Colonel Trimble on the New Plymouth Harbor.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume IX, Issue 1590, 1 April 1887, Page 2

Colonel Trimble on the New Plymouth Harbor.

Addressing Lis constituents, Colonel Twi»ble yefewed ro the M.arhor question and said (the j^evrs repoi % fcs) :— When the chairman of the board and Mr. Paul were at Inglewood they stated (at least, so it was reported in the Herald) that if a new loan were raised no rate would be required on the old loan for at least three years, and only a small rate then. Now they were told that a full rate would be required in September next! and that even then they would not have enough to pay the interest. That was a serious position. Now, supposing the board could have had the new loan, there was a clause in the Bill that immediately the people voted for the loan a rate was to be levied. They had norr to pay a Is rale, which, he contended, iho way it was levied, was really equal to Is 3d in the £. Then there would have been added to this a 9d rate for the new loan, which would have made to total harbor rates equal to about 2s in the £. That was the position which this district would have been in had the new Loan Bill passed last session. Mr. Samuel, the other day, attended the meeting of the Harbor Board and practically told them that they were bankrupt. Mr. Samuel did not go into figures, but he told the Board plainly that the rate and other sources of income would not be anything like sufficient to pay the interest of the loan, and it would be necessary to convert the loan into 4 per cent debentures. He (Colonel Trimble) said that the loan was already converted (laughter) because the rate and the other resources of the board would only yield about £8000 per annum, which was exactly 4 per cent, and the bondholders had no other security. When the new loan was before Parliament Mr. Samuel stated that the land revenue would yield £5000 per annum. But what said Mr. McKerrow, the SurveyorGeneral ? That gentleman calculated the revenue lasb yeai % at £'1050, and for ihis s year he estimated it would only be about £3000, because the deferred payment lands were falling in. and money from this source would be decreased. Mr. McKerrow also stated that progress in the bush lands must necessarily be slow, and they could not hope for any increase of revenue for some time to come. He wondered whether Mr. Samuel had taken the trouble to look up the annuity figures to find out the real state of the case. Mr. Samuel was a very clever man, and could do it but he had not done so. JN"ow he (Colonel Trimble) would go into the figures, and give them an idea of the exact position of the case. Mr. Samuel said that the addition to the indebtedness would be roughly about £40,000 — that is, supposing the conversion should be at 4 per cent. The land fund, as he had told them Mr. McKerrow calculated it, would not exceed £3000 per annum, aud there is no other revenue. The land fund, as calculated by Mr. McKerrow, will not exceed £'3000 per annum. There is no other revenue. The rate, according to the Herald, would gross only a little over £5000, though after costs of collection &c, this would net much less, but, sa3 r : Land Fund £3000 ; Rate £5000 ; 4 per cent. on. £240,000, £9600; Deficiency to be met by new rate, £1600. Say that the new loan would run for 30 years, the present value of the annuity would be, say, £27,600 ; to meet the additional £40,000 at the end of the 30 years is a present value of £12,300 ; present total loss £30,900. But if we suppose, and it is more probable, that i' 220,000 at least would have to be issued at o per cent., then the account would stand : Interest on £220,000 at 5 per cent, £11,000 ; present land rate, £8000 ;to be met b} r further rate, £3000 ; present value of the premium of £20,000 at a current rate of, say, 5 per cent., £4600 ; value of a 30 year's annuity of £3000 at 5 per cent., £46,100 ; present loss to the ratepayers by conversion at 5 per cent., about i' 50,700. Supposing we do nothing at all, but simply pay our present rate and collect our officially assumed laud revenue — say together £8000 — this will pay on the loan as it is 4 per cent., with the prospect of some addition in future (though not much) by the advance on rating value, minus the probable decrease of land revenue as settlement, goes further from civilisation* The Herald very stupidly talked about repudiation, but what he proposed was not repudiation. It was not repudiation to come to the very terms of a bargain. What were the circumstances of tho case ? The farmers of that district sent petitions to Wolling. ton protesting, in the strongest terms, against this expenditure on the breakwater ; that they could not afford it. In Inglewood, he believed, there were not twelve men in the district at that time that did not sign the petition. JN T ow thej' were compelled to pay the Is rate, because it was law, and they could not be bound to pay more cither in equity or law. A gentleman he had been speaking to that day said : " But if we do not pay the full interest it will affect the credit of the colony." He (Colonel Trimble) would say •. so much the better ; it is the best thing to bring them to their senses. When a man was going on his downward course to Hell the best thing was for an accident to happen that would bring hi in to his senses. The same principle might a PPty to . the harbor loan. It appears it was decided to try and get the pound of flesh out of the settlers, but he said to his fellow-settlers: Do not submit tamely to be mulcted in more than was a legal claim.

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