Ministry of Transport Files - Port Charles

These files from the Ministry of Transport deal mainly with the administrative aspects of structures, reclamations, power, telephone, and pipeline crossings of waterways around the marine foreshore and in navigable rivers and lakes. There is not a lot of environmental information in these files but occasionally there is a copy of a report that deals with the environmental aspects of a structure. In about 1964 the Ministry of Transport (MOT) took over the role of licensing structures on the foreshore from the Marine Department (MD) and employed the Ministry of Works and Development (MWD) as its environmental advisers. Reports from the MWD therefore contain much of the environmental information available in these files. Purpose: This dataset provides a brief discussion of coastal information contained within historical Ministry of Transport files, collected during a review commissioned by Environment Waikato as part of the Coastal Database project. The Ministry of Transport (MoT) was responsible for the administration of structures in the CMA and in navigable rivers and lakes from 1964 to 1997. These files are now held in Environment Waikato’s archives. These files contain useful information on the history and legal status of existing coastal structures.

54/2/300: Jetty Parakete Creek, Port Charles. Coromandel County Council file 5.8.1. MWD 13/108.Marine Dept M4/6068. Confusing correspondence - one letter describes the structure as a jetty the other as a mooring grid used for cleaning vessels. No environmental information. 54/2/268: Mooring Port Charles No environmental information. 54/2/799: Boat shed Port Charles. MWD Paeroa files 21/1/6. No environmental information. 54/2/742: Boatshed Port Charles. No environmental information. 54/2/560: Boat ramp Sandy Bay 1971. Ramp for Sandy Bay Fishing and Social Club, Port Charles. MWD file 7/1, Coromandel County file 5.8.1. Like many boat clubs the Sandy Bay membership fell noticeably in the late 1970s while fees for ramp licenses from $6 to $40 per year. This club, like many on the Coromandel relinquished ownership of the ramp to the Coromandel County Council. No environmental information. 54/2/598: Slipway Port Charles 1973. No environmental information. 54/2/608: Slipway Port Charles 1973. No environmental information. 54/14/7/55: Sand and shingle removal Big Sandy Bay, Port Charles 1978. Applied for a license to take 300 m3 per year. This follows on from an earlier file (File 54/14/7/2). Proposal was declined because of fear of causing beach instability. 54/14/7/2: Sand and Shingle Big Sandy Bay 1964. B. P. McLeod applied for 60 yd3/yr. Reportedly, sand and shingle had been removed earlier than 1964 by another contractor. Sand removal continued up to 1987 with up to 80 yd3/ yr being taken. After 1987 control of the area was passed to DOC. There are two files with the same title. Prior to 1964 the contractor was L. Reddy.

Port Charles and surrounds, including Sandy Bay

1960 to 1984 with notes on earlier activities.

Infrequent/irregular

Many files and pieces of information from the files are missing. Many engineer's reports are missing from the files held by Environment Waikato.

Physical files. Some available as .pdf on request.

Historic information about early activities in this area.

This data is publicly available in EW archives. No confidentiality, public information.

Files closed. Include a note where this record continues after end date of file where possible – e.g. Dept of Conservation files. These files have been continued where appropriate but have been amalgamated and given a new file number by DOC making sourcing more recent information difficult.

Jetties and Wharves There were two types of jetties and wharves; those built for catching Whitebait, and the fishing boat jetty. As the local fishing industry developed, there was a steady increase in requests for licenses for jetties to load and unload fishing boats. Records in the files indicate that there was either a shortage of hardwood for jetty piles or the locals preferred to rely on piles made from Manuka or Kanuka. This is especially noticeable of the piles used for fishing boat jetties. As the fishing fleet grew so did the demand for fish processing facilities on shore. The increased number of requests for jetties for commercial fishing probably reflects the increased government investment in the fishing industry in the 1960s and 1970s. Boat ramps These appear associated with two activities. Commercial fishing or the storage of a boat used occasionally. As roads improved and boat-building materials became lighter the trailed boat became more popular. This in turn put pressure on local County Councils to either build boat ramps or license boat ramps to be built by for fishing or Boat clubs to access the water. After a burst of activity in the 1960s and 1970s many clubs were wound up leaving the structure the responsibility of the local Council. Boat Clubs. There seems to have been an upsurge of boat clubs in the late 1960s early 1970s but by the end of the decade wanted to transfer their ramp assets to the local county. Falling membership could not sustain the costs of licenses and maintenance for buildings and ramps. Sand and Shingle Mining. The winning of aggregate from the foreshore is noticeable as an early occupation of coastal freighters, particularly scows. Beach sediments did not need crushing for the most part and were therefore in high demand as cheap roading material, especially for the growing Auckland market. Where shingle was not readily available, shell material was used for a road surfacing material. Most of the files stored at Environment Waikato start in the 1960s or later and refer to earlier files about the same beaches. Therefore in Archives in either Auckland or Wellington there are probably earlier files outlining activities prior to 1960. There is also a reference to a previous ban on sand mining along the west coast of the Coromandel prior to 1960. This may refer to changes that were enacted after the Rabone Report of 1950. The sand mining applications also highlight the importance of coastal traffic right up to the 1960s and 1970s. Fertiliser was shipped to Whitianga wharf from Auckland and Tauranga and scows took a back load of sand from Whangapoua Harbour entrance to Auckland to lower their costs. Mining licences were also pursued at other beaches such as Otama so that scows could load under differing wind and wave conditions. Related information: All these files are related to Ministry of Works and Development files as the MWD was the adviser to MOT.