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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 7915, 6 April 1887, Page 4

It does not seem very clear that the Harbour Board have acted fairly or wisely in adopting the resolution proposed by Mr. Lamb at its meeting yesterday for settling its dispute with the Meat Freezing Company. How it may be viewed by the company remains to be seen ; but it seems to us a great oversight that the directors of the company were not consulted regarding the proposal before it was submitted for discussion at the Board. It is all very well for Mr. Lamb to say that he did not be- ; lieve in the Board going to the company and asking, " Will that suit you 1" But it is nevertheless the usual course, when there is a matter in dispute between two parties, that the probable consent of i both of them to any proposed settlement ; should be first ascertained. We had always understood that the object sought | was to discover the grounds on which the subject on which the two bodies were at variance might be satisfactorily disposed of, should bo mutually agreed upon; and, if such was the position of. parties, it seems to us that the Frozen Meat Company have been treated with but scant courtesy by the Board. It may be said , that, in passing such a resolution as that adopted yesterday, the Board have gone back to the company's original suggestion ; but even if this were true, it utterly ignores the IO3S which the obstruction then offered by the Board entailed on the company. That 1033, as Mr. Clark remarked, is now irreparable : and, besides, the injury thus inflicted on an industry which was intended and expected to confer great advantages on the port is such that no adequate compensation for it is now possible. It is not to the credit of the Harbour Board that it should have deliberately ignored this aspect of the case. Public bodies cannot pursue such a course as this without materially prejudicing the interests they represent; aDd it is not at all unlikely that the Board, and the community whose affairs they administer, may yet have occasion to regret the narrow spirit which all through this business has been manifested.