SHIPPING Bay of Plenty Times. TUESDAY, JULY 8th., 1924. POET FACILITIES.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LII, Issue 8628, 8 July 1924, Page 4

SHIPPING

Bay of Plenty Times. TUESDAY, JULY Bth., 1924. POET FACILITIES.

The report, of the public meeting recently held at Te Puke, published in our issue of Saturday week, will leave the uneasy feeding that ewn vet the time had not arrived when many people in th<- eastern portion of fiie Bay can accept the logic t.f the situation. To many we know, it has long been apparent, and among them some who still publicly proclaim otherwise. While onr business friends at Te Puke have our utmost sympa.thv in finding their charges on goods hauled from the Mount increased, they surely are not blind to the fact; 1 that it is but the natural outcome: of the policy

they insisted their representatives on the harbour beard should pursue. It is an outcome too, foreseen, and of which they were duly warn'd. We have 1 no desire,' however. i to labour that aspect of the matter; 1 because; as a matter cf fact the | increased are not due to the altered train servios, but solely for the reason that the service from and to the Mount has been earned on at a loss. The. .situation, however, should be relieved as *!;cu as the Jong-delayed wharf at Tauranga is erected. If all energies were bent to the completion of that work the> benefit Uy the whole district would be incalculable-. But is it not lime' for a little calm reflection and more earnest consideration of harbour matters if the best: interests of all concerned are to be served? It is no use traversing in detail the many misleading statements made at the public meeting at Te Puke, for it is perfectly obvious flint for i ease ns best known to themselves some of To Puke’s public men are publiclv proclaim mg what they do not privately believe. First " and foremost, when the idea cf croatin? a ‘ deep-sea harbour at the Mount

or anywhere vise in Tauranga liarhour-- for the next decade is dropped, it wi ] b, possible to make some progress. It is s« futile to talk of expending thousands of pounds- -m vdiat ? Monuments to men’s stupidiiy? Surely not- Did the deepsea harbour exist to-day, what beat would call, and what would it call with, or takeaway? Will these of our eastern friends who still hug thisfetish of a deep-sea harbour now, not face the- inescapable facts? Surely it must la patent to them that the Matangi will still serve the pert and pass serenely by the £33, 000 monument at the Mount. It ha* never yet been denied, even by the most ardent deep-sea advocates, that a. wharf, with the necessary rail connections, at Tauranga, was a necessity. Why then deny, or be

wilfully blind to the fact that that wharf can and will serve the district for the next bm or twenty years, without the burden cf a costly monument at the Mount, without any expenditure on apr; ns and groins, without a costly motor I launch & punts, without more than ! a comparatively trifling sum < srimat- ) ed at £BOOO spent in dredging. I*l . r* C* • without costly railway connections to a costly monument - in .short-, cheaper, bet Dr and far more satisfactory tc all concerned. Hew this , can be denied is so incomprehensible, 'that one is left t;> wonder whether it wculd not be better to seek an immediate amendment of I the Harbour Boards’ Empowering Act, permitting those who desired a <!-.p-sea harbour and an ocean steamer wharf at the Mount to provide it, and bear rlio whole burden such expenditure would entail. To ibis course the advocates for tin sc m-c Hess facilities could sin lv offer no objection- A deep-sea harbour, with an expensive wharf at the Mount, is fit her « good proposition or it is net. Surely then those who Proclaim' that it is artprepared tc back their faith-.' Otherwise Ukv must tak- a sane view of the position and accept- the legic • f tlj/' situation. Bur - f this let our ■friends rest assured---the temnorarv burden thee now heave D boar fo~ the costly pleasure cf having

Ili<:ii' goods landed at’ the Mount will be found inappreciable when compared with what their goods will have Io bear to make a whai f at the Mount pay its way. No protest to anv Minister or Government can ever bring about what is must desired lire economical handling of goods at the port if those most vitally interested will persist in creating'conditions that prevent it-