THE HARBOUR BOARD.

Grey River Argus, 17 March 1910, Page 4

THE HARBOUR BOARD.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, — On ■- reading your leader of, the 9th mst. re. harbor matters, the thought came; into my . head— here is a bbdyialmosife, : j)jist praying for. That being so, there is no good in preaching at them or ■'about'' them. ' As you pointed out. they have sinned grievous jy— sins of omission and sins of conir mission have been piled up until they" are 'stuck hard and fast. It is true the Government, who is the author of their^bcing: and has kept them in loading strings from their -first hour until "flits" present, r. re to blame also. The parsnt has been reckless and extravagant, the example set was bad and the -present thought was wicked. "Money is no object,'' and it is also true that the Harbour Board is very little. ;worse .11 r ; n bt'fcc'r bodies, tbt %' Borough Council .for instance.

-But after making every -allowance ■for a : bad moral-atmosphere, bad example suitl r* wicked parent and guarfliau, can any unbiased critic come to any conclusieir. tliaii that they have act ed -very- badiy.. Tliey. were chargecSf with a groat .^ trust, placed in great power, endowed with great; wealth iji current coiii } and lands w^ith rich forests on top and rich treasures of coal beneath. Now, what do we find alter 1 Iquarter- pf.-a century's administration. -'Their' work's not half accompJjfO'ad. their rich ciulowjiieu'.s undevclop-.' .•d and their financial • "arrangehientr ' _::onfus.jon- worr.o confounded. The ■>oard lias .--.been zn- liberally supplied with vc.ad.v. cash out of tlio yaripuf' loans tbat-thjey dkl. not think it; wortlr. while to collect their Teii'ls or royal'tics. Tboso th :,t brought their cash to the office were relieve^ of it ; those who did not got leayc' to; keep it. The' Jboard was so liigli aiiil mighty that I its tenants were Jrce ; as birds cf thrI air; . from vis! lr. .pf '"rent -collectors o> ' bailiffs!;. V I assbrt that if any privat/: estate ■j.n-.Cljr.isteiidom had been run pri the same lines, ar, the Harbour -Board has rn'n its afiairs the owner would have been bankrupt years ago. I wii[ only give ouq example of grosrs care--lesshess.,. although I might give many. Brunner is the spot.' Twenty-four' years ago no place was more prosper-, ous, more buoyant, ..or mvore hopeful.' To-day no spot in the Dominion more depressed. Will; ar.yoiie say that the Harbour Board-is blameless for thf state, of matters sit Brunner ? I irish: for ;the~/sake of our common; manhood, thst an" excuse could, be foiind ;thaf would clear our Harbpur . Board. The board is the landlord, or trustee .of. the State; and the agent of this^ great 'jJro'u - ( perty. . For twenty years the board 'hay© not received a penny of rents or royalties from tlie mine, nor never asked for one. l Yet, according to the teriiie of tlie Wallsend -lease, ,tb/ Board ought to haA'ebeen : receiving lor the last 20 year's !3d per ton royaltiefc' on 40,000 tons mi'iijinum' -output. -That-' *.cpmes-'. to £1000 per. year for the 20 .years -that the bp'ard- lias let run thrp \ ugh its fingers. . Then there is the profits on the railway, carriage^ the' warfage; and the miners'. ; wages and' return freight for the keep of the mincers. All that lias-been allowed to run or. >to put the matter thus, forty thousand tons per aiinum minimumoutput (from that one mine) . '■; twenty thousand per ..annum for 20 year's>-f bur hundred thousand cash that ought tp have com into the district "from, that oi)e mine. The board's share of this great sum would not have been less :thaii r one-eigKth; of ; £50.000. There can jrot b& twp opinions, ■ the management :pf. the^iHarbour Board lias beeii Jnost disgi'acefuli '' I am .&Trar^ ifhW?. llfe< fbarllv would jj&iy -,this luirjeaclinieiifi,

and' fatter itself that it is, m nowise id- blame. But I assert that the board is .to blame. It has allowed its trust properties to fall into the hands of a coterie-, of fei-eedy sharks that have no talent for business and have neither benentted themselves nor. the district. What has the bora-d ever done, to bring defaulting tenants up with the cash when they were let run into arrears? Or what did it do when their tenants j-un oh without meeting their just- obligations to get possession of its. property? Has it ever tried to get : new tenants? Did it ever try to inform possible investors that in Brunner was a series of mines of the richest coal waiting to be developed ? A. railway running past the pit mouths and a port close by. with an enormous and increasing demand for coal, and a large mining population on the ground only half employed. ■.'■ The board did nothing but watched the output oft coal from the Brunner mines decrease daiiy while the expanse at Greynioiith increased lipiirly . ■Perhaps I .wrong the. board by stating it did nothing, .well ifc did. something— it never ceased. to cry for cash as nine-tenths of the correspondence between Greymouth and Wellington for the. last seven years was for cash like the cry of ; the horseleech. It was and is -give, give. It never asked for more power to deal with defaulting tenants ir 3id anything to increase its income from its great estates. It cried out continually for more loans and squeezed ship-owners Until some skippers would as isoon go to the south pole -as come to Greymouth for a cargo of coal. H will be' hard to convince the board of .to-day of its sins f«nd shortcomings. It will say it js all true you astt\tbut all the fault was with the ofch'er fellows. They . did it, but it happens that almost half of the board of today is the self same material tfcfcjtl > formed the?-old : board , 0f ?! 2.5. y^ars , ago. v Messrs Campbell, and Kettle have had a turn at the grass but. are now b:ick 'in their old harness. The Hon Arthur Robert has been there all the time, and I assert that it is rather mean for these three, or any of them, to tr to" blame the dear departed. Those in the flesh and those gone to glory were all alike, all good spenders and bad j)roviders. It ■hursts me to think of the that will stir the souls of bur previous board when they 1 think of all the lost opportunities they h:we let pass. Over'li million of money has been, let ruii past the district through the negligence of this board. AVhat a nutter would , ba if they just had the £20.000 of royalties due from Wallsend or only a tithe of .the- other j g&ins that ought to have come thejr way.— l am etc., OLD MINER. Greymoiith, 14th March, 11910.