HARBOUR IMPROVEMENTS.

Northern Advocate, 28 August 1919, Page 4

HARBOUR IMPROVEMENTS.

(To the Editor.)

Sir. —It is to be hoped that the reopening of this question will do good and clear aiwoy the clouds. It is only the importance of the subject and the fact ol" two incidents occurring , ai that conference of local bodies that impels ime to write this. It has been repeatedly stated that that conference was a most representative one, and it was called to deal wilfti the Harbour Board lEmpowering Bill and the board's policy—those two points only. The 'Empowering Uill is only a harmless, yet necessary, first step towards doing- any improvement to the harbour and has nothing to do with any scheme or by-law. The board's policy I took to mean their 'action in agreeing that they had done nothing for 20 years, and agreeing , that it was time they woke up and then deciding to get an expert to show them what to do; that was what we delegates wern called together to express our approval or otherwise of. We will presume that the Harbour Board did consider \ways and >means, as to wlhether they could do great works out of small revenue, or whether they could put on stiff wharfage and other charges, to get enough cash; anyhow a brilliant, idea came to them and they rose up and witlh .one voice cried out "No, let not us people pay for this thing, Jet prosperity lanci posterity pay for it all." At the conference the chairman and the engineer explained a scheme —Blair Mason's —as a sort of showing , what a marine expert considered was suitable to .make Whangarei into a jolly good seaport for ocean and coastal boats, also to show that it would take a jolly lot of money. There is an anomaly in the framing of the constitution of our local bodies. Tihey all—that is, all of any importance— have borrowing and rating powers, but this power was not given harbour boards", and as a consequence those boards have to get through Parliament an empowering bill to enable them to do big improvements, and this is wrong, as it is an unnecessary expense put on tlhe boards. And , why should people try to block a harbour board getting , that which they approve of in other bodies. Well, it beats une, And who are these people ? Let us see. Of the roomful of people at that conference the only dissenting persons, were Oneralhi,, the Cement Companj', and the Whangarei borough. And why did they dissent? Onerahi said it approved of the bill, but wanted the imoney spent at its oiwn front door. The Cement Co. complained of the harbour by-laws, of which he talked so long and. so strong that he wound up by advising the meeting , not to do any improvement to the harbour, but to wait till trade first, comes. The borough then got up and said: "I am the Mayor of this town and I have sent a written protest to Wellington against this Empowering bill." He did not explain why, but he remarked that he objected to the manner in which the Harbour Board at one of its meetings had discussed Blair (Mason's report—tfliat one member wanted to discuss each clause whilst another member wanted to take all classes at once.

The motion before the meetingwas: "That this meeting approves of the Empowering Bill," and while somtf speakers wandered on to other ground, still the Mayor of t/his town might have set a better example by sticking to. the motion.

Mr Jackson said he was a imember of the Borough! Council and that ihe had previously supported the Mayor in objecting to the bill, but he had since found out that he had been misled or imisinformed, and now that he saw the correct state of affairs he wanted to help the board and the bill; and iMr Jackson was applauded for so acting. Several present wanted to discuss the scheme, but at 3 o'clock, when the motion was passed, they .all commenced to walk out. I would like to have listened to a discussion on the scheme, and the chairman and other members of the board said that they were quite willing , and also be pleased to hear opinions from delegates, but no one brought up tho question and so the meeting gradually dispersed. It is really premature to seriously discuss the schemei, as if the few succeed in blocking- /the empowering bill then there can be no Blair (Mason scheme nor any other scheme to discuss, nor any improvement done to tfhe harbour.

Many years ago some people wanted to dredge the river up to the town wharf, but a coterie in Whangarei did not want that, and so they got a strong - wire and they pulled and pull ed until they pulled the old railway down the harbour and pulled a bridge over the river. Then tfliey gave themselves a banquet, invited others, and sat down, each one saying: "What a good boy am I."

As for objections to this empowering bill, it seems the coal and cement

owners have a grievance against a by-law and are now using their influuenee to spite the board. Now, if the by-law is harsh or wrong , , then let such be altered or remedied. If the Borough Council passed a motor by-law diminishing speed or light or something, I do not think all the motorists would act so schoolboylike as to vote against a borough proposal to make concrete streets or erect a public convenience.

Whangarei (has now the opportunity of becoming the centre of the North. Just look at the imap; if Whangarei builds a harbour nvith facilities for big shipping and having internal railway connections, then .merchants' warehouses, bonded stores, etc., would become a reality and not be a dream, and the whole back country would trade there, and Whangarei just would grow.

And the country people? At present they are losing about 10s per head by sending cattle to Auckland freezing works,, and a few £ per ton on sending their butter to Auckland grading stores. If freezing works are built up at Waipuna or Otiria, then trade goes up to Bay of

Islands. But Whangarei is much more suitable for freezing , '.works, and cattle ami sheep and pigs and other produce would come in from Maunyiituroto, Mangakuhm, ami the .North. Look at other places. Take Timaru, which -was a .small town, but they made a harbour against the open sea, built freezing works, unci now Timaru is the town for all South Canterbury. It is up to Whangarei to rise up and squash tihe enemy within its gates. —I aim, etc., IL HAWKINS.