THE PREMIER PORT

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7038, 28 January 1910, Page 6

THE PREMIER PORT

ITS OTFTLOOE. ■unztrmma OF BOAED BEVTOW THE POSITION. VTfyPATTRS OF THE PAST, A GUIDE FOB THE FUTUEE.

The Wellington Harbour Board yesterday, for about five hours, discussed the general position of the board's affairs, arising out of a review by tho retiring chairman, Mr T. M. Wilford, ILP. The assets of the board wore, the chairman pointed out £1,039,383, and their liabilities £695,910. He suggested there should be a revaluation of the board's roal estate fox the purpose of ascertaining its actual value, seeing that the last valuation was made in 1902. He congratulated the board upon tho upward tendency of the exports, particularly in regard to the wool handled. This was partly accounted for by the fact that Wellington was being recognised as the oentral port, and. possessed greater facilities for shipments than other ports, and ho suggested to the new board tho necessity of giving attention to now worts that would increase the shipping facilities in and around Lambton harbour. At tho present time, as the result or successful dredging, any vessel of the Dreadnought or super-Dreadnought type ! was absolutely safe in this port by day or night. In the future the board would have to consider the question of storage for dairy produce, and office accommodation must also be undertaken. In his opinion, the time had arrived when t&ft amount spent in repairs and maintenance should be charged to working expenses, and not to depreciation. The commitmenta of the board required to be cut down considerably. INCREASED CHAIM3ES. There would be an obligation oh the boaid to borrow no less than £2OO,UW for now works to be constructed TCithm the next two amd a half years. lo find this -extra revenue, increased oharges must be imposed. Realising the conditions appertaining in New Zealand, the board had refrained from borrowing during the last twelve months, and he thought it had bean a wise policy 'that such a course had been adhered to. in regaid to the necessary increases, it must be remembered that importers and exporters on the one hand, and shinowners on the other, contributed practically in equal moieties, and it would be th. 3 duty of the new board to decide on its policy so as to provide the necessary revenue on -an equitable basis between the parties. Tiers was still room in a certain direction for increases. At the same time they must maintain the position of the port as the cheapest distributing centre of the Dominion. The question was.. how ■ was this money to bo raised? That was a matter for thejnew board, but whatever loan was raised, tho money must be raised at par. It seemed to him a question whether the new board should not, immediately upon its election, consider the question of selling debentures over the counter at 4-i per cent. If that wero done, they oould fix the currency for forty years, as by that time their first mortgnge of .£850,000 would, with the aicj of tlie sinkins? fund, be extinguished, and the new debt would then become a first mortgage upon the whole of tho board's aj=sets. Ho thanked members of the board for their consideration. and.though he was retiring from the chairmanship,. ho would still cremain a member of the board, and his services would bo available to assist tha incoming chairman. IN CRITICAL MOOD.

Mr Fletcher offered his congratulations to the secretary for his exhaustive report. Some of the chairman's remarks he agreed with, and some he did not. There was one thin? that struck him, and that was while their expenditure had ' kept up their imports and trade had fallen away during the last twelve months. There was surely something had about that. The vork of the Whakarire was almost the only _ good thing dono during the year. He did not blame the present administration for the muddle in which the hoard found itself, and regarded it more as a legacy from the past. But there Were grave blunders that had to be faced—Petone wharf, King's wharf, Clyde quay wharf, the Boathouse, Miramar, and the Dock. If one mentioned the dock anywhere in Wellington ho had to do so with bated breath. It would land them in a cost of .£300,000. The chairman talked about increasing tho charges. Nature intended Wellington harbour to be absolutely free so far as charges were concerned, yet it was going to be tho dearest harbour 90uth of the Line. There had not been a single work entered into during; the year that had been remunerative in any way. He was sorry to have to say this, but the chairman knew it.

The chairman : I don't know it. Mr Fletcher: Well, mention one. The chairman: Waterloo reclamation. Mr Fletcher: Thaf s the only redeeming feature of the year. Their finances were not nearly so flourishing as the chairman had led them to believe. The constitution of the board was a laughing stock to anyone who knew anything about representative institutions. Tho sinking fund was the one healthy feature of the whole balance-sheet./ He offered hia congratulations to the harbourmaster and his staff fox their excellent work during the year, anfl protested against practically the whole of the board's work being done in committee, which was unfair to the public. Mr C. W. Jones reminded the board that the shipowners could not pass on any extra charges the board might Impose. THE MAYOB PESSIMISTIC. Dt Newman agreeo" entirely with the remarks which had fallen from Mr Fletoher. Tho more he dug into the figures the more he was horrified at the position. The board had indulged in an extravagance of the deepest dye, and they were now saddled with it. It was idle to disguise the fact that when all their works were finished it was going to impose a large taxation on ships, and this meant that they would destroy the life blood of the harbour. What with the Petone wharf, useless cranes, a dock that could never pay its way, and an extravagant expenditure of .£60,000 at Miramar (.£35,000 of which was a sheer waste), it behoved the inoominsr board to be exceedingly cautious. This Harbour Board was. the life blood of Wellington and district, and if more charges were going to be imposed, the result would be that goods which should come here as the natural waterway would be shipped else, where. All this useless expenditure was simply appalling. It was true that it had not to be expended at present, but when expended the board would have to face a large increase in taxation. He was shocked to find a proposed expenditure of from .£14,000 to .£IB,OOO on_ office accommodation. That was simply outrageous'. For .£2OOO or .£3OOO they could get ail they required. • The management of the boaTd bad not been as economical as it should have been. From a business point of view there were too many heads of departments,' and _ what they, should do was to appoint their engineer, who had already conducted another conoern successfuly, general manager—a "boss" who would look into the whole thing. A concern of that kind should be under the control of somebody. He regretted that he had to take up a critical attitude, but he could not admit that the board was in a satisfactory position. The imposition of .£15.000 increased taxation on shipping would mean

that goods noir handled at 'Wellington would be sent to Hawke's Bay, Wanganui and Auckland. "WANT OF GRIP."

Mr C. E. Daniell claimed that there was a want of grip in some sections of the board's affairs. The administrative officers did not have the backing of the board's officers they had a right to expect. If the board was to succeed as a business body they must so conduct their business as to secure the support of their trained officers. _ Mr J. W. McEwen, referrals to tho Petane wharf, said there was nci necessity to get into the doldrums. Mistakes would happen even in. the beet regulated harbour boards. He believed that not only should the revaluation of their assets be thoroughly inquired into, but the whole of their business required reorganisation. When that had been dome, then the question of increased charges could come up for consideration. TOO MUCH COMMITTEE WORK.

Mr F. G. Bolton said he did not think OTmcaent emphasis had been laid on the fact that last year was a record one in. regard to exports, and there was no reason why the imports should not grow as good as ever, lie regretted tho action of the board in tho creation, of a new position, that of "'office engineer for Mr CachemaiJJe, and also the attempt to make members of the board swallow holus bolus a recommendation. of a committee. If they tolerated such a course they might just as well allow two or three men. to run tho whole business. He deplored the Miramax, Petona wharf, and King's wharf, and graving dock expenditure, and urged in future the erection of wider wharves and greater storage accommodation. The policy of forcing ships to uss cranes when they were already provided with the necessary gear was one that ought not to be dealt with in committee. He did not consider that tho Government should have nomiuee representation when the Government had no interest in a board's financial obligations. Far too much work was done in committee, only formal business being taken in open board, which was wrong. HOPEFUL FOB THE FUTURE. Mr J. G. Hariness, reverting to Dr Newman's criticism, said he had always looked upon tho Mayor as a man of Erogressive ideas, • but in this instance e was inclined to be rather too pessimistic, Tho year which had just closed, it must be remembered, was the most disastrous tho board had ever had in its existence. He believed that the business of the port of Wellington was going to develop faster during the next four or five yeaTS than it had developed during the last four years. They would then see an increased revenue. The estimated increase of .£15,000 . in the charges was based upon tho amount that was going over the wharves to-day, amd no allowance was made for a possible increase. He did not think it was wise to proclaim their mistakes from the house-tops. ■ • Mr F. H. FraseT, like other members, congratulated Mr Wiif ord upon the manner in which he had conducted the business of the board during his term of years. Mr Wilford was the best chairman he had ever sat. under. NO NEED FOK GLOOM.

The Hon: T. K. Macdonald regretted the speech of Dr Newman, .with its gloomy pTOgnosticutiotns. He was astonished that on° with a naturally hopeful temperament should hare got, into a stats of indecision and funk respecting the trade.of the city generally. He had heard nothing that day to interfere with the view he had always held about the development of the city of Wellington and its harbour. He believed their little difficulties would be got over in some shape or form by the brain and energy of their engineer. One only had to go abroad to see with what equanimity people elsewhere faced the ospenditure of much larger sums of money on harbour development. Who could foresee «vhat development of out trade would take place with the completion of the Panama Canal ? lie hoped * members would not lie carried away by the gloomy prognostications of one from whom they had a right to expect a greater amount of hope and faith. Mr M. Cohen considered with the American, that "faith and hope don't cut much ice"" when they were, faced with a serious proposition. They must contract their ' horizon, and something must be loft to posterity. The results .had shown that the board had weathered the storm fairlv well, although the expenditure had not decreased in accordance with the falling revenue. Let them have progress and development, but let them look squarely at every .£IOOO they spent. The lessons they had learned should be taken seriousiy to heart. CHAIBMAN IN REPLY.

The chairman, in reply, said most of the criticism they had heard was, unfortunately, just, but there, 'were some points to which ho took exception. Where the board had erred was in a too somnolent acquiescence in official reports, and probably that' complaint could.be cured by greater .attention, to the detailed reports submitted to the board. No member oi the. board was a . practical engineer, and when an officer of the board handed in a report, giving an, estimate of cost of a particular work, that estimate must bo accepted by the board. The ■ criticism was not levelled at tho administration of affairs, but at wrong estimates -which had been made and commitments that had already been incurred. Thus, they should let the lesson of the -past be a guide for the future. Dr Newman had been far too pessimistio in his review of the board's affairs. It could not bo eaid that the board had lost its bead during a time of trouble, for it had not created one new work, but only hurried on commitments already made. Regarding committee work, there'was'a great quantity of work that could not be openly discussed, but tha fact should not be lost si«ht of that there' was' nothing discussed in committee that was not subsequently brought before the open board. It was. however, a question for the board itself, for it only had to alter its by-laws. " I am, first of all, a New Zealander," said Mr Wilford. in conclusion, "and secondly, one of those who believe in the progress of the Empire City. I haven't 'blown' on behalf of the board; I have had every opportunity, but at the same time I say that, with the facilities we give for quick transit and otherwise, we are the cheapest port in the Dominion."