HARBOUR BOARDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14391, 9 June 1910, Page 6

HARBOUR BOARDS.

AMENDED CONSTITUTION. PROPOSALS OF THE NEW BILL. Some of the salient points of the Harbour Boards Amendment Bill, which will be placed before Parliament this session, were explained to a reporter yesterday by the Hon. J. A. Miliar, Minister for Marine, who is in charge of the Bill. It is proposed that boards should vary in size from five members up to 14, according to the volume of. trade of the port. Auckland, being one of the larger ports, will be 1 entitled to 14 members. Two of these will be nominated by the Government, one will be elected by shippers from amongst those on the register of shipping in the port. Payers of dues will also be entitled to a direct representative. The remaining 10 members will be elective, three by the city and the other seven by the. country and suburban districts, according to population and ratable value. The franchise will be on the municipal or county basis, according to where the election is taking place. Smaller boards will be similarly constituted, the proportion of elected and nominated members being roughly the same, though in the case of ports where no ships are registered shipowners will not be directly represented. Several of the recommendations of the Harbour Boards' Conference will be incorporated, besides other clauses which are deemed desirable to deal with matters that have arisen in the course of administration.