HARBOUR DUES.

Evening Post, Volume LXIII, Issue 82, 7 April 1902, Page 4

HARBOUR DUES.

We aro glad to bo able to congratulate tho Premier on the statement he made to the Haibour 43oard deputation wita reference to the port dues of the Kent and Devon. The position he took up, unlike that assumed by the Collector of Customs, was quite consistent with the principles fbr which we were contending in our lending article of the Ist inst. Goods carried for tho Imperial or Colonial Government /or other than trading purposes may, of courso, be exempted irora harbour dues. There is no question of the legality or expediency of such a proceeding, but it is quite otherwise with commoccial cargoes carried by a troopship, or any other vessel that is under contract wfth either tho New Zealand or the Home Government. Tho Premier has now laid it down as a point of his administrative policy that thero will bo no attempt to interfere with Harbour Boards' levies upon such commercial cargoes. Not only, were the Kent and Dovon liable for dues upon tho merchandise they carried, but there will be 110 provision for any exemption in the case of the South African steamers that are about to ho subsidised. We rejoice to find tho Premier assorting that the Central Government ought not to infringe on the revenues of Harbour Boards, nnd that it was not for the Government to force them to grant concessions. As a matter of fact, those bodies huvo not the power to grant any exemptions from duos, except in tho statutory cases we referred to in tho above-mentioned loader, and it is as well that the law should remain as it is, or the door might bo opened for patronage, and even corruption. The Premier seemed to think that the Boards might grant exemptions in certain cases, but considerations of policy, no less than those of law, condemn such a proposal. The provision of facilities for getting our goqds to outside markets belongs to tho Central Government rather than to local bodies, which, for tho most part, need all the revenue they can get.