HARBOUR BOARD METHODS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 302, 18 December 1912, Page 4

HARBOUR BOARD METHODS.

We believe that the gTeat majority of the citizens of Auckland will read with sincere regret the report of the proceedings at yesterday's meeting ot the Harbour Board. It i/3 certainly very unfortunate that in connection ".villi a ! great 6cheme of public works, involv- i ing more than a million of public • money, any doubt or uncertainty ehould : arise as to whether thia heavy expenditure is being controlled and directed in the best possible way, and the work ie , being carried out in euch a manner as j jto eecure the best interests ol the port J and the city. But when questions of ' . the kind are raised, it seems to us the obvious duty of the public body con- ; cerned to make every possible exertion ' to get at the facts of the case, and to i free. tao public mind from any apprehension or aniiety on this score. We ! do not wish to express at this juncture any opinion on the charges as briefly ■ , outlined at yesterday's meeting. Mr' Hamer may rest assured that he will j ■ not be condemned cither by the Harbour J Board or by public opinion on purely ! J "ox parte" statements without being i heard in his own defence. Buc lit is surely in the best interests of Mr. • Hamer himself that these charges should j be at once sifted to the bottom. The character of the letter signed by Mr. i Powell and Mr. McKay, and the circmn- | stances under which it wa3 laid before j the Board, seem to us to necessitate ' a very careful investigation into the ' whole matter. In our opinion, it is much i to be regretted that any member of the j Harbour Board should have tried to ' minimise the importance of this letter by declaring that it would not have been written if Mr. Powell and Mr. McKay, had received the rise in salary they had; asked for. It seems to us chat this is a most improper suggestion, which the { Board should not hare tolerated. The I Harbour Board cannot afford to forget that it is in the position of a public trustee administering im- j mensely valuable public interests on behalf of the people of Auckland. For! this reason it is surely incumbent on the Board to make it perfectly clear to J the people of Auckland that it can give i a satisfactory account of its steward- ' I ship. We have no doubt that Mr. Hamor ■ fully recognises the necessity f or ;,„ i inquiry; and we must add that it is ' very much to his 'interest that thw inquiry should bp open to the general nub- i lie. and that the reports of the : I tion should appear in mc public Press We cannot understand the frame of mind in which the majority of the members of the Board yesterday voted that the mat- ' for should be discussed in committee- i * I that is. in a secret session, from which : the public and the Press would be excluder 1 What *c hive already said ' about the position of the Harbour Board ; as administering >ts enormous revenue lin trust for the city certainly applies here. The people of Auckland have ,1. < right to demand that they shall know | ' precisely what is going on in connection ' - with the harbour -works; and it is unfair ! - to the city, to the Harbour Board, and. j 1 above all, to Mr. Hamer, that such an j ! inquiry should be held privately. We re- ! peat that the gravity of this matter must I : not be ignored. When two important, ! ( members of the Board's engineering staff , deliberately decide to sacrifice their posi- \i j tions and salaries so that they may be | free to criticize the work of a superior < official, the Board cannot afford to over- ' I look such charges, or to treat them as i j trivial; and for its own sake, as well as ' for the sake of tbp. official concerned, it. I should do its best to relieve the public | mind on this score as speedily as possible. ■ ] And certainly nothing "will remove the. ' impression of insecurity that this unfor- ; j tun ate incident has produced, but a public inquiry conducted in such a way that , nobody nn have the slightest excu&e for saying that the Harbour Board or its | engineer has anything to evade or conreal.