MEETINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 772, 17 December 1886, Page 10

MEETINGS.

WELLINGTON HARBOR BOARD

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Wellington Harbor Board was held yesterday week. Present:—Messrs Booth in the chair), Dnthie, Petherick, Dransfield, Chew, Brown, and Captain Rose. ACCOUNTS. The Chairman reported that the debit balance at the bank was £2685 7s 4d. Demands for progress payments amounting to £1551 7s Bd, and £864 17s 4d, accounts and wages, were passed for payment. DEED OF AGREEMENT. The Secretary reported that the deod of agreement between the Board and Messrs Seager and Joseph, in which the Board lent them two hopper barges to aid them in raising the s.s. Tui, was executed, and asked permission to affix the Board’s seal to the document. Granted. SUBSCRIPTION LIST. i. The Wharves and Accounts Committee recommended that a subscription list in aid of Frederick Gosley, an old se-vant of the Board, who is now in need, lie on the table for individual subscriptions of the members of the Board. Mr Dransfield objected to this

sort of thing, pointing out that the Board was not a paid body. No action was taken. SHIPMENT OP CATTLE. The Wharves and Accounts Committee recommended that the charge for shipment of large eattle be reduced Is per head, and small cattle to Id per head. After some discussion the matter was referred back to the Committee. BOATING SHED SITE. A letter was received from the Marine Department, stating that the Wellington Rowing Club had applied for leave to erect a boat shed, and forwarded plans. It was decided to postpone consideration of the matter until the negotiations pending between the City Council and Harbor Board had been settled. RECLAMATION QUESTION. The Board went into committee on this question. The Chairman suggested that much time would be saved in dealing with this matter if a small Committee were appointed to meet the Committee of the City Council and confer with them on the subject, with a view of having the mattersatisfactorily settled. In the absence of the Cb airman, he said they could hardly do anything. Alluding to the alterations the Council had made in the Board’s amendments, he said he was sorry to notice that the Council were inclined to go a little back on the attitude they had taken up a few weeks ago. It seemed to him that after the face-line was once settled, the Council should have been satisfied. They could not have their cake and eat it too. He considered that the Board should have absolute control of the harbor. It was a serious matter that the Board should be pushed away from the eastern to the western side at the bottom of Cuba-street, making a difference of 125 feet; beside, the position was the best for the purposes for which they required it. With reference to the question of reclamation of the boatshed sites, it had been pointed out to him that to place the shed on piles would be more expensive than reclamation, but he did not think so. He would sooner see the Board spend the money required to put the shed on piles than allow the reclamation to be carried on. There were also, he said, a number of smaller questions and points that he would not then refer to. He had no doubt that with some further concessions the two bodies would come to an agreement. He would move that a small committee, consisting of Messrs Pearce, Dransfield, Duthie, and himself should be appointed to confer with the committee of the City Council with a view of coming to an amicable settlement of the question between the two bodies. This was seconded by Mr Petherick. The Mayor was not at all in love with the idea of appointing this Committee, pointing out that the Council had endeavored in every way to come to a satisfactory settlement. Referring to the objection made by the Chairman that the Board had _ been shifted from the ea3t to the western side of Cuba-street, he said the Council had not done that with any idea of obstructing the Board’s work. With regard to the boatshed question; the Council had found themselves in a rather peculiar position. The boatshed people had placed themselves at the Council’s mercy when they erected the shed, and the Council had promised to assist them in every way. The Council, he said, were not at all adverse to the Board having a gridiron for boat 3 at the bottom of Cuba-street; and he would assure the Board that the Council had agreed in the most cordial way to the Board’s dredging. He should not oppose the motion, though he thought the matter should be dealt with that afternoon. Mr Duthie said he almost despaired of any settlement being come to, He strongly urged that the basis of negotiations should be upon the retaining-wall ; that the Corporation should understand once and for all that the Board must. have control over the harbor accommodation outside the wall. No satisfactory settlement could be come to on any other basis. He was afraid the two bodies were further away from a settlement than ever, for there were eight points of difference between them ; and he thought a conference was the best way of arriving at a settlement. Captain Rose supported the motion. Mr Petherick believed that the boating people had consulted a gentleman in the Government service with respect to the relative cost of reclaiming and building on piles. He (Mr Petherick) was prepared to undertake to move the Star Club’s shed at very much less than it was estimated at. It was said that the estimate was £IOOO to remove the shed and put it on the new site. Mr Ferguson explained that no definite estimate had yet been given. Mr Dransfield said he was in hopes that the matter would have been advanced a stage further that afternoon. He should act now in the interests of the citizens, and not as “ a Harbor Board man,” or as the representative of any party. Originally he entirely differed from the Harbor Board on one important question, and that was the right of the Board to erect jetties outside the face-line if it pleased. Mr Ferguson had convinced him, however, that it would seriously injure the Queen’s Wharf if the Corporation’s reclamation proposals were carried out, because it would hamper the approaches. But now the Board was proposing to erect jetties outside the face-line, or to reserve the right to do so, and consequently they were going back to the Corporation’s proposals. This was a breach of faith, and he entirely disagreed with it. He would not oppose the motion for a committee, but he thought it right to express the view he took of the matter.

The Chairman said the whole meaning of the proviso referred to by Mr Dransfield was to give the Board power to put the Taranakistreet wharf there. The Board, he believed, never contemplated erecting a series of jetties between the wharf and Cuba-street. Mr Duthie said the clause was general, but he presumed it referred to the other side of Cuba-street. No sane man would ever have dreamed of erecting a jetty between Cuba-street and the Queen’s Wharf. Mr Dransfield was a nautical man, and surely knew that the Board would not put up anything to obstruct the accommodation of the harbor.

The Secretary said the physical configuration of the harbor would make it impossible to erect a jetty between the wharf and Cubastreet.

Mr Dransfield asked why, then, this proviso had been put in as a sort of bng-bear. The Chairman thought the matter would only need explanation. Mr Dransfield thought the Committee, if appointed, should agree amongst themselves.

Mr Duthie said this wrangling had been going on for the last five years between the two bodies, and was a disgrace to tho city. For God’s sake let them get to the end of it. The Mayor assured the Board that there was no desire on the part of the Council to hamper the Board. He expressed surprise at the turn the discussion had taken. In the Council there was a desire to heal up any breach that had existed, bub that afternoon words had been spoken which would not assist in doing that. He accused Mr Duthie of changing his mind, and said he (the speaker) had also changed his, for he was now of opinion that the conference would be advisable.

Mr Duthie deuied that he had changed his mind. The Mayor claimed credit for the matter being settled, but he said at the same time that if he had been here he would have been a bar to the settlement. Certainly he had been a bar to it.

The Mayor said he congratulated the Council on having had the reclamation begun. The Harbor Board and City Council difference was another matter, and what he said was that he might not have agreed to the terms.

Mr Dransfield said Mr Duthie was a Harbor Board man pure and simple—he could see no good in the City Council. The Mayor denied that he had been a bar to the settlement of the matter, and asked where it could be shown that he had exercised any influence in the matter. The Chairman , expressed satisfaction at finding from what the Mayor said that the City Councils attitude was a favorable one. He hoped, however, that it would be conceded that outside |the face-line the Board was to have an absolute control. The motion was carried without dissent. ENDOWMENTS COMMITTER. Mr Duthie moved that the report of the Endowments Committee, presented at a previous meeting, be adopted. Captain Rose seconded the motion. Mr Dransfield thought that the Board should go on fighting the matter. Mr Chew thought that the Board should be satisfied with what they could get. The Mayor was of that opinion also, especially as it was probable that legislation would be effected next session bearing on the matter.

Mr Duthie having replied, the motion was carried. This was all the business.