WESTPORT HARBOR BOARD ENQUIRY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 8 October 1913, Page 2

WESTPORT HARBOR BOARD ENQUIRY.

HEMABKABLE EVIDENCE.

: RY TJSLEGRAPH—PKESS 4SSOCI4TwN i » ™ '""'-I WESTPORT, Oct. 6. ' » ivr o ,evidence of Mr James Colvia^ , M.P.. tor ±Suller, was taken before th© ... Commission on Monday. Witness ex* , piamed his connection with the pastoral license on the south side of the river granted to him after it had been refus' ed by . t thft land board to the golf club t Me gave an emphatic denial as to ever having endeavored to use the influence of Government or other officials relative to the lease,, and was equally emphatic - in stating that he had 'not used any in- - huence in getting the Harbor Board re--1 !f rvatlo. n ln th& ar«a held by him re- - duced from 64 to 7£ acres,, but & Mr Greenland had. stated that witness had ; asked him why 30- acres was cut off he- ; was not prepared to contradict him Many things were done by the official I of the Harbor Board which did not com* before the Board. i bvTMr & a,irman r T ead a letter written ; by Mr Wilson m January, 1911 to, the , Commissioner of Crown L^sSting, that a portion of the land was wanted ; for a reserve by-the Harbor BoarcLMr . JVilson stated that he did not think. Sr I C°il m V" ld have **? objection. ; The chairman: There was apparently ' Krd?°°" S tatl°n With the Harbor t \Vitness: Ido not say there was not. He cornel not say whether Eagen pur- . chased his right for himself of Sn^ half of anyone else. He thought Mr bfnJl^ but did not Low ol his own knowledge who the present ?r ci7 va% He had not been cJSTS an y J| S- Slr° rt of money- The membelS asked Sir Joseph Ward if he would fin* KTi** said that if the SSfS W°n d pa? before March 31«t, the dred^ ?uPar^ nt wrfd.-order tbl dredge. Ihe Engineer drew. up the specifications, and the Board approve! of them and ordered the dredge tfirough R^^S Vf y De Partm^t. When the had some defects, and would not lift the size of stones stipulated The chairman: Can you say why the Board then took her over without an? claim against the contractors in respect of any defects m the construction? Witness: The Government inspectors 1™ <Messrs Carruthers and Elliott) passed her on behalf of the Board. She, nad a trial and they passed her. opSionf airman- Did JOU take' a le Sal nf *£ °3 lv *in 1X am not sure- As a result of the,defects, the Board had to mak£ extensive alterations to the pumps Dealing with the matter of the floating- . basin, the witness said he could give nS particulars m regard to the changes inSX'° P°w d Slte- F 6 relied on enre^OO^oTaT^ "*"* of + T,r brL Chairmaii: "^ hat consideration did the^ Board give to the whole question ? Colvm: Mr Suisted (who was chairman) myself and another member of the ?rnm d f me,to, Wellington. The Government had always given security for our loans, and we tried to get the Govf nme"t to lend us the money Joseph Ward said that was not possible, and advised us to see our bankers. £ think we went to every bank manager in the town and took opinion on the matter tl £ te ir ng them a«> >c went to the Bank of New Zealand! The chairman: I mean the amount of consideration the Board gave to the matters for which the loan was to be Mr Colvm: There were to be two dredges, I think. The chairman: You have practically exhausted your £200,000 loan, and you nave, not been able to carry out the works set out m your prospectus to do. Ihe Hoard was entering on an undertaking with an under-estimate Mr Colvin: I did not know that the. Board depended on the engineer to draw xip a correct estimate. The chairman: The Board relied soleyT°rn tne Presentation of its officers Mr Colvin: That is so. The chairman: Only 250 feet of wall n^Wl 2 S n f ? e r tUCted °Ut °f Mr Colvin: That I cannot give you any information upon. The chairman: You said your estimate must have been very considerably out. lou cannot give a reason for it? M ur Co} vin '■ No > I can offer no opinion. Ihe chairman: Do you know of any contingencies arising to make the cost, nigh r Mr Colvin: It was reported that the engineer had used smaller stones and' they had been washed away. The chairman: That was only 80 feet. In answer t» fumfcher questions the witness said he did not think: they consulted the Railway Department in regard to the railway working when they decided on the construction of the floating basin. The chairman: You simply started! the construction of the basin." without making any railway connection to feed! it. It may be open to speculators totake up the land you will want for railways. The Board is in the position of having started a work without having made provision for the necessary land! to work it. Mr Colvin: It is a question of policy. . The chairman: The Board undertake mg a gigantic work without having: adequate plans ? ' In regard to the work on the waterfront on the esplanade, the chairman asked if the witness knew £6234- was, spent on that work. ~ ; Mr Colvin: I saw that in the papers. ' Ihe chairman; Do you know i£ any estimate of the Svork was prepafred'andti'' submitted to the Board before theSr* undertook the work? Mr Colvin: My recollection] is. I thought it was only going to be a very small amount. The chairman: You cannot say if any estimate was prepared ? Mr Colvin: I cannot say. The chairman: It means you undertook that work without "having an estimate and on a resolution of the Board this large sum of Harbor Board money was expended? Mr Colvin: I did not think it would be that amount. The chairman: Do you now think the work was justified from a Harbor Board point of view? Mr Colvin: From the Karamea wharf to the Gridiron the work was justified, but the rest was not. I understood at the time the Harbor Board was to give the gravel and the borough was to do the work. The chairman: For four years thafr esplanade was kept up by the Harbor Board. Can you justify that as a harbor work? Mr Colvin: It was not a harbor work except so far as the wall was concerned. The chairman: At Cape Foulwind you made a pleasure ground. You used the Harbor Bonrd money. Can you justify that as a harbor work? Mr Colvin: I suwose ; t vas put there for the benefit of the. Harbor wovkers. Tiiat is the only thing I know it was done for. Mr.Ferguson: TWp is no direct authority 'in''any of the Harbor'Ac+s giW ''■■ ing you authority to do such work.'

Mr Colvin: I think they had an idea it would bring revenue to the Harbai: Board railway. The chairman: On that work you have spent. £2986, so tnat between these two items an amount bordering on £10,000 has been spent by tlie fcLarbor Board on items strictly not .liar-, por worKs at.alii* , \ The ciiairinan said it had been sworn] to that men had been suspended by trie overseer, and the engineer had sent them, back without enquiry. . Mr Colvin: if it was uone it was doiie without my knowledge, lid did not trouble his head aboui- much of the talk that took place. He did not know anything of the putting iv oi railway sidings oy the Boaru. it was not in his time. Tne chairman: The scale of charges for fares on the Cape -.fe'oulwind. line was not adnered to tor seventeen years, and nobody knew anytning about it. lvir Uoivm: 1 wouki not believe that. As tar as 1 know tne guaras were very decent teilows. The chairman: That may be so, but that evidence was given in open court, anu nooody called Tlie guard t,o contraaict it. in your scaie vi cnarges tnere was a uniturm tare of Is an aiong tne line anu is ou return on two days of tne week. mere was an excurbion ticket issued ot Is return. 'Dae evidence is tiiat tlie guards nad instituted a scale seventeen .years ago of charging oniy nan rares'ior nai-\»ay as tar as xirudsha\v's. Mr Ferguson. A guard who had been there 1/. years saiu it nau been going on all the*, time. Mr Uoivin: jie was there. The chairman:: it a man was going to .bradshaw's the guard cut his whole ticKet I*- v«o ♦.» ne would with a child's ticket, anu cnaiged him sd : whereas the regulations required him" io charge Is. In regard to tne return tickets tor nailway, the guard gave the passenger an excursion ticket lor Is when he snould have charged him 2s. That has been in vogue tor seventeen years, and members i of.the Harbor Board* did not know anything of it. The Board members going ! "out-were never called- upon to: pay and. [ ■they did.: not. know what was beingj "charged. ..'... ; \ Mr- Uoluin i Well,. I am astonished! The: chairman: .vVe were astonished, too, when a system can be carried on in that way and the authorities know nothing *about it. Mr Colvin: Everybody travelling on the line thought it was the scale, bince the passing ot the Act of 1884, £2,194,----000 had been handled by the Board, and the harbor works were not yet complete. Continuing, witness said his own private opinion was that they could have waited a few year's for the floating basin. As a resident of the place, he did not think a deep slipway essential. The chairman: Looking back over it now, do you say the Haruor Board during the time rfc has been in office has done the best with the money at its disposal ? Mr Colvin: I think most members of the Board were always trying to looic after their trust. He believed the majority of them had only the best interests of the Board and the district at heart. Members of the Board may have made mistakes but they were straightforward and honest. The Commission adjourned till to-mor-row. At the afternoon sitting, Mr Colvin was examined regarding the purchase of the dredge Ruby Seddon which had required some alteration, after arrival, because she would not shift stones of the size required. The floating basin also cost more than the estimate. He thought they might have waited a few years for a floating basin. He believed that the j members of the Board worked for the best interests 'of the district. The Commission resumed to-day. WESTPORT, Oct. 7. Mr Wilson, solicitor, Westport, stated that his wife bought Colvin's pastoral lease, which he sold to Egan, paying £800; E. Gillon, manager of the railway workshops at Hillersden, considered the Board's management of the workshops and railway line grossly extravagant Where the railways employed seven men on ballasting and maintenance the Harbor Board employed 18. He had seen 16 men on a pontoon, the men standing in each other's way. Mr Wildie, inspecting officer in the Public Works Department, stated that the Board owed the Consolidated Fund £145,000, on which no interest was apparently paid. There was only £18.0u0 odd in the Treasury towards the repayment.