GATES ON QUEEN STREET WHARF

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8482, 5 February 1891, Page 3

GATES ON QUEEN STREET WHARF

TO THE EDITOR. Messrs. Crowther, Stone, and Dignau deserve the thanks of the community. Oar: ■Queen-street Wharf has been a source o£ health and pleasure to •■ our citizens, and many of us are impressed -with the belief'that the above gates are not intended for the pur-' pose of saving life,' but to give the Board : power at their pleasure to prevent union men 'or any other men from going down our own. ' wharf during a strike or at any other time. The proposal to make the entrance 20 feet oc even 30 feet wide is monstrous, and calculated to block the traffic and endanger life and limb, but no one, not even the members themselves, can believe it is intended to save; life. If so, why are there so few life buoys on our wharves? Why have no chains been erected, or other precaution taken in ail these years for protection at night Our; people here during the late strikes proved' that they are peaceable and orderly, and the erection of gates to shut us out at the pleasure of the Board is not only a wasteful and unnecessary expense, but is calculated ta create bad feeling and to brum about in times, of excitement the very trouble the Board professes to dread. Is it right that ratepayer's money should be expended in the interests ofthe shipmasters or any other private associa* tion ?—I am, &c, Ratepayer. Auckland, 4th February, 1891.