, 1888-02-25

yesterday for St. Thomas per schr. Vigildnt.
In the Colonial Councils Meeting on
Monday a petition from some merchants and
other inhabitants of this town and district
was introduced, calling attention to the de-
STABILITY Of deepening the harbour of Chris
tiansted. The petition was introduced by
Lawyer Stakemann, as one of the town mem
bers, and he commended it to the attention of
Government.
The Governor remarked on the petition
somewhat as follows:
He could quite understand that the ques-
ton raised in the petition was one of great
interest to the inhabitants of this Jurisdiction;
but it was one which would require much
time, even to make the preliminary survey
which would be necessary in the first place
to find out whetheri it were possible to obtain
the object sought. The survey would have
to be sufficiently exact to base an opinion on
it, after that it would be- necessary to work
out the calculation as to the expense involv-
ed, and then to find out how the necessary
money could be raised. Before commencing
work it would further be necessary to make a
very exact survey and finish the whole thing
on paper. It would therefore be seen that it
was an undertaking which at any rate could
not be done ina hurry. From the chart it
appeared that the entrance to the harbour
was rather narrow, but it could be widened.
Right opposite the entrance, however. was a
shoal, which at times was dry. 1t would be
necessary to remove this, and from & rough
calculation it appeared to him that a space OF
about 400, 900 square feet would have to be
removed to an average depth of 10 or u feet,
which would give 5000, 900 cubic feet Of
material to be taken up and carried away.
Inside the shoal is a small space deep enough
for the vessels to lie III, but whether it were
large enough he could not say, perhaps 1T
would have to be enlarged. In regard to one
work alone, the removal of the shoal, he
would give a few figures, they might be
very different from what @ careful estimate
would show, but he did not think they were
likely to be too high. There was a dredge in
St. Thomas harbour, which might perhaps be
repaired at q cost of about $4,000, and
brought over here to remove the Shoal. The
daily cost of working this machine was about
$50 and it could take up 1000 cubic feet Of
stuff daily. 1t would therefore take over 700
days, or nearly two years, to remove the shoal,
and the cost would be about $38, 500. With
the addition of the cost of repairing the
dredge, the amount would be nearly $4,000
He was quite willing, so far as 1t involved no
expense to have an investigation made; but
he did not see how the money could be
raised.
After a short discussion, the petition was
referred to the consideration of the Govern
ment.
In the course of the discussion to which
reference is made above, His Excellency
the Governor stated in regard to the Royal
Mail Steamers, that the Company had ask,
ed $4,000 a year for allowing the steamers to
call once a month at St. Croix, and the offer
having been declined, the matter was aban-
doned. Later, at the Company's request,
negotiations had been again opened, and
although nothing was settled at present, he
thought it likely that an arrangement would
be come to under which a steamer would call
every fortnight at Frederiksted.