CONTROL OF PORTS

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28399, 4 October 1957, Page 19

CONTROL OF PORTS

Commission Plan Opposed “All people in Canterbupr who have the interests of their province at heart should strongly oppose the formation of a Harbour Control Commission,” said Mr E. N. Adams, chairman of the Bluff Harbour Board, at a meeting of members of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce and representatives of interested organisations yesterday. The scheme h»d been mentioned in Parliament, he said, and would involve the control of all harbours by a central Government authority. He had visited many ports while he was in Australia recently and, in general, they were run by the Government or by commissions appointed by the Government, said Mr Adams. The only exception was in Tasmania. "Under this type of organisation there is always a heart-burning on the allocation of funds, and those activities that are votecatchers will receive more of the distribution,” he said. Harbour boards should remain local bodies, and should not be appointed, he said. If people were not satisfied by their actions, they could always put it to the vote and have them removed. “Politics in harbour boards are a curse, and one which we are spared in Invercargill," he said. “A board should consist of the best men, irrespective of their political affiliations.”