THE HARBOUR BOARD MOVEMENT.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 133, 7 June 1907, Page 5

THE HARBOUR BOARD MOVEMENT.

A SHIPOWNER'S OPINIONS

HOW IT WOULD CHEAPEN FREIGHTS.

Mr R<- F. Priddle, owner of the steamer Blenheim, who has been actively connected with the river shipping trade since his very boyhood, gave an Express representative an interesting half-hour on the subject of the proposed Harbour Board this morning. He started out with the assumption that the establishment of a Harbour Board would mean the taking over or one, two, or more of the privatelyowned wharves, and the governing of the river shipping in the interests of trade. Under existing circumstances three wharves were being worked by " private " firms, who each offered free storage to shippers as an inducement to secure their freights, -kach wharf employed two or-three men constantly, and these had to be paid, trip or no trip. If the Harbour Board took over the wharves the labour would be concentrated, and instead of eight or nine men being employed, three could do all the work and more. Inat was the first saving. , ■' . Then there would be the elimination, under a Harbour Board, of the existing restrictions on trade. If a flourmiller wished to import wheat direct from Lyttelton, he could not do it except by special permission of the owner of one of the private wharves—unless he unloaded on the bank, no one would think of doing. Granted that he got that permission, he naturally wanted to get a return cargo for the empty bottom. What was the result? He might have a line of bran or chaff "in his eye," but the private wharfowners would not let it go over their properties into a strange vessel, and the result was that the "foreigner" had to run back to Lyttelton or Wellington empty. That meant that the flour-miiler had to pay twice as much per ton for the carriage of the line of wheat as he otherwise would have done. *

Again, said Mr Priddle, there was the outside speculator who came .to the district and assisted to put up the price of barley, chaff, and wool, skins, etc. Did the farmers wish to encourage this competition for their products ? The best way to kill it was to allow the present state of things maritime to continue. The "foreign" speculator found he had to make terms with private wharf-owners before he could get his stuff away, and the restrictions imposed either diverted that produce to Picton, with a double handling and both railage and watercarriage to" pay, or made his speculation a rank failure.

Mr Priddle said he would welcome the advent of the public control of the wharves, with free trade and plenty of competition, because it would, mean a reduction of expenses in his case alone of £600 per annum: He could carry cargo at 10s per ton that now cost consumers and producers alike 15s. "But here's a difficulty. The Harbour Board could best do with only one or at the most two of the existing wharves. What claim at law would the third, if left unpurchased, have to compensation?"—"No claim whatever," said Mr Priddle. The position would be similar to that in Picton Harbour, where the Government would not allow the Freezing. Company to erect wharves of their own. He went on to say that if private people still wished to land cargo at separate wharves, they would be charged wharfage fees just as if they had discharged at the Harbour Wharf.

Mr Priddle admitted that the present freights were altogether too high, but thought he had explained the reason. The Harbour Board would have wharfage fees that were not now charged, th© limit being fixed at 2s per ton. Suppose Is were charged, that would only make the freight lls per ton, as compared with 15s at present. Look at it how you will, he added, the public control of the wharves would mean free trade, and free trade means cheaper freights, and cheaper freights mean more business. Wanganui has a Harbour Board, and the freight from Wellington to that port is only 7s 6d. "But still there is another difficulty. How are you going to Buy the wharves and sheds without power to borrow or the right to strike a rate as security for a loan even had you that .power?"—Mr Priddle answered this by pointing out that if the Harbour Board secured the endowments asked for they would have £10,000 worth of property as security straight away. So that it all comes down to a question of the value of.the endowments the Government might grant. MR MACEY'S VIEWS. Mr Macey, who has for years advocated the formation of a Harbour Board, admitted that, short of controlling the wharfage, the movement would halt ineffectual, so far as cheapening freights is concerned. He doubted very much whether the owners of wharves not taken over by a Harbour Board would not have some claim at law. Steamers at present had to get certain pilotage rights, which ran for a term of, he thought, five years. The river freights were almost twice as high now as they were thirty years ago Cargo from Lyttelton to Wellington only cost 7s 6d per ton.