VICTORIA WHARF.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XLI, Issue 5969, 9 June 1913, Page 4

VICTORIA WHARF.

"That this board declines to exceed its offer oi £500 for the Victoria .Wharf, and it* this oli'er is declined this P>oard declines to eater into any further negotiations iti the matter, and. having regard to the great extension to the Town VVhaif, prefers to leave this decaying structure in the hands of the present claimants." Such is the tenor of a resolution passed at the meeting of the Harbour

Board on Wednesday last. To enable our readers to grasp the full significance of this resolution, we quote from the Taurauga Harbour Act, lIH'2, Section 7, Clause (I);—" The Board may acquire all wharves, jetties,, buoys, beacons, shells, and appurtenances thereof within the harbour (excepting railway^ wharves') at present tinder the control <>f any loe-al body, at such price as may be agrued on between the Board and the local body under whose control the same now is. or if no agreement is renine to within three, months after the passing of this Act. then at a price to ho fixed by the Governor after making such inquiry as he dooms 'iH.xjossary.'* Tito stand taken by the Harbour Board is, therefore., a perfectly legal

one. and it merely remains to consider whether it is an etpiitable one. The Borough Conned ask .CiMMI for the structure, and the Harbour Board offers Ju>o<i. Assuming the County

Supervisor's report to be a fair statement <^i the position we

have a structure which "in its present state there is a danger of a heavy vessel bumping into it and toppling the lot over :

also "this portion (where the shed stands) is now sinking, and will either break off from or take the other portion with it." The Chairman's summary

position is worthy ot more than passing notice were it not that the Board ultimate ly decided to allow its previous offer of C")(HI to hold good. While it is possible to sympathise with ilie Borough representatives on the Board in their endeavour to secure the full

of the

amount eiaimed. it is not possible to do more. From a business point of view the Borough Council ■ cannot get more than the structure is worth, nor can

it get more for sentimental reasons. Whatever may have been the method oi book-keeping employed and whatever moneys may ha\e been earned by the wharf and spent elsewhere, the fact must still remain that now the wharf is to be disposed i)i it must be written down to its present day value, and at that value, and that alone, can the Council hope to divest itself of it. Apart from that, however, the Board can please itself whether it takes over the structure or not. It is difficult to see. therefore, that the Council would be other than well advised to accept the T.")!HI with-,

out delay