COOL STORE CHARGES

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 121, 25 May 1933, Page 22

COOL STORE CHARGES

A READJUSTMENT

HARBOUR BOARD DISCUSSION

' When the repeal of portion of the Harbour Board's bylaws setting forth the <:00l store charges came before the board last night, the chairman (Mr. C. J. B. Norwood) explained that the intention yras to amend the charges iv regard to cheese. sfo alteration had been marie in the case t>f cheese ex ship for the first fortnight, which remained 4s 6d. '.Formerly, however, the charge for the. second fortnight •was 4a. It was now proposed to' make -the charge for the second fortnight 3s Cd, and for the third and' succeeding fortnights 3s. . . , Mr. C. H. Chapman, M.P., ret erred to the generous manner in which the board had treated importers'and exporters and shipping people generally, aud quoted figures in regard to importers and exporters and other users of the port since 1925, asserting that these cumulative concestions and advantages must today total ; e30,000 per annum. Producing similar figures in regard to the. shipowners, Mr. Chapman said that for four selected years the advantages -thus .granted this particular body totalled £50,209, but this was only half of the cumulative benefits. Was it not possible that too much in advantages had been given the users of the port eind the shipowners? One should consider, in t view of this, whether the staff had been treated as generously as possible. The salaries of the staff had been reirfuced, and, as far as a large portion of it was concerned, overtime payments had been witheld. The chairman asked Mr. Chapman to irestrict himself to discussion of the byJaw. The bylaw, said Mr. Chapman, proposed to fcive still further concessions, to the Jjsers of the port, and though it was desijnble that" charges should be as low as posfcible, the idea at the back of his mind '[was that the board should bo as fair to the staff. as possible under the circumstances. Mr. Andrew Fletcher did not think that tiny body in New Zealand had treated its staff in such a generous manner as theHarbour Board had done. Mr. Fletcher was also called to order by the chairman, Mr. T. R. Barrer characterised Mr. Chapman's remarks as ex-parle. -Mr. P. Fraser, M.P., said he did not 3ike to oppose this concession, as it was the duty of the Harbour Board, as it had done in the past, to assist the export trades, but he was surprised at Mr. Barrer's statement. Mr. Chapman had merely expressed the opinion that when s»ny proposals for reduction were made the (interests' of all concerned should be pttidied. The chairman said that the, bylaw concerned a managerial charge. For some part of the year.the cool stores were not .in use, and it was merely a question" of bringing them into use, if possible, all the year round. Often goods were brought in and taken away again after very short periods. The board had not seen its way io make any reduction in cool storage ex *hip for the period of. a fortnight, but if it c:ould be of some convenience to.the community for storing shipments for longer periods the board would do so, otherwise afc meant losa of possible business; when somebody would have to suffer. It was in no sense a rearrangement of_ the board's finances, but it might mean bigger, instead of smaller, returns. The motion repealing the existing cool , fcstore charges for checee was carried.