Optra Will Die As Port If No State Aid-Petition Is Signed In The Bay

Northern Advocate, 14 April 1944, Page 5

Optra Will Die As Port If No State Aid-Petition Is Signed In The Bay

(Special) KAWAKAWA, This Day. rpHE FATE OF THE BAY OF 1 ISLANDS AS A HARBOUR FOR EXPORT OF NORTHLAND PRODUCE IS WRAPPED UP IN A PETITION EMANATING FROM THE BAY HARBOUR BOARD AND TABLED BEFORE THE BAY COUNTY COUNCIL THIS WEEK. This petition, which is addressed to the Minister for Marine, sets out the fall of Opua wharf and harbour installations into the present state of disrepair, with reasons for this decline, and prays the Government 'to make a grant sufficient to put Opua into an adeqate state of repair and that, while overseas shipping is diverted to other ports, the Government make an annual grant equal to the Harbour Board’s annual loss of revenue, so’ that the board can meet its annual loan commitments and maintain its harbour and shipping facilities

After some comment, the county council approved the petition and instructed the chairman to affix his signature to it, as requested in an accompanying letter signed by the secretary of the harbour board (Mr J. Gillett). Moving this instruction, Cr S. W. Smith, M.P., said that railway rolling stock throughout the country was in a deplorable condition and non-use of the Bay of Islands as a port meant unnecessary wear and tear upon it.

“Unless the assistance asked For is given the port of the Bay of Islands will cease to exist as a port for the export overseas of the produce of the Northland peninsula,” wrote the harbour board secretary in his covering letter.

“If this occurs, Auckland will become, as, owing to war conditions, it is now, the port of shipment, and the producers of that part of the Northland peninsula to the north of Ranganui will have to bear the increased cost of shipment. “The matter affects not only the residents and ratepayers of the Bay of Islands Harbour District," continued Mr Gillett. “All that part of the Northland peninsula the produce of which is normally exported from the Bay of Islands is vitally concerned in seeing that the harbour facilities at Opua are maintained in. a state of efficiency. The adverse effect on tfje general prosperity of the whole district served by the port : through the loss of the port facilities need not be stressed.” Origins of the Port The petition points out that the Bay of Islands Harbour District, as created by statute in 1920, comprised the Bay County but has’since included the Kaikohe independent town district. With the ascendancy over timber and kauri gum of the farming industry and with the erection of the Moerewa freezing works, large ocean-going vessels visited the port. The Harbour Board bought from the Railways Department the Opua wharf and has enlarged and extended it. Loans raised for this and other facilities were converted in 1933 into a £-10,000 conversion loan of 25 years bearing 4.1 per cent interest, annual payments for principal and interest being £2619/14/10. Hitherto, revenue from overseas shipping has enabled the board to meet its loan commitment and has left a surplus which was used to enlarge the wharf and extend shipping facilities. Loss of such revenue since the diversion of overseas shipping in 1941 has amounted to date to approximately £12,000. Ratepayers’ Unequal Burden To meet its loan commitment, the board has had to levy a rate of a penny in the £ on all rateable land in its district. Because a large proportion of rateable lands are owned by Maoris and therefore non-rate-produc-ing, an inequitable burden has been placed on the shoulders of European ratepayers. The rate levied, about £2500 a year, is insufficient to make up the loss in revenue. The* only Government action to compensate for this loss of revenue was a grant of £1344 made during the financial year 1942-43, but this did not enable the board to maintain its facilities and meet commitments. The petition quotes a letter from the Secretary to the Treasury describing the condition cf the Opua wharf and estimating cost of repairs. The estimated cost of such work is given as £B3OO, with 540 ft of the wharf requiring work done. “With the exception of the most re-cently-constructed portion of the wharf, towards the shore end, the whole structure is in a bad state of decay.” states the letter. “An inspection showed that 68 new turpentine piles are required and it is possible that an underwater inspection would reveal that this number should be increased.’' The letter further urges inspection by a diver before any work is done. It is suggested that it would appear preferable to replace the badlydecayed part of the wharf in concrete. Impose Still Heavier Rate The petition goes on to point out to the Minister that as current commitments and expenses can be met only by a penny in the pound levy on the unimproved value of all rateable European lands in the harbour district., repairs to the Opua wharf and to other harbour installations “now going fast into disrepair,” could be effected only by raising a further loan, the annual charges of interest could be met only by imposing a still heavier rate. “The existing rate is inequitable and any increase in it would place an insufferable burden on (he ratepayers,” it is stated.

Deterioration of the harbour facilities will continue until overseas shipping is unable to use the port, unless a much more generous Government assistance is forthcoming. Pest Saves Huge Costs

Pleading for the port's essentiality, the petition stresses that Moerewa has the only freezing works north of Auckland and that Opua is the natural and only export outlet for all stock killed at (ho works, which provide killing and freezing facilities for the area north of Ranganui just south of Maungataoere. A scale of ordinary tariff charges is produced from the Auckland Farmers’ Freezing Cc., Ltd., to shew that there was no less than a £20.000, saving in llie year ended June 30; 1943. on charges as between f.o.b. Auckland and f.c.b. Opua on exportable meat killed at Moerewa. \ These figures are carefully tabulated end itemised in the petition. The total cost ox Auckland is given ns £25.144/18/10. whereas that ex Opua is given as £5155/10/7.

A warning is further sounded that this excess cost: is at present being borne by the Imperial shipping companies, but that when this system is removed the excess cost will become a direct charge on the ratepayers.