UP BY £28,000.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 257, 30 October 1935, Page 12

UP BY £28,000.

THE HARBOUR DUES.

BOARD'S EXCELLENT YEAR.

from: 3>EFICIT to surplus.

An increase in the receipt of harbour dues of £28,000 has handed the Auckland Harbour Board a surplus on the year's -working of £11,880. The statement of accounts for the year ended September 30 was received at the meeting of the board yesterday. It is stated that there has been a great advance in shipping in the port during the year, and also in the tonnage of cargo handled—a reaction of the general business improvement in New Zealand during that period.

The report was adopted by the board with only the comment of the chairman, Mr. Charles C. Macindoe, that ho considered it an extremely satisfactory one. Harbour Revenue. It was shown that for 1933-34 there was a deficit of £11,276. This year there was a surplus of assets over liabilities of £2,765,550. The revenue of the Waiten ata and Manukau harbours was £369,145, Manukau contributing £4695; and an interest transfer from the reserve funds. £5146. This, it was stated, was an increase on last year's figures of £25,524. Depreciation on the harbours was shown at £27,594, interest, exchange, sinking fund and redemptions at £188,169, and maintenance and working expenses at £140,202. This left a surplus of £11,880 on the year's working.

The general account opened with a balance of £132,312, and ordinary revenue for the year was shown at f358,892. Compensation for sections about the old railway site totalled £15,153. Payments totalled £388,388, including £130,811 for maintenance and working expenses. The year ended with a credit balance of £129,084.

The maintenance and working expenses of Manukau Harbour totalled £2668, interest, exchange and sinking fund £4975, and sundry capital works £220. Revenue and refunds brought in £4569, and there was a transfer from the Waitemata account of £3294. The renewals and contingencies reserve showed that the balance in 1934 was £506,706, and in 1935 £507,502, an increase of £796. Estimates For 1936. The general account is estimated to yield a balance of £139,379, including the cash reservation for interest, exchange, sinking funds and' redemptions accrued to September 30, 1936, of £50,734. Ordinary revenue is estimated to yield £364,350, and interest transfers from the reserve fund £6000. The Empowering Bill for raising of a loan for the purchase of the new tug (which is expected here at Christmas) has been passed by Parliament, and a loan of £40,000 will be raised in 1936. This will enable the refund to the general fund of £18,845.

It was estimated that in 1936 there Would be a deficit on the revenue, account, of £14,065. This allowed for harbour dues and Admiralty subsidy at £308,850, and for interest on reserve funds at £4750. On ,the contra side it is estimated that interest, exchange, sinking fund and principal instalments will amount to £207,465 , (an increase of £19,296 on .this year's figures), harbour depreciation £27,600, and maintenance and working expenses £150,600 (ain Increase of £10,398—including £7700 estimated cost of salary restorations). Works in Project. Items of expenditure listed under ''capital works" include, electric cranes . £20,715 and £350, market landing extension £1740, Bean Rock light electrification £1500, roadway market landings £200, engine for launch Eerro £200, shelter for Birkenhead. wharf £255, Orakei wharf £2350, launch slipway £2f)o, and dredging £5500. The item referring to the Orakei wharf is for the rearrangement of it wholly as a sheep wharf, with pens beside . the roadway. At present it is partly a sheep wharf.

Items held over for later consideration include the placing of a roofing over Prince's wharf roadway at a cost of £9900, the Nelson Street reclamation at a cost of. £10,500, and the provision of extended accommodation for ■mail vessels at the Western Viaduct at • cost of £34,800. 7