The New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1925. WELLINGTON HARBOUR

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12074, 27 February 1925, Page 6

The New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1925. WELLINGTON HARBOUR

Wellington harbour is not an abstraction with a place on the map of New Zealand. It is a very well-equipped harbour, second to none in the Souther/ Hemisphere, under the control of a hoard that knows its business, and possesses both vision and enterprise. This may be called a triumph of local government, or a good example of departmental co-operation, or a proof of the advantage of central supervision in matters technical affecting the public weal. But, whatever it may be called, the Wellington Harbour Board is entitled to the highest public appreciation for its last annual review of its position. Certainly that review is as good an accounting for stewardship as could be wished by the most exacting of critics. The surplus on the year’s work is £47,000 —as a matter of fact, it is £50,000; and the excess of assets over liabilities is £982,000, in an account which under-values the assets considerably, according to. the system adopted from the first. These credits do not mean either'a niggardly management of the ordinary work of the board, or extortionate charges, or a careless erection of structures, or an unwise cheapening off plant- The chairman’s statement emphasised the high rates of pay to the employees, the ffiost liberal treatment of the community which uses the hoard’s facilities, the solidity and endurance of the structures, and the excellence of the plant and machinery. In this presentment there is every reason for the complete satisfaction of the general public. That satisfaction can be increased by the statement that the Aboard proposes to spend £843,000 in new works, which will bring the gross aggregate of its works’ to £2,400,000, and its excess of assets over liabilities to £1,173,000. The hoard owns a fine dredge, which does valuable work, and is about to add to its equipment an up-to-date, powerful tug-hoat, which will satisfy a long-felt requirement. Captain Post’s remark about tbe development in the hoard’s activities which he has seen in an experience of over forty years, is very gratfying to all concerned. If we, look hack further than these forty odd years, we see nothing but a few ship/, mostly small craft, landing people and,, goods on beaches wholly unprovided. '.Looking round the samh we see five miles of berthage, a multitude of stores of great size, with all conveniences required for the mechanical handling of goods and produce, refrigerating plants, cranes, trollies, railway facilities, electric lighting, and an abundant water services. We see, in short, a well-designed, magnificently-equipped harbour system, accommodating and working great steamships of an annual aggregate tonnage running to seven figures, and craft of all kinds, interprovincial, inter-State, and oversea, collecting a revenue of £433,000, declaring a surplus of £47,000, from works aggregating almost a million in excess value of assets over liabilities. We see the process of addition to these works going briskly on, and every evidence of a clear vision of the developments which the future will exact if the port is to retain the supremacy it enjoys at present in all respects.

We hav'e heard with astonishment recent criticisms of the scale of tlio board’s construction, which rend like denunciations of a city of useless palaces. They formed a charge of extravagance, which the chairman demolished at the annual review meet-

ing with the single statement that every shed had been filled at, the cru-

cial moments of the export season, with cargo waiting in convenient shelter for loading. The gratification caused by this early rebuttal is increased by the announcement of a scheme revising the port charges. Without going into the merits of the question of the utmost publicity for this scheme, we can note that the primary object of a harbour board’s activity is not the making of large profits on the business it does. If the profits are inordinate, because the charges that make them are too high, and therefore advantageous to rival ports, and if there is no out. standing work requiring help, the case for revision, immediate and substantial, is imperative. But the charges are lower than at 'other ports of the Dominion, and the servises for which they are levied are greater and more varied. If tbe board chooses to make revision, well and goad. It will he effecting economy itself and giving economic relief to its customers, though they may not really require it. The port, it has to he considered in the review of its situation, is without a dock for the accommodation of large vessels. Such a dock is a necessity. Its cost was prohibitive in the days of small things. These days are over, hut the question remains of the wisdom of adding to the loan burden by huild-' ing now the dock which .the port must one day have. It is agreed generally that the failure of the attempt a few years ago to build a dock was not a misfortune. Moreover, the question is complicated by the development of modern merchant shipping. Auckland and Port Chalmers and Lyttelton have given emphasis to this complication bybuilding docks whicli have been left behind by the shipping developments of the years following their construction. It may he wise for Wellington to wait awhile. But if the port of Wellington is making big profits on its business without being ungenerous to its own people, or extortionate with its clients, why should it not make a reserve fund of its profits, until that reserve fund is large enough to huild a dock of the very beßt up-to-date pattern ? One naturally looks askance at proposals to huild great works out <ft revenue. But if the revenue piles up without hurting anybody, and comes very freely in, the case is altered. Under such circumstances there can be no objection to setting aside surplqs revenue for the construction of a first-, class dock for the accommodation of the shipping attracted to the p'ort by its facilities and compelled to come to it by’ its commanding geographical position. It Is not only that there would he no objection, hut the advantage to the whole community of building a dock without adding to the- burden of debt is too obvious for detailed discussion.