EDITORIALS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 770, 3 December 1886, Page 22

EDITORIALS.

YThile there is undoubtedly a good deal of force in the Premier’s contention that . the landed! endowments, which in other New Zealand ports were bestowed on the harbours, have in Wellington been diverted to city purposes, this does not cover the whole question. It may at once be admitted that the harbour of Wellington, which is the life and soul of the city’s prosperity, and, indeed, of its very existence, undoubtedly ought to have been inalienably endowed with all the foreshore rights. That this was not done in the first instance is a grave and now irreparable blunder. If the question were merely one of local import; if the Wellington harbour mattered to nobody but the residents on itß shores, it might perhaps be a fair retort to say “ You have bad endowments ; if these have been grasped by the Corporation you must make the best of it now; you cannot eat your cake and have it.” But it should be borne in mind that the Wellington residents form only a small proportion of the large number of persons who are interested in the welfare of the Wellington harbour. Were the Wellington citizens alone interested in the harbour, no question of endowments need arise. The harbour might do well enough for their requirements without extensive endowments. But the question is not a mere local one ; it is a colonial matter, and ought to be treated from a colonial standpoint. It is to the advantage of the whole Colony that the Wellington harbour should be enabled to offer all the conveniences and appliances which its special central position renders necessary that it should possess. However rapidly the other ports may grow—as w© hope they will Wellington must still be the chief port of the Colony, the great centre of distribution. That point has been settled by Nature, and man cannot alter it. ,We do not for one moment expect the Government to defy the , authority of Parliament, but they may reasonably be asked to propose and advocate next session the granting of adequate endowments to this port. In spite of the adverse opinion expressed we adhere to the view w<> have more than once put forth, that the reclaimed land to the southward of the railway station could very well be granted to the Wellington Harbor Board, and that any further land needed by the Kailway Department could be readily obtained by reclamation northward of the station. That would constitute a valuable nucleus to begin with. The real question is whether the Government would support next session a suitable scheme of harbor endowment, and if so, what specific plan the Harbour Board would suggest. The time has come when a definite scheme should be formulated, and a systematic effort made to carry it in Parliament.