BOUND TO “ARCHAIC” SYSTEM

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31029, 7 April 1966, Page 14

BOUND TO “ARCHAIC” SYSTEM

The board had no option but to approach the users of the port and insist that they give security for the payment of their dues, said the chairman (Mr L. G. Amos) to the Lyttelton Harbour Board yesterday.

A remit sponsored by the board at the recent Harbours Association conference asked that the taking of security for dues should be optional had not been passed by the conference, he said. The board had about 1400 ledger accounts ranging from small accounts to substantial sums. Strict control was exercised and a guarantee insisted on if an account appeared doubtful. Since the board took over its own wharfage collection in 1960 only £9 3s 6d had been written

off, and this represented mainly minimum charges of Is which it would not be economic to collect. Unfortunately the Audit Office had no option but to draw the board's attention to the provision of the legislation and it must have guarantees. "As the majority of business today is based on credit without taking security, the provision is archaic and should either be made optional or deleted from the legislation altogether," Mr Amos said. While the board received considerable support at the conference, some delegates thought that as their boards already had guarantees they could not support any change.