THE NAPIER HARBOR BOARD.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10625, 2 June 1897, Page 4

THE NAPIER HARBOR BOARD.

Blß.— Sonißtbloß like 12 months bliC3 thn Bjard acoepted & tender tor construction ttt something over £80,000, and It then oansldered there wss uulUjluiic c«n la hand to justify the expenditure. Lotting contracts haa bud a pccuii .r Mtraottoa to tae Bjatd although tha prcotlea was flavetely condensed by nil iho eDßlaoßrlag talent thoy have employed— Mcbsib Bsott, Ball, Maxwell and. C.irr nil condemned It, bud our Bonrd thomjht thoy kaew better and the taxpayers' money huD been lavishly dlselputMi lv oppMliiou to expert advice. We lire tww told tl;e money iii nearly gon". There la a diaOtepanoy ot abtmt £30,P00 between tlio •tatement odb year btuce and now, Tho Boaid 1)B3 taken v cuurne V7hlch to bound to be disastrous In thu latib dgpree. Only fancy, If you esn, aecotatnry, who la addltloa to the other urceanaty work Of tha effioe, havlun to make np some 3000 separate rats doroiindfl and o:iliec6 tho tfttea from oaßb, a, dnty which the Board nays hns not in the past bu-.n no eEolently done as it cuuld with, and now this officer, who is uJmlttocly overworked, Uto be also Bnglueev. He la to he tally employed lv bU effijo all day, Sad he is eloo to carry oat the very Important work of engineer. If tho Board thlnka for one moment that the pnbllo of Hawke's Bay will allow the harbor to be neglected in tho way proposed it Is very maoh mistaken. Looking ' at the penonoel of the Board one cannot understand the sngßeation. Is there one Of tho members who support each an erratlo proposal who would deal with his Ovn bnslneßß npon similar lines'? The Board should Barely mr.ke it dear where the money haa gone. If it had a Biffiolent earn twelve months einoe to jaatlfy the acceptance of MrSaandors'e aantraot, how is To that co little remains ? Taxation Is K s h enonfih in all oonßolenoe, and the taxpayers will Insist npon knowlog n, little more of where tho money ro«T, and how It is that the Board, while l piling on the taxation, throws np the k /apouße and leaves the district with a r heavy load of debt and a very ngly re. minder of blandoring end rauddllcg. Undoubtedly very muoh of the loss oonld nob have been foreaeeu, bat them still remains the responsibility of tlie Board for many thousands tb&tj have been maddled away. Lit as have onr harbor dealt with in a outness way. There ap paars to^ be. tnnch more neoeiaity for a sadloal Oaange in the Board than there does for an amalgamation of offioes which oin only lead to the greatest confuolon ahd Ifm. At the last meeting nf the Board, sooordlng to reports, very important papers in reference to the fioanoi&l posl> tion were dealt with, papora which the members of the Board had not Been r.nd whioh the Chairman stated had only jaot ceaohed his handß, There wore thoneauda involved, and I will say that neither the Chairman, members of the Bjnrd, or 4axpaT3rs ere aware what the position of <the Board 1b within a good many ■thousands, and now when its affairs ore in such a financial maddle the only way that suggests Itself to tho Board is to pad the office into each a condition that extrloation from tho muddlo at present existing will bo well nigh impossible.— I Am, &c, Napier, Jane Ist, 1897,