WATERFRONT CONTROL

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26868, 22 October 1952, Page 12

WATERFRONT CONTROL

INCREASED LEVY FOR ADMINISTRATION NELSON HARBOUR BOARD REFUSES TO PAY (New Zealand Press Association) NELSON, October 21. Pending a justification for the increase, the Nelson Harbour Board will not pay the Waterfront Industry Commission’s increased national administration levy. The levy has been increased by 3d to lid an hour as from September 29, 1952. Nelson was one of the main ports affected, as the board was an employer of waterside labour, said the chairman (Mr A. R. Kingsford). He considered it wrong that a one-man commission had the right to increase charges without the board having any redress. The board’s resolution said: “This board views with alarm the fact that the estimated total annual expenditure of the Waterside Commission will exceed £500.000. It expresses the view that this cost is excessive in relation to any benefits obtained and adds unjustly to the overhead costs of the waterfront industry, thus tending to make the industry uneconomic in relation to other forms of transport which are in competition with it, more particularly air freight and road transport, which do not incur similar charges.” It was also decided that all bodies affected should be asked to combine in a request for a full investigation of the services provided by the commission to determine if they are essential at all ports and whether they could be provided on a more economical basis by the . commission or the boards. , A third resolution read: “That, meanwhile, the board declines to pay the further substantial increase in the levy pending a thorough investigation and a satisfactory justification for the increased charges in relation to the services actually received at Nelson.” Statement by Mr Bockett • The chairman of the Waterfront Industry Commission (Mr A. E. Bockett) said ip Wellingtoh today that the national administration'levy had been increased from 9d to Is an hour for every paid hour of waterfront work. At Nelson, where the Harbour Board engaged some of the labour, it was increased from 8d to lid. Mr Bockett said that oh no occasion had the levy been increased except by agreement with the New Zealand Port Employers’’ Association. Before the-latest increase had been made, a meeting was held between the commission and the association, and complete agreement was reached. A representative of the Harbour Boards’ Association was asked to attend the meeting, but did not.

Mr Bockett said the levy was required to meet the operating expenses of the labour engagement bureaux and the central pay offices, and to provide funds for the payment of daily and weekly minima to waterside workers. The national administration fund last year had been insufficient to meet these costs. Mr*Bockett said When the figures werd placed before rhe port employers, they agreed that the increase was justified. It had been agreed in 1943 that the fund should be on a national basis, and the Nelson Harbour Board had gained as a result. Mr Bockett said. The commission had erected a building at Nelson at a cost of £15.000, which was finally the responsibility of the board.