LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 776, 28 March 1910, Page 8

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

NEW ZEALAND AND THE WORLD. Sir, —Mr. Foster Fraser made'several points in his article on New Zealand, and published in your paper. His reference to the multiplicity of racecourses was one about which nearly every rightthinking person will agree. His reference to the blasphemous bathos contained in the New Zealand-God's Own Country statement seemed to be well timed. Regarding the charge of wounded vanity to New Zealanders who return here from abroad with the complaint that oversea newspapers do not give much space to Dominion • items, Sir. Fraser is again-quite correct. We are only a very small country, holding records apparently only for the number of our racecourses and the amount we put through the totalisator, . and . we loom no larger to Australia and the Old and New World than does Beef; Creek town to Wellington. Which reminds me that whenever I am in Beef Creek district the principal citizens always ask why there is not more Beef Creek news : in the Wellington newspapers.—l am,, etc.,. . . ' WIREMA. HARBOUR BOARD AFFAIRS. . Sir, —While members of the Harbour Board appear to be so deeply impressed with the gravity of the proposed increase of- clues, that the chairman was congratulated on all hands . for his courage—one member even described it as heroic—it is-to be.hoped; that..all will now realise that extravagant" ex-, penditure, such as lurked under the off-hand proposal to ; borrow a million, was reckless, in the'extreme. -_ By the remarks of several members, it is apparently at last recognised, that the board's revenue is .restricted, and may fail to increase, even by raising the dues. This fact is of general applica-' tion, but as illustrative, let me draw attention to a ■ few points. Nowadays the direction of outside cargo is largely in the hands of indent I merchants .-or their agents, and the agents of manii-' facturers who sell on c.i.f. terms.' With them every fraction' of cost counts; if they, can tranship cargo here for such ports as Oamaru, Timaru, or, say, Gisbojne, a shade' cheaper than through Dunedin, Lyttelton, or.. Auckland, then Wellington is preferred,-but so is any other port if thereby sixpence a ton can be saved. ' Similarly, a point : where costs balance is met on distance by railway and in the main rules, say,'between this port and Napier, or in thecase of the new~country opened by the Trunk railway, as- to whether those settlers' sheep, wool, and other products will be diverted to steamers hi Wanganiii' roadstead. Further, the board must soon 'expect' to largely lose the transhipping *bf the hitherto certain West' Coast cargo. It may be true'that the- monstrous- folly and waste in tunnelling the mountains on the Midland railway can probably never be made to pay even haulage,and working expenses; still, the line will have to be worked, and at rates from Lyttelton which will largely divert from Wellington the , transit' of that, an'd other cargo..

The Mayor tells of unnecessary works undertaken, costing £425,000, possibly in this he has not. included .the great • extra : cost of unduly' wide wharves, so erected, to.find storage for wool in its brief season. While in the days of coastal transhipment the board had to provide for the like, there was no call upon' it to similarly provide storage for land-bofne wool, and still more .especially' when such has to be held over '. for. periodic sales.,' Wharf.due., working, of cargo 'ih''transit'".shbuld..'be"sufficient, but. the rates should ever be approximately penal. His Worship further describes.; the board's: depreciation writings,.off. as "grossly overdone." It'would' almost look as if the loss of the J' shed should have been a Charge ;on 'this account, and not treated as an extra and special, but generally as the terredo is ever at work, and as all wooden wharves and sheds, also "machinery, have only a short life, or are frequently superseded', the deductions are perhaps not so unreasonable as Dr. Isewman is pleased .to assume. Besides. every board, especially such as, Wellington, which has ho endowments, should contribute from revenue** large- quota of the cost of its extensions, and the extent to which this has been- done through this account is one of the features over which the board > can ,be , heartily congratulated, and so probably the 'chairman had better discard this retrograde recommendation and leave well; alone.— I' am, etc., ' AN ES-MEMBEE. March 26.