Kaiapoi Shipping

Press, Volume C, Issue 29682, 28 November 1961, Page 3

Kaiapoi Shipping

Sir, —Regarding your report of the Kaiapoi Borough Council's meeting in Wednesday’s issue, would the chairman of the harbour committee care to give the reasons for the apparent reluctance of the council to undertake a cost survey as requested by Cr. Sinclair? The suggestion seems to have merit from two angles. First, it would place the council in a far better position to consider intelligently any possible future extensions to the present agreement with the shipping company concerned, and second, it would prove whether there is any basis for the allegation that the percentage paid to the company at present is in fact in excess of the value of the services received.—Yours, etc., FORMER SHIP-OWNER. November 24. 1961.

' [The chairman of the harbour committee of the Kaiapoi Borough Council (Cr. T. L. Williams) said: “‘Former Shipowner’ can be assured there has not been any reluctance by the harbour committee of the council to discuss the cost structure of harbour expenditure, as has been suggested. Matters regarding the harbour agreement have been fully considered by the committee from time to time and the committee is naturally interested in the effect of changing conditions. Estimates of costs, and surmises regarding the operation of certain aspects of the harbour are interesting, but any additional factual information available could be of greater assistance, and would certainly be welcomed by the committee. The agreement referred to is for a period of a year and it may not be wise to draw hasty conclusions based on payments made over a shorter period. On the question of profits or losses incurred by the parties to an agreement, it should be appreciated that a local authority cannot expect to obtain services at less than their value at the present time, nor can it expect a company to negotiate an agreement without some profit in mind.”]