THE HARBOUR BOAED

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 148, 19 December 1929, Page 16

THE HARBOUR BOAED

"MAGNIFICENT WORK" Unstinted praise for, the ' manner in which the Wellington Harbour Board had carried out its onerous duties was voiced by the Hon. T. Shailer Weston at the social gathering which followed the board's final meeting of the year last evening. Members of the board, the executive officers, and members of the permanent staff spent a pleasant evening together, several toasts being honoured, interspersed with anecdotes and songs.

Proposing the toast of "The' Wellington Harbour Board," Mr. Weston said he could visualise a great city springing up on the shores of Port Nicholson, and it was the board's duty to provide an outlet for the district. In the past the board had done magnificently, and during the many years he had been closely in. contact with it, ho had been greatly impressed by the ability arid public spirit of its members. No other public body in New Zealand was carrying out such a big job as efficiently and economically as the Wellington Har-, bour Board. If other public bodies' carried out their duties in the same efficient way, he thought the Dominion would be in an even more prosperous condition than it was to-day.

The chairman of the board (Mr. J. W. M'Ewan), replying, said that during his long term on the board he had seen many changes, but there had been no falling-oif in the board's progress. Everything tended to show that the board was steadily workiing towards the utmost efficiency, and he believed it was an object lesson to other local bodies in the district. If some Government Departments were run on similar lines, better results might be achieved.

Other toasts-were: "The Staff," proposed by Mr. C. J. B. Norwood and Mr. C. M. Turrell, and replied to by Mr. J. Marchbanks (general manager) and Captain J. Dawson (harbourmaster); "The Press," proposed by Captain C. M'Arthur; and "The Chairman," proposed by Mr. T. Mobs. • HARBOUR BOARD AND STAFF. The treatment accorded to its staff by the Wellington Harbour Board was referred to in appreciative terms in a letter received at the board's meeting last evening from the Wellington Harbour Board's Permanent Employees' Association. It was stated that in view of the proposal to celebrate the jubilee of the board's operations, the officers and members of the association wished to convey.their sincere appreciation of the treatment extended to them over a period of many years. The members felt that the board was actuated by a desire to treat them fairly, and at the same time conserve the interest of the board's clients, and they hoped to continue' giving efficient service -with amicable relations existing1 always between them and the board.