CITY BOARD. THE HARBOUR TRUSTS BILL.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 4004, 22 June 1870, Page 4

CITY BOARD. THE HARBOUR TRUSTS BILL.

A special meeiing of the City Board of Commissioners was held yesterday, at their office, at 3 p.m., to consider the Harbour Trusts ßill. It will be remembered that his Honor the Superintendent some time ago forwarded copies of the draft bill to the City Board, and I to the newspapers, with an invitation to offer suggestions as to desirable amendments in the bill, so as to renclei'it as perfect as possible before introducing it into the General Assembly. The following' members of the Board were present t" — Messrs. Philips (Chairman), Maeready, and George. In compliance with the >inyitation of the Board, the following city members of the Provincial Council also attended the meeting : — Messrs. Swanson, Boylan, and Clark. The letter accompanying the draft of the -bill from his Honor the Superintendent was read by the secretary. The Board then resolved itaelfinto a committee to consider the clauses of the bill sSriatim. The bill way read by the secretary. Clause 3 :~ Constitution of Board : Superintendent, four persons appointed annually bygthe Provincial Council, and four persona by those who, during the preceding year have paid at least ten pounds in port, pilot, or wharfage dues. —With respect to this clause, Mr. George thought it would be better to nominate the first four members, leaving it to them to elect the remaining members, as under the A.et of 1854. On a former occasion, about 100 persons had been chosen from the electors, and if the same plan had been contimied, the harbour would have been in a very different condition from that it was in at present. If the Supeiin- j tendent had the power to appoint four out of the eight members, besides having a casting vote, he might just as well have the whole management entrusted to him at once. — The Chairman remarked that four out of the eight members would be elected by the Provincial Council. — Mr. George said it would be better to leave the matter altogether to those who paid duties and tolls. — Mr. Boylan said the position of the harbour trusts had completely altered "of late years. The General Assembly had taken possession under the Marine. Act, and what the Superintendent now proposed to do was to recover some of the powers that had been taken away. He thought the provisions of the bill tended in the right direction. The Superintendent could not recover the lost powers, unless invested with the authority which the bill proposed to confer upon him. — Mr. Clark supported the clause in its present shape. The importers of the province had the power of choosing four members of the 1 Board, and the ratepayers generally had a voice in the election of the Board through their representatives in the Provincial Council. The power would rest with the importers as well as those more immediately interested in the matter. — Mr. Macready thought that any man paying toll was as much entitled to a vote as a person simply discharging goods on the wharf. — Mr. Boylan thought ifci that element 'were introduced it would increabe the difficulty of formingaconstituency. — Mjv Macready saidcarters in many instauces paid large sums. — Mr. Clark said these sums were not recorded, as in the case of dues. — Mr. Macready: There are few carters who do not pay £10 a year in tolls. — Mr. George : Some of them pa y 10 a week, — Mr. Clark : The carter pays for the importer. There would often be a difficulty in distinguishing the amount actually paid by the carter. — Mr. Swanson : If you come to that, the consumer pays for the importer. The harbour can never be properly managed until it is connected with the City Board. The lighting, police, sewage, harbour, and so forth should be under the control of the city authorities. If there were two separate bodies managing the city and the harbour there would He collisions, and it would therefore be necessary that some members of the Harbour Commission shouM be members also of the City ' Board. Hundreds of men would be employed in , business in connection with any new docks, and they ought to be represented^' The Act did not provide for an executive to carry out the intentions of the committee. — Mr. Boylan suggested that the appointment of an executive committee was probably regarded in the Act as a matter of course. — After further discussion, Mr. Swanson proposed that the- Board should consist of nine members — three to be elected by the local authority, whether the City Board or a Municipal Corporation ; three by the Provincial Council; and the remaining three by those paying harbour dues and rates. — -The motion was agreed to. Clause 4 : Election of Members. — Mr. Macready suggested that this clause should be amended by adding that one member of the three appointed by the Provincial Council, one from the three appointed by the local authorities, and one from those elected by the payers of toils, dues, &c, should retire annually. — The Board agreed to the recommendation. Clause 9: Superintendent to determine disputes and rectify ., errors.— Mr. Boylan thought this was a provision, and that it should operate with regard to any disputes between "the two local authorities. — Mr. Macready remarked that the oity might erect 'a toll 'bar at the end of the wharf, corresponding with that on the wharf itself.— Mr. Clark : Both Boards would be amenable to jmblic bpinion. — Mr. Boylan : We know what that means, (laughter). Clause 13 : Powers of Board.— Board exexercisds powers under Marine Act, sections 7, 10, 12, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 50.— Mr. Boylan drew attention to the omission of clauses 34 to 49. He thought these clauses provided for the exercise of functions which would be peculiarly within the province of the Harbour Board, and it therefore appeared that there had been some special reason for omitting these clauses. Probabl it was meaut that the Harboxir Trust should have power to make by-laws. Clause 16 : Sales, &c, to have concurrence of Superintendent and his Executive Council. — Mr. Boylan thought the words VExe« cutive Council" should be struck out. , If two out of the three members of the Exe- j cutive were present,, and decided in any particular way, they would not only have power to "control the Superintendent, but the whole Harbour Commission. — The suggestion was agreed" to.' ~ Clause 20 : Board may reclaim from the sea any portion of the endowments without compensation to persons for water-frontage rights or privileges. Mr. Boylan believed those enjoying water-frontage rights would have a valid claim to compensation. — Mr. Olark said all property had, a right-of-way, , apart from the sea frontage, — Mr. Swanson : , Not all ; just imagine Motutapu,for instance, — Mr. Clark : I speak of any property abutting on the harbour. All such property has a road. No property is sold without a road to' water frontage. — Mr. Boylan said,, whether the General Assembly passed the clause or not, any claim to reasonable compensation brought before a jury would be entertained. Clause 22 s Endowments not to be rateable by the city.— The - Chairman thought the .of this olause would clash with a number of interests. It would certainly give rise to oonfliot and difficulty. If the endowments were not rateable the oity authorities oould not be expected, to provide for lighting, kg,, at the end of the wharf and in thft streets abutting on the harbour. - His own opinion was that the harbour should be subjeot-Jo tKe control of the Muni-dp^-Oorporation.;-*Mr ( Swanaon.aaid if the voting was to be on the principle of those who paid, the entire body of consumers were en. titled to the privilege, As to the existence of two diatinat Boards, if they did not oooperate harmoniously respecting levels, &c, ..on tha^baiis of a comprehensiva soheme, the,, whole* i^jjitam Would collapse. If. a odm«~ , prehensive scheme of oitv and harbourimproyemenfa Were devised, future improvements, would be more easily carried -6uVThe} country had formerly. opposed 1 any .proposal' for uniting the dityi and the '^harbour, on the groiinxT that s*ll6'' Harbour belonged to the , pro* . ,yinci.l V, M?. Clark believed that the management of the ;city and the harbour by twd dutiricfc Boards would be advantageous. * If the cil^ i? autH6rities' were ex.officio mem

ber<j of the Harbour Board, the former would swamp the decisions of thelatter. — Mr. Bbylan suggested that, in case of there being two distinct authorities, and that in respect to the harbour refused to carry out works in conjunction with necessary works in the city, the Superintendent should be empowered to step in and compel the execution of the required works. — After some further discussion it was agreed to recommend that clause 22 of the bill be excised. Loan of £250,000.'-— Mr. Boylan thought the Board should recommend that his Honor the Superintendent should obtain power to borrow £250,000. He did not think they could proceed with the dock until a sum of money was obtained. It was agreed that a suggestion should be made to this effect. — Mr. Swanson wanted to know where the money was to be obtained. — The Chairman said it could not be borrowed unlesß upon the guarantee of the General Assembly, , and Mr. Boylan's opinion was that, where parties were so evenly balanced in the Assembly between Mr. Stafford and Mr. Fox, either of these gentl°men would give power to borrow not only £250,000, but £500,000. Appointment of Pilots. — Mr. Swanson referred to the necessity of holding more strict examinations on the appointment of pilots. He said that a proper examination as to the capabilities of pilots was very rarely insisted upon. Tity Endowments, — The chairman referred to the injustice of the conduct of the General Government in taking possession of certain city endowments. The site of the present Post-office was wrongly retained in the possession of the General Government, without giving compensation to the city. £25,000 had been spent, on which the city was not reaping one-fai'thing. The proceeds were going into the coffers of the Provincial Government. The province had also been most unjustly treated by the General Government. It was certainly a very hard case that the province should be called upon to pay interest on endowments which were improperly retained by the General Government. — Mr. Clark said the Provincial Government enjered into the arrangement under pressure, in order to prevent the property being sold by the General Government. — The Chairman said that, in the bill drawn up by Mr. Rochforfc, it was specified that the city endowment in Short-laud-street was 200 links frontage but the city had now only an endowment extending some 98 links. The endowment which the General Government had improperly possessed itself of was the most valuable of all in the city. — Mr. Clark said, .if ' the matter were brought under the attention of the General Assembly, the province would stand a very good chance of redress. Mr. Stafford had formerly pointed out that Auckland was the only province in which the General Government had retained possession of the unappropriated endowments. — Vfter some further discussion the meeting terminated.