WESTPORT HARBOR

Hokitika Guardian, 17 October 1932, Page 6

WESTPORT HARBOR

DEFICIENCY ON YEAR’SWORKING. WELLINGTON, October 14. A large deficiency in revenue from the Westport Harbour as a result of the falling off of the bunker coal trade is revealed in the report Of the Marine Department for 1931-32. The deficiency, which amounts to £11,546, is attributed to the IVt that in the past tramp steamers ending at the port for bunker coal were frequently subjected to considerable delay owing to sufficient coal not being available 'when it was needed; and also to the fact that the present rate of exchange is favourable to the purchase of Australian coal. The trade, the report points out, will be difficult to regain. In the years 1924-25 to 1930-31 there was aa annual average surplus of £2849, but during 1931-32 when there was a decline of 176,630 tons in the coal exportedf the harbour fell short of making ends meet despite drastic cuts in expenditure. When the coal output dropped to such an extent that revenue became insufficient to meet the ordinary expenditure of the port, ihe Department was forced to reduce expenditure in every possible dirction. The extension to the breakwaters had to be discontinued, and tlie lnmcet dredge Maui was laid up with consequent heavy reductions in staff, ihr suction dredge Eileen Ward had been kept in commission, hut this h"d meant further borrowing from .the O' n solidated Fund, ns the present l-evcti ue from the porti was inHuflic---.it *o meet working expenses in edition to interest and sinking fund charge.)

As practically the whole of the revenue from Westport Harbour nas dependent upon coal, there was no prospect of improvement in the port’s finances until the depression in the coal industry lifted. An export of at least 40,000 tons of coal per month was necessary to provide sufficient revenue for the maintenance of essential port services, but at present' tlie monthly average did not reach 30,000 tons.