THE SAMSON AND MATAU.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 10, 3 May 1876, Page 2

THE SAMSON AND MATAU.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENIXU MAIL. Sir, —I read the announcement in your last night's issue that the Harbour Board had decided not to allow the Matau alongside the ■wharf, or to give her any cargo unless she moved! 1 think all right-thinking persons will agree with me that this action on the part of the Harbour Board id despotic in the extreme, and most unfair towards the owner of the Matau. I believe in the principle of "first come first seWed," and I think that if the Matau arrivesTßt the wharf first she should be allowed to remain alongside. One member of the 'Board observed that "if we allow the Matau alongside, wc shall shut out a!! the sailing craft;" but why. T ask, should the Matau block out the coasters any more than the Samson. In my humble opinion I think tlie sooner this favouritism is put a stop to the better, not only for the owner of the Matau but for Oamaru in particular, as monopoly means ruination to any place.—l am, &c, Sauce i-'oa Goose and Gander. $ TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENIXfJ MAIL. Sill,—l believe my astonishment at the tyrannical treatment of the s.s. Matau by our Harbour Board is shared by very many others. 1 should have thought that first come first served, or else turn and turn about, would have been the rule. You must acknowledge that the present arrangement is not very encouraging to new-comers. I should like to learn the result of the agitation of some months since as to the Harbour Board being an elective body.—l am, &c, One of the Public. May 3, 1876.

■ t by the Harbour-Master to lay alongside tlie Breakwater ; and. further, that after the captain of the steamer had made fast thereto, the Standing Committee of the Oamaru Harbour Board hastened to meet, and at once gave orders that 110 cargo should be placed 011 board the steamer so long as she remained alongside. Now, Mr.. Editor, in the name of all that is just and right, I would ask what is the cause of this most extraordinary action 011 the part of the Oamaru Harbour Board V Be it understood, Sir, that I have not the slightest interest in either one steamer or.-the other; but it cannot be denied that every steamer trading so this port is entitled to precisely the same facilities 1 in the discharge of her cargo and passengers.-' I am well aware there is only room for one steamer at a time alongside the Breakwater ; but when the berth is vacant, the one that arrive; first ought certainly to have priority of choice. The days of this baseless monopoly are past and gone, and the sooner the Board wakes up to a sense of their true position towards the public the better.—l am, &c. Pr.o Bono Publico.