INQUIRY ASKED
HARBOUR TRANSORT JOINT ACTION TAKEN Following a decision made at the last meeting of the Auckland Harbour Board, a joint letter has been sent by Mr. J. H. Frater, chairman of the board, and Sir Ernest Davis, chairman of directors of the Devonport Steam Ferry Company, to the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, requesting the Government to set up a Royal Commission to investigate and report upon the problem of transport in the Waitemata Harbour. "In 1929 the Government appointed a Royal Commission to investigate and report on harbour transit facilities in the Waitemata Harbour," states the letter. "This commission, which reported in April, 1930, indicated that in its opinion 'the time for the erection of a bridge across the Waitemata Harbour would not arrive in less than 20 years, though it might be advisable in, say, ten years' time, to have the position reviewed again.' "To the extent that, and as long as, communication between the northern and southern shores of the Waitemata is dependent upon water transport it is the responsibility of the Harbour Board to provide such wharves and terminal facilities, navigation aids, dock aad slipway accommodation and other conveniences as may be necessary to enable a suitable ferry service or services to be conducted." After setting out the services conducted by the company, the letter continues: "It is the desire and the responsibility of both the board and the company to see that the facilities and services shall be adequate, convenient and in keeping with the needs of the community served thereby, and to the extent that these needs can be met only by water transport, the board and the company, acting in close harmony and collaboration, are readily able to plan and willing to provide the finance for the purpose of improving, expanding, maintaining and operating the necessary facilities and services. Local Situation "There are, however, factors in the local situation which neither the board nor the company can evaluate and upon which they are powerless to make the decisions necessary to enable provision for the orderly development and improvement of existing services to be made. Principal among these factors is the clamant demand of a section or sections of the community for a harbour bridge. "Neither the board nor the company has any desire to obstruct the erection of a harbour bridge or any other form of direct access, should competent authority, after full and complete investigation, decide that a bridge or tunnel should be built, but it is clearly not in the province of e'ther of these organisations to decide whether, and if so, when, where and how such access should be provided. "At the same time such improvements as the board or the company might be prepared to put in hand regardless of the possibility of other direct access being provided, are opposed by sectional interests on the ground that their prosecution will tend to delay the erection of a bridge. "For a considerable time past local author'ties over a wide area north and south of Auckland have been canvassed and urged to pass resolutions pressing for the inclusion, in programmes of urgent post-war works, of a harbour bridge. Many local bodies have acceded to this demand." A Royal Commission "It is the considered view of the board and of the company that no substantial progress toward the improvement of ferry services and facilities can be made until the matter has aga'n been reviewed in all its aspects by a Royal Commission, and, in view of the time likely to be required to give effect to any policy which may be adopted as the result of the commission's findings, and the urgent need for a fixed policy upon which the services may be developed, that such a commission should be appointed w'thout delay to report at the earliest possible time. Apart from the board's and the company's need for guidance in the matter, it is felt that it would be impossible for those who may be called upon to review the construction of a bridge as a post-war rehabilitation work to reach an intelligent decis'on without first having the findings of a Royal Commission to guide them." The letter concludes with an urgent request for the appointment of a Royal Commission and asks that before such a commission is gazetted the proposed order of reference should be submitted to the board and the company "to ensure that nothing which those organisations require elucidating l s overlooked.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 84, 10 April 1945, Page 6
Word Count
745INQUIRY ASKED Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 84, 10 April 1945, Page 6
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