MISTAKEN SUPPORT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 295, 13 December 1922, Page 4

MISTAKEN SUPPORT.

Residents of tlie boroughs on the northern ,-hores of the harbour do not

seem to be even now aroused to the , inconvenience that Harbour Board plans I are going to inflict on them. Last night Mr. Henderson was explaining to the i Birkenhead Borough Council, which body, among others, he represents on the I Board, the official view of the railway, t He avoided any reference to the proposed extension to Freeman's Bay. beside | which the linking-tip of Prince's wharf j is almost a secondary consideration; n n-I i he stated that there would lie no need to interfere with the ferries inside ten , years. This is not in keeping with the I chairman's statement thai tlie Birken- j beild and Nortbcote ferries will require ] to lie moved to a site nearer their [ destination, which means somewhere up j west. We mnke the assertion that all the ferry traffic «ill be shifted from ; ts ! present convenient location within ten years, and that if the residents of the ' northern suburbs do not actively bestir I themselves they will live to bitterly regret it. When Mr. Henderson says that | the railway \va> agreed to three years ago he should know that lie is making a statement that is incorrect. When the plans that include.! Prince's wharf were adopted in 1019 the chairman definitely dealt with this point, and announced that the present railway facilities to the I wharves were adequate and that there i would be no occasion to connect Princes wharf with tlie system for many years j to come. Existing plHns provide for an export wharf to the east of King's wharf, j and this would be available before any I pressure came on present export facili- j tieg. Country associations, like the ! Farmers' Union, should realise tiie | spendthrift character of the present j Board's plans of construction, and u*e their influence to check an extravagance that is going to land this port in the J unfortunate position of being the dearest j in this Dominion. The port charges that the present era of extravagance Is making inevitable will constitute a direct and burdensome tax on the farmers' produce.