NAPIER HARBOR BOARD.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5494, 24 September 1879, Page 3

NAPIER HARBOR BOARD.

Tuesday, September 23. The board met at 2.30 p.m. Present : — The Chairman (Mr John Buchanan), Lieutenant-Colonel Lambert, Messrs Smith, Vuutier, Miller, Kinross, and Robjohns. OOKUESrONDENCE. Tlio following letters were read : — From Mr John Miller, offering to supply the board with some largo stones, at 3s Gel per cubic yard. From the h,arbor-master, enclosing proposal from O; Krogh, the diver, offering to lift the end of the mooring chain

3 above water suitable for, the. pilot .to shackle 'on the mooring buoy for £30. f After ajigoocl deal of discussion, as to the - advisabjlity of. employing the. services of - an English ship to raise the moorings, it I \va3 resolved, on the motion of Colonel I Lambert, seconded by Mr Smith, that the 3 Chairman be requested to issue the necessary instructions for raising the moorings. TENDERS FOB, LEASING RESERVES. The Chairman drew attention to the fact 3 that the timo for receiving tenders for 1 leasing the Whare-o-Maraenui block and ' the lighthouse reserve would expire on ' Tuesday next, and it would be necessary for the board to provide for opening the J 1 tenders. The board had passed a resolution at a previous meeting to the effect 1 that tenders nhovld be opened by the Chairman at a meeting of the boardj unless otherwise directed by the board. Mr Kinross - moved that the chairman be authorised to open and decide upon tho tenders for leasing the reserves. Mr Sainsbury (who was present at the meeting in connection with a matter relating to tho action against the board by Mr Henderson) pointed out that in a matter of leasing land tho transaction should bo raado by tho board. Mr Kinross withdrew his motion, and it was decided that a special meeting of the board be held on Tuesday next for tho purpose of dealing with tho tenders. ACCOUNTS. A number of accounts wero passed for payment. FINANCIAL CONDITION 01-' TIIE HOAItD, Mr Miller said that his attention had boon very pointedly drawn to the financial condition of the board by his having had tho other day to countersign, a cheque' for an amount of over £12000 to go to England for interest on the harbor loan. That caused him to make some inquiry into the income and expenditure of the board, and so far as he could learn it seemed that the board was going to the bad some £3000 annually. At that I rato the balance of the loan would soon run out, and the board would bo virtually in a state of insolvency. He was glad, however, to bo able to say that the board could not repudiate ' — its debts must rbe paid, and the result would be that tho borough and the county would be saddled with those debts. It seemed to hrm, therefore, that the board should make an endeavor to turn to account the valuable reserves of which they were possessed, and with that view he intended moving at the next meeting a resolution for the appointment of a committee to take the matter in hand. He thought, also, that the board should have the means of looking into their financial condition more frequently, and that quarterly balance-sheets should be presented. Mr Vautier said it was all very well to talk of utilising the reserves, but it would cost money to reclaim them, and that meant increasing the debt. The fact was the harbor scheme was bad, and was a continual sourc« of .waste of money. The best thing would be to start a new scheme altogether.

Mr Miller : Yes, at the Kidnappers. (Laughter.) The Chairman w.ould point out that the discussion was irregular, and also premature, being founded on a notice of a motion to be moved at the next meeting. Mr Kinross would like to say a word or two, though the discussion was irregular. He desired to remind the board that about one- fifth of the amount paid for interest on the loan was received back in interest paid by the bank on the board's deposit account. Colonel Lambert would also like to add a word or two to the irregular discussion. He could not but confoss that he was quite bewildered with the mode of expending money that was practised by the board, and he should not be doing his duty to those who had elected him if he did not protest against it. It would doubtless be improper for him to say that he was surprised at" the ignorance of the board at the state of their accounts, but he really was astonished that so little was known by members. It seemed to him that they went on spending without any thought of the result, and that expenses were incurred which the board had afterwards to sanction. Mr Robjohns said the members of the board had been going on in the dark all along. His side had tried all they could to stop the extravagant expenditure, but it had been no use, and so he had left matters drift until they should come to their end. Mr Vautier, he must admit, had assisted him very much in his endeavors. The discussion then terminated. VOTE OF THAXKS. . On the motion of Mr Smith, seconded by Colonel Lambert, a vote of thanks was passed to Mr Weber for his valuable report and financial statement in the matter of the action against the board by Mr Henderson. NOTrCKS OF MOTION. -Mr Miller to move, " That a committee —consisting .of Messrs Vautier, Smith, Williams, and the mover — be appointed to take advice of experts upon and to consider as to the best means to be adopted to further reclaim the Harbor Board reserves and render thorn available for leasing as soon as possible." "That in future quarterly balance - sheets of receipts and expenditure be prepared by the secretary and treasurer and submitted to the board ; the first statement to bo for the quarter ending October 31st next." The board then adjourned.