HARBOURS BILL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 653, 2 November 1909, Page 6

HARBOURS BILL.

REPRESENTATION OF CHAMBERS OF ! COMMERCE. DEPUTATION TO MINISTER. A deputation from the * .Wellington Chamber-, of- ; . Commerce, consisting of Messrs.. W. .G. Dnthie (ohairman), G. Shirtchfle, J,; G. Harkness, H. 1 C. Tewsley, and S. CaTroll (secretary) waited on tho Hon. J. A. Millar yesterday to urge that provision should bo mane m the new Harbours Bill for tho representation of Chambers of Commerco on (harbour boards. .-,. Mr. Duthie said- that; at tho. recent confer- . enco ,pf Chambers of Commerce. tho'. hope was expressed that under the new Bill tho Government would' retain' a representative : 6f the Chambers of Commerco on harbour boards. It was felt that commercial interests required ■representation,! and . that that Vrould not bo sufficiently provided bv the mora fact of the boards being elected by the ratepayers. The Prime - Minister, had promised that the matter would receive consideration. ■ Mr. ,G. Sliirtcliffe urged that the conduct of the : affairs 'of the various harbours should i not bo taken ontirely out of the hands of the commercial'people, who had to pay the cost of administration : and upkeep. He thought that, .under the'system of the past, matters had been conducted on safe and progressive lines, ajjd'general satisfaction had been-given. There was the_ question how a change in'the system of election wotfld be viewed by the" foreign bondholders. All the harbours' were : very heavily indebted to the bond-holdors at Home, who had lent their money knowing that tho harbour, boards wore elected on a certain basis. It .:might -be considered in the nature of a breach of faith if the constitution of the boards was now altered .without consulting the peoplo who had lent their money for the building'Up of'harbour works. Mr. Harkness said that the Wellington Harbour Board were laying the foundations of tho policy that ; would -hold good for the next 25 yeais, and it was a question whether it was wise to "swap horses in the middle of tho stream." , Tho Auckland Harbour Board was in'tho same position, and he thought that both theso boards had done satisfactory work in the past. The Wellington Harbour Board had practically no. rating powers; if it had rating "powers it would be' a right - thing that its members should bo elected on a popular basis Tho Minister,: in'replying,- said-that this Question had been hanging on for some co'n.siderable time. Tho Bill was m print, but had not yet been 1 , finally approved by Cabinet, so that-he could .not submit Copies of it. He 'had, '.hriwever, sent a. copy privately to the' • Harbours; Conference / for the • sake: of getting their views. Ho hoped to have tho Bill introdnced :in -a short time, ' The troublo was tho wonderful divergence among the , boards. , On tho Auckland and Otago Boards there was absolutely no country, representation at' all. Demands wero being made-on all hands that the districts whioh supplied tho produce and ultimately paid tho, dues should have some representation on the boards. On the -Wellington and Lyttelton Boards,-that, was provided for, but: again somo of tho boards nad been growing unwieldy .owing -to-'constant additions of extra, representation, and. some uni ? fortuity of system: was required. There was n growing feeling throughout the -country , that all theso. boards—hospital, charitablc aid, .and others —should be elective. They wore olectivo indirectly. : at-the prKorititime,: but''it-was proposed that thoy should- bo made) directly elective.. -.Provision-.-< would be made in the Bill.for payers of dues to have elective representation • direct, but; to' give chambers "' of -commerce[ a. nominative-'as well as an-elective representation ~woiild,.'be .to .give 'them.', dual representation. Demands .were being made, by so-.many*. organisations' for" direct representation thai thoy could not have both - systems, l they must .have ono thmf- or another. There were so many opinions on tho wholo question of harbour boards', representation that it was a perfect Chineso puzzle, . -Every chamber of commerce could not .have representation on tho iboards. Ho had altered and Tealtored the schedule several times, and it was not right yet. What ho hoped to do was to get tho Bill beforo-,the Houso, and possibly .select somo members of tho-HouSo to go through" it with him,, along with', the ; representations of tho execr.tivo of the Harbours Conference. All theyVwanted v.to:■ get "-a'-'tjeSlly.^workable measure, and ono that .was as truly representative as possible. He fully recognised tho good-;work :done fi by)|the.harbour boards in tlfo past. ' They'had cortainly' not increased dues .to any ,extent ; their object was apparently to reduce .dues as. far, as they could. Ho recognised the importance of having-.business men on tho-boards, , and would keep>that m view in anything-, that'was done. - Ho did not think there i, was • much in > Mr. Shirtcliffe's point ■about tiler bond-holders. ■ The samo argument ■ would . apply , to municipal corporations and to tho-genoral.franch.ise., Government noininai.tion to the boards, would .still continue. Ho ivould mako known their representations -ito Cabinot. They wantcd _ the co-operation ;of I everyone to get : something workable and got the .'matter: out of. the -road, for it had been .hanging ion for'seven years'now. '■* - I-. Mr. Shirtchffo-said that the chamber did I not . wish to be obstructive, but rather to i,give. all. the.'.assistance in.its power.. .