Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1884. THE HARBOR BILL.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6973, 27 September 1884, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1884. THE HARBOR BILL.

The information supplied by our special correspondent at Wellington, in reference to the Napier Harbor Bill, will be read with great satisfaction by nine-tenths bf \ the Hawke's Bay settlers. Owing to the opposition offered by Mr Kinross, the bill, as our readers are aware, was re-, f erred back to the Local Bills Committee of the. Legislative Council. From that ordeal the proposed measure has emerged ■ with more than triumph, and there appears no reason to suppose that any further difficulty will attend the passage of the bill through the ■ Council. Three classes of evidence [ were, taken. Mr ' Kinross does not believe the measure should pass, and : he attended the committee to marshal in the strongest and most forcible manner all that could be urged against the pro- . posal to provide Hawke's Bay with a harbor. On the other side was Mr Ormond, who, after a most careful and conscientious enquiry into the reasons for and against the design, came to the conclusion that the bill now before the Council embodied the most likely provisions to meet the admitted wants of the district. The evidence that would be given by Mr Kinross and by Mr Ormond 1 may be therefore regarded as the pro and con of the commercial aspect of the quesi tion, and if no other persons had been ' examined by the committee their de- . oision could hardly have been so , definite as it fortunately is. But the ; fact that two experts were also examined must have wonderfully aided 1 the committee in making their report. , Mr Blapkett, one of these witnesses, is chief engineer of the colony, and Mr Bendall, the remaining witness, is surveyor to the Marine Underwriters' Association. Neither of these gentlemen have ~ the slightest purpose to serve by recom- , mending the proposed works, but might, on the contrary, be expected to let official habits of caution lead them in an opposite direction. The committee, it may be assumed, based their conclusions quite as much upon what the professional witnesses deposed to as upon what was advanced by Mr Ormond or by Mr Kinross, and the result is as favorable to the proposed works as the, most enthusiastic advocate^ could desire. The efforts of those whe opposed the bill have. thus resulted in the reverse of what thoy intended, and Mr Kinross and the f ew..whc support him have unwittingly and unwillingly done the district a great service. Hsd the bill passed without; opposition, the cry might h«v© been rdlßed,when'the !

poll of ratepayers tfas taken, that the - design had hot been sufficiently criticised and examined. Tfiis will not be possible now. The committee have taken evidence on all the possible or supposed weak points of Mr Goodall's scheme, and have, in the most precise terms, not only recommended the passage of the bill, but have stated a favorable view of the proposed works that is more than a justification of Mr Ormond's pronounced support of the bill. If reason, and not passion— common sense, and not personal interests—the welfare of the district, and not professional jealousy — decide the future bf~tbe harbor scheme, Hawke's Bay will soon possess proper shipping facilities. "-