THE CANAL SCHEME

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13160, 6 July 1908, Page 5

THE CANAL SCHEME

TO THE EDITOX OF "THE TKXA* "

Sir, -I wish to respect fully submit, ibroiigh your columns., to the Lyttelton Harbour Board, for their consideration, some points that have been apparently overlooked by previous writers ;md sneakers on this subject.

It Ls clear that whatever the public n:-e saved in payment of railage charges

;:::.•] p>isse:ig«r fares by the making of the port at Heathcote instead of at l.yiu-Ufvn, that sum should accrue to tl;e Hoard to enable them to pay the interest on the improvement so effect-

cd. What that will amount to, it is not for tlte prrwr.t necessary to state exactly. It must be carefully computed. It is sufficient to premise, for the suko of illustration, that, based on OliivierV return, it will Ik> about £40.000 for railage and £10,000 foi pas.scn.gor fares. These, at present to Lyttelton. are, first-class ls, second Sd, v.-hi Ist to Heathcote the train faro is only 4d. Now this sum of £50,000 must he colli cted by the Board in the shape of whan age on imports, leaving tho.se interests, mostly tbe country, f ree from extra charge, seeing that they are not supposed to benefit from the rhango of pr>rt of shipment. AYe would tlius have an income of t'oO.ooo. which wo-.ikl pay. Nt U per cent, for an expenditure of £1,111.000. With such sum 1 may assume that Mr Cyrus Williams could construct a port in which to start business, seeing that his first estimate for the work was £1.085,634. Improvement* and enlargements could be made as income increased. I should here draw attention to the remarks of the chnirmr.n of the Hoard contained in ihe n»ii!::.i! report:, as follows:—''That n<.-iriy i-alf ilu> crust of our permanent \v,ri: !;■!.-> Keen paid out of our ordinary revenue." Of course the same could he <]ane- a: Heathcote.

So fnr. -m) well, as to paying interest on tlir work when it is started. But what ab-o-ut financing it during ihe roiiMniction. Well, there is a credit hal.nnet. in hand at present at £47.000. The Do.'m: makes about £20,000 a rear profit out cf tho business. SupjKisiii;: ir takes four roars to construct, that will e ive .£BO,OOO, and £47,000— total £127,000—ivith which to nay inicrrr.t. I hare -worked it out and find that thero wiil be « large balance to spare, after paying interest on the ioau.

It only remains then to dispose of the question of a rateable area. I contend that the proposed improvement is mado for tho benefit of the trading community, who should, therefore, pay any extra charge thus ensuing. They could pass it on to the consumer fairly and would not bo injured. I havo already shoivn that there will bo no extra charge. Tho only difference is, that what you pay to the Railway yon can coll railage, and what you pay then to tho Harbour Board you will call wharfage. But that -will only bo at first, for as time goes on and income increases from various sources, the charges will be much less than they ore now, working, as I hop© and believe, to the goal of a free port. My contention is, that it should so be managed that no rate should be levied on lands except on those immediately and undoubtedly benefited. It will be necessary, as a matter of form, to give security for the loan, so as to get it effected on good' terms, but I trust that it will be demonstrated to thoso giving tiie security that they will never be called on to pay anything. Now, if nry argument is false, it should be exposed, for no cause can gain on false argument. If, on the other hand, I cannot bo shown to be in tho wrong, I can fairly demand that the work should be commenced at once. —Yours, etc., JOSHUA LITTLE.