Notes of the Day

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 3830, 13 May 1913, Page 4

Notes of the Day

GROWX GREY IX SERVICE. Not many' public men can boast- of the long and continuous record possessed by Mr J. Town ley, who, lor twenty-fifth time m succession, mas ele ted chairman of the GFhcrno Harbor Board yesterday morning. Seen by a "Gif-borne Times” r- porter yesterday, Mr. Town ley willingly consented to have a chat over the early days of harbor Idstory in fhc district. His first connaction \V:th the Harbor Board, he stated, dated. b:r k to the dawn of harbor 1 matters in tile-district ns far back as 1882. In that year tiro Gisborne BebOugh Council was constituted a Harbor Beard for the district. In 1884. an agitation was start'd for the building of a breakwater, and the Board was reconstituted. An o’o. t-ion took place, and the first Harbor Beard was formed. "Wlmt was the population of Gisborne in those days?” queried tho pressman. "I have not the slightest idea,” replied Mr. Townley ; "there were so few people hero then that, we did not bother to count them.” In 1885, the revenue of the Board amounted to the’ munificent sum of £1049 5s Gd. In 1885, the Board wont in for a loan of £200.000 with which to build a breakwater. A poll was taken, and the pr posal was carried by an■ overwhelming.'majority,: very few. voting against it-.. -Mr.

Town ev wfe elected chairman of tho Board 'in 1890, succeed’ng the late Mr 0 I) Bennett, and it is a striking credit to the trust whicn the pubwt has reposed in him that he has be-n returned regularly to the ,- rr year. Tho veteran gave, interesting reminiscences of the raising of tho loan, and the building of wat • r which commenced m 18»o. ana was completed in 1890, Mr Townfey is in tho unique position of bo n chairman of the Board for 2o years during which the revenue has last vear. Perhaps ono ct the best monuments whi h will stand for all time to Mr. Townlcy’s credit isi the securing of the Tamvhareparao block of 44.000 acres as an endowment f _ the Gisborne Harbor Board. Mr. .A lan Mc-Dona'd was member for jvtr tv Bay at the time, and Mr. Tow nicy being strongly impressed with the idta that tlio Government should b- <-P preached to set aside a harbor endowment for tho district, buttm-boied Mr. McDonald on the wharf at Auckland ono day, and introduced the subject. Mr McDonald was syrnpat-cu , but the difficulty in those days was to find a block to which the Government had a clear title. Mr. Townlev and Mr McDonald did not konw ,an> such block, but fortunately Captain (now Lieut.-Col.) Porter was on-the boat by which Mr. McDonald was coming to Gisborne, and the pair 4\d their difficulties before him. .Captain Porter informed them that the on y block near Gisborne he knew of to which the Government could claim a clear title was the Tauwhareparae block. On Mr. Townley’s retuin to Gisborne, the project was brought up at the Harbor Board, and. of course, approved of. Plans were secured from the Survey Office, and Mr. McDonald successfully put the matter of the endowment through the House, with, the assistance of Colonel TV hit mo re and Mr. Ormond, who at that time we:cinterested in block ad jo in in g iau- • wharcpanic. Sir George Grey, the then Premier, was sympathetic, and helped the endowment proposal through.. At first the Beard Mad the greatest- difficulty in finding tenants for the block. Eventually Mr. E. R. Murphy took up a block, while Messrs White and Brown, representing a Canterbury syndicate (Messrs. Jacks n, Barr, and Co.), also took tip 27,000 acres, and broke in a portion of it. After some years the syndicate fell upon evil times, and had to give up their b’oek, the late Mr. Barker later acquiring it. from the 1 nion Bank. Tli ’ first revenue from the block amounted to the grand sum of £425, and it is a standing testimony to Mr. Town ley’s foresight that to-day the Tauwaupaiae endowment block returns an annual revenue of from £OOOO to £7OOO. When the proposal to buy tiic Maui and further develop the inner harbor w as before the Board it had, of course, no keener supporter than Mr. Townloy. As Mr. Clark tru: lifully remarked when proposing Mr. Tow nicy's i e-deuion yesterday, he dev f ‘s a great- deal of his time to hade- uliVr*, and not iuf/iquentiy is to h s•• •; down i.n do groyne and round : in. v. liarve, as ,-a:ly as (3 o’c'otk in t e- mruvi;nv, m order to east a sup-u vising eye ever the inner harbor. As before stated, his record is one to lie proud of, and -must surely constitute a record for continuous service as chairman of a Harbor Board in the Dominion.

THE COX'-IDEBATIOX OF THE

ESTIMATES. As i-‘i ■ m w Council wiii doubtless be anxious to exjK-ditf tlie striking of the rut - !••). the enr rent year. :t is very lik ’ly. w - >hcu d say. tii tt the estimates ail! b • among the various matte; s f. come up fnr_consideration at t.'*e Boron** i OouiKjf meeting tonight. 1 lie result of any decision on the subject will, of course, he eagerJv awaited in view of the fact that it is certain that seme extra monev will have- to be raised this year by way of additional special rates and’ an' incr< use in the genera] rates may only be averted bv allowing ior a greatiy augmented bank < verdrait by the end of the verr. If there is, however, one matter tliat we should like to stress moiM tiian nnotW in this regard it is that we trust that there will be no “Btar Chamber” business over the estimates on the present occasion. We should say the now Council will recognise, if its predecessor m office did not. that the Councillors are. as it were, trustees for the ratepayers, and tho ratepayers are entitled to know exactly what is proposed to be done wjth the. revenues which they provide. Next we should like to say that we should like to see some practical suggestions made as to how it would fv best to cut down the expenditure in certain dire t: ns. Quite apart from loan expenditure the disbursements which would now seem to he regarded as essential have really reached almost alarming proportions. In 191112. for‘instance, the total expenditure exclusive of loans was, as we pointed out- a few days ago, £20.655; last year, it rose to £51.801! What amount will he considered necessary to meet- the ordinary disbursements will not, of course, be known until after the matt:t has come before the Coun-

cil. but we should not- be surprised if it is set down in view.of the tramways having been brought into operation, etc., at well over £70,000. Where we think money could be saved to the Borough is, for instance, under the heading streets and metal supply. In this connection it will stagger most people fo know a total of £22 924 was rotiuirod to moot expenses under these headings but of the district fund, and a- further £11.416 was tb» amount expended in the same direction out of lean moneys last- year. If day labor were knocked on t.h e head as much as possible so far as this department' were concerned, and in the oaso of road maintenance Gentle .Annie metal bo discarded a considerable saving would be off 'ct-od during the next 12 months. The item "sanitation” which last year ran into £32-86. could also most certainly bo cut down considerably this year if the Council would, for example, do all in their power to see that as many lionsw- on ihe Whatnnpoko as possible shr-ul! be ready to- be o-'nuo’M-od U ]> as soon as the pipes can be fixed across the proposed Waiiuata bridge. It- is not. of course, suggested thot the R- rcitgh should undertake the actual work itself, but- in oilin' centres- contracts in respect of batches of hous-s requiring to bo severed have boon let under the super* v‘s : on of the Borough with good results front the point of vh'v of.expedition ns well ns thorough ness. The f-e't. must not-, also, 1-n forgotten that witn the increase In the number of connectod-up houses the higher the revenue from Ck> water supply mounts up Biuild-’csa other matters in regard to which the exo-encHturo c-ould jbe reduced without- resulting in the i impairment of efficiency will suggest j tb-m the -"City Fathers” who j will, of conrs lmv-e the advantage of i having all the necessary .particulars u ffirtro *•’« •••> s the missing of the now ostia-ates will involve the adoption of certain lines cl policy, the re-‘V.-.Rs •'* *h - -it’s d -]'!>-‘rations on tho point will be awaited with interest.