THE HARBOUR PROJECT.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 133, 7 June 1907, Page 4

THE HARBOUR PROJECT.

With a very natural desire to ascertain and present the truth in connection with the proposal to form a Harbour Board for the Wairau, we print in this issue the substance of interviews courteously accorded to a representative of The Express by Messrs R. F. Priddle and W," H. Mapey. Both gentlemen are interested in the welfare of the town and district, and both are associated in an honourable way with the Harbour Board scheme, but it does not appear that they have any sufficient reasons to offer in support of the project as it stands. A great deal is sought to be made of the assumption that no rates will be levied and that no liability is to. be undertaken that cannot be met other than by a direct tax on the owners of land; but the evidence led in support is very unsatisfying. Mr Priddle may, and no doubt is, right in his contention that the transfer of the wharves from the hands of private owners to those of a Board would mean " free trade "on the river. He goes into particulars that are interesting enough, but not convincing. Everything, in his view, turns on the question of a wharf or wharves accessible to all shipowners/.but if that be the case, is it necessary to engage all the elaborate machinery of a Harbour Board? Co-operation is in the air just now; why not, therefore, form a co-operative company to buy one of the wharves, or build one of its "own? Mr Priddle is pertain that it

"would pay, and if it would pay a Harbour Board, it surely ought to prove a profitable speculation to a company. The Board would have to raise the money for the initial cost by way of a loan* and on the showing of the promoters, there is no security for this; whereas a company could raise the funds on debentures. Mr Priddle mentions endowments, and that point is, of course, the crux of the position. Mr Hall-Jones has declared that the' Government will not give an endowment, and though this pronouncement need not be regarded as final, its settlement should be taken as a condition precedent to the formation of a Harbour Board. No efforts should be spared to induce the Government to grant some of the lands in the district for the purpose, but let us confine ourselves to such efforts, .knowing, as Vve ought to know,-that, failing endowments,- no harbour scheme is feasible without rates.