuesday, afternoon—
the Minister had journeyed to Port Pirie
for the purpose ef being present at the
declaration of the poll for the Northern
District (Legislative Connoil) election—
he scarcely realised the magnitude of the
deputation that would wait upon him a
little later in the evening.
Immediately following the dsolaration
of the poll a thoroughly representative
deputation, headed by Mr. L. L. Hill,
M.P., waited on Mr Bioe in the Council
Chambers, and planed before him several
matters to which it w*3 thought the
Government should give immediate at
tention.
As stated, the deputation was intro
duced by Mr Hill, and comprised the
Mayor (Mr J. Firmin Jenkins) Messrr. J.
C. Fitzgerald, M.P., M. L. Warren, H. L.
Baldock, W, Robinette, W. Oostallo, W,
Clark, A. E, Tutley, G. R. Briokhill, R.
G. Symonds, A. W. Laoey, L. G. Manifold,
Captains C. Woolnough, and A. Mars, L.
J. O'Malley (Secretary Waterside Workers)
and others.
Mr L. L Hill, M P., in introducing the
deputation, said it was representative of
the whole of the whole of the interests of
Port fine, and it was also oencerned j
about the interests of the distriot. The :
matters that would be brought under the
notice of the Minister were : — Harbor
improvements, reticulation work from the
Baroota reservoir, floodwaters in Port
Pirie West, a grant as salary for the
Playground supervisor, and a definite
statement as to the Government's inten
tions regarding the Bubsidy for the relief i
of distress in Port Pirie. _ They had been
for a long time endeavouring to move the
Government along lines which ha con
sidered to be common sense. The prin
cipal request was in reference to better :
berthing conditions and in straightening
or deepening the channel. The^ work in
connection with the reticulation from
Baroota should be pushed on with im
mediately ; while the fioodwaters in Pine
West were a menace to public health. The
Town Council was powerless to do much
in this matter, as it was in a poverty
stricken way. Reclamation works should
be embarked upon when it was considered
that there were 18,000 persona dependant
on Port Pirie for a livelihood. It was no
fault of/the_ Corporation that the water
was lying About in a stagnant condition,
and the matter should be attended to at
.the earliest opportunity, The people
were hard np against the present distress
i and the Government should be asked to
relieve it. They had an example of the
1 prevailing distress in the iact of so many
children attending school barefooted,
j despite the fact that the teaching staff
i had asked that during the Governor's
j visit all children should wear boets. The
faot was that parents had not the means
to purchase boots and so the children were
' compelled to go bare-footed. It was a
most distressing thing and should not
ocour in a p ace like South Australia. He
would ask the Mayor to support his
| remarks.
The Miyor (Mr J. Firmin Jenkins) sa;d
| he could endorse what Mr Hill had said.
In regard to harbor accommodation Port
Pirie had been sadly needed in the past.
What they ask for was two loading berths
where the vessels could load to 25 feet
draught. They were sick and tired of
haviDg to report repeated groundings in
the harbor, and had only recently been
completely isolated from the outside
world by se» owing to the grounding of
the Iron Monarch. The bends in the
river sbonld be straightened, and the
channel widened. He understood that
seafaring men at present experienced
great difficulty in approaching the harbor
at night, owing to the confusion caused
by the lights at the Smelting Works. It
was said to be difficult to distinguish the
beacon lightB from them. He thought it
possible to obviate any contusion by the
use of colored lights* It was essential
that the manufacture of the Baroota pipea
should be poshed on with. a He was
astonished, aB a resnlt of a visit to the
locality, to see what a fine reservoir they
wohld have in the oonrse of time, but he
should like to know how long it would he
before he had a t&Bte of the Baroota
water (Mr Ditsgerald— ' Ton would not
ask for a second one. 1 have had one
already.") They would like to have the
supply brought to the town just the
same (hear, hear). In a month or two
the bank wonld be finished and we should
not have the pipes. In regard to flood
waters in Port Pirie West. In the early
days Dead Horse Creek provided an outlet
for flood waters, but the fact was that
they wore 25 years behindhand in haying I
a Town Planner. He hoped the Minister j
would give this matter his very earc est
consideration. The stipend for the Play- .
ground supervisor was not a very big {
matter, and he thought the Government) |
might re*coneider its decision. He re
gretted that the Chief Secretary had not
been present that day to see what benefit
the children of the town were receiving
irom the Playground. In Adelaide they
had a precedent for the payment by the :
Government of the supervisor's salary,
and why sbonld not the same coarse he j
adopted here T The distress at present'
existing in the town wag appalling. On
the previous Friday he bad made a tour
of inspection, and the things he saw were
sufficient to make one's heart bleed. They
could do little themselves in the way of j
relief. The Company had contributed
£80 a week—and he could not speak too
highly of its generosity — but in the
absence of the Government's subsidy God
only knew what would become of the poor
people. He hoped the Government would
see what it cenld do in the matter,
Cr. A. W. Laccy supported. He em
phasised the faot that much unemployment
ensued as a result of vessels being com
pelled to go elsewhere to complete load
ing. The Government should be aBked to
send an engineer here for the purpose of
making a report, and then allooate a sum
of money for the effective drawing of Port
Pirie.
Mr B. G. Symonds spoke as a business
man.
Mr A. B. Turley (President of the
Waterside Workers' Federation) endorsed
from the wharf workers' standpoint.
Mr G. B, Brickbill quoted fignrea. He
said that for the year eoded June 80,1020,
the inward tonnage of the barbor was
171,000 and the ontwari
ontward 484.000. Four
years ago the total tonnage was 830,010,
compared with 650,000 last year. The
commerce of Port Pirie was substantial,
however, despite the loss of the Broken
Hill trade. Since January 1, 80,000 tens
of wheat had been shipped lit l® over*
sea vessels, and all but three or lour
eouid loiftl only part cargoes. That
meant an increased expeose to the
suippers, which would affact the pro
ducers. The revenue earned by the
port last year w s £44,000, less amounts
credited to other poriB by steamurB
which had no* made Pirie their firet
pore of call. So far as he cou'.d ascoi
tain the exponditnre on barber main
tenance and repairs waB £3,500, Since,
the inception of the harbor, the loan
expenditure on deepenine sn-1 improvt
ments had totalled £246,000. Allowing
for £10,000 lor interest, the harbor
should Bhow a clear profit of over,
£30,000 for last year. As far as he
knew, not one penny had been spent on
improvements durlog the past five
years. The loans to the metropolitan j
ports totalled £2,444,000. The s'arva-1
tion policy, bo far aB Pi=ie was con- |
cerned, was being continned. Out of !
the Loans Act of 1920, the eum of
£236,009 was set apart for Port Ade- .
laide and the Outer Harbor, against1
£26,000 for Pirie and all the other on:- '
ports. What they asked the Govern-;
men! to do was merely to allocate to
Port Pirie a little ol what thiB port
gave to the State.
Captain A. Mars (Lloyds' Surveyor)
said when the harbor was deepened
soem ten years before the vessels
ranged from 3000 to BOOO tone. Now
vessels of that sizs would not pay their
way. A good improvement coald be
effected by straightening the bend from
No. 6 to No. 8 beacons. Daring the
past 17 years fully 60 per cent, of the
groundings had occurred in that local
ity. The groundings meant either high
freights or no boats. The Government
Bhou-d be asked to provide two fleep
berths, where the steamers could load
down to approximately 25 ft., in which
Base they would probably finish their
loading here.
Support was given by Mesers H. L.
Baldock and W. Rcbinette, President of j
the TradeB and Labor Council and
Secretary of the Distress Relief Com
mittee respectively.
Mr W. Clark was sure the members
of the deputation were speaking into
sympathetic ears. Twenty years ago
the Condobolin railway was in the air, j
and was still in the air. He was sur
prised to hear one of the speakers refer
to Port Pirie as a one industry town.
When he came here 20 years before
land was worth only £3 5/ per acre, now
it coald not be purchased for £8. Port I
Pirie was the cutlet for an enormous
ares, and with each decade land was
becoming more valuable. They must,
cater for a big export trade in the
future.
• Mr J. C, Fitzgerald, M.P-, "presented
a ciear and forceful case for the town.
Mr W. Costello (Distress Committee)
engaged the Ministers attention on the
subject of providing .employment locally.
— Ibe Minister's Reply.—
Mr B,ce, in reply, said the total expen
diture on improvements to the Poit Pirie
Harbor had been £313.000, of which
£67,000 had he in spent during the past
five yeaie. Further fhouey could not be
made available until a loan was received,
but he hoped that within the
next few weeks some would
be available. He could not
recommend improvements to the harbor
until he was backed up by expert
knowledge from the Harbors Board.
Since he had represented the Northern
Division the sum of £208,000 in lo*
money bad been spent in Port _ Pirie,
while there was a contingent liability of
£80,000 for the coal bins. When Baroota
was completed the expenditure would have
run into £421,000. They could not ubs J
Newcastle steel pipes, became the cost |
was out of the question. He would refer
the matter of Baroota reticulation to the
Commissioner of Public Works. In re
gard to taking over the coal bins, as re
ferred to by Mrs Turley, information j
would be supplied to Parliament together
with the price the Government was pre
pared to offer.
Mr Turley said the Federal Govern
ment should give them to the State.
Mr Bice—On, no; we don't expect that
—they are worth something.
Mr Hill said they would not have h>s j
vote in favor of the Government paying
£180,000 for them.
Mr Bioe said Parliament wonld not be
asked to vote that amount. With regard '
to floodwaters in Pirie West immediately
on his return he wonld ask that a Govern
ment expert be sent up to report. He
could hold out no hope of free water for I
public purposes, nor that the Government
wonld subsidise the Playground snper-1
vlssr's salary. The Government wonld
oontlnae its subsidy towards ralieving i
looal distress for another three
months — np to the end
of June, when the matter could he brought
up for review. Ho would suggest to the
Minister of Railways that men from Port
-Pirie should be employed on the Long
Plains railway. The Government wonld |
provided employment so far as its finan- j
oial limitations would allow, and Pirie's
claims would not be forgotten.
Mr Hill, on behalf of the deputation,
thanked Mr Bice, and the former with*
drew.
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