PORT CHARGES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 123, 25 May 1923, Page 5

PORT CHARGES.

CAN THEY BE REDUCED 7 POSITION IN WELLINGTON. According to the new chairman of the "Wellington Harbour Board, Mr. G. Mitchell, a duty of the board is to go into tlie whole question of the charges, or set up a committee to do so. The job, he said, would be a big one. but it was the duty of the members to give the necessary time, so that the charges could be reduced to the minimum compatible with sound finance. Mr. Mitchell mentioned also that the board had important construction works ahead. In his opinion. Wellington was suffering a very great handicap in the matter of port competition, and until the handicap was removed, the port and its trade would not receive the justice that was due. In saying this he was referring to the ff.t that steamers loaded goods at coast.xl ports at tbe same price as they loaded il. fr"m Wellington, a modern port. This flat rate worked to the detriment or Wellington, and encouraged people to tip money into coastal harbours where God never intended a harbour to be. Mr. .T. G. Harkness. the retiring chairman. obson*. d that he had heard it said there covtld be very great peducI tions in the port charges. Was it realised that when dock charges were raised the world over. Wellington did not increase its charges? He had heard Mr. Cobbe say that I he charges on wool were vcrv aggravating. In nine years the board had received revenue from wool and hemp to the extent of £268,404, nnd during that period had handled 2.430.8391b of wool, and this worked out at 2/2$ per bale for handling, receiving, storing, and dumping. So. could any reasonable man say those charges were excessive, and that they coulil be reduced? No private firm would undertake the work at that price. The first business of the new board. Mr. Harkness added, should be to consolidate its by-laws. Also, stable finance would have to be maintained.