THE MARINE BOARD BILL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 231, 16 September 1862, Page 6

THE MARINE BOARD BILL.

In they Witness i of /Marchf Sth,/ja^p^red /an ■y; article; strongly adytfcatihg the/ fbhpatibnr of a Harbor Trust for/the /JPort //t)f T/Duhedin, and / piointihg out the -tT^t accrued; elsewhere, where similar- trusts* -Had fbeenJ es/tahlishMH instance of the'P^ (the Clyde)/which^ at one? time,/would; not /admit of the passage of Vessels mpre than :six/ieet dxmghiyM wateij His byy artificial means, been: deepened until it is/how capable of receiving ships of the very heaviest tonnage. /: We showed how the Clyde Trust had not only deepened the river, 5 but had alsq by the; deposit^ on/the /banlj;s, ; of the' materials dredged from/the bed;of;the stream,/recbvered a considerable extent of land from the water, thus deepetung and nan-owing / the oriver, and gaining a valuable estate; oa its banks by virtually the same operation:: •;■ We pointed but likewise, that to effect allythis they had not found it necessary; to impose oppressive dues upon shipping/ but/ that ~ they had raised money by way of loan^ for which their revenues, and the estate ''recovered from the river, afforded most ample security. We showed further, how beneficial had been the effect upon the trade aud general prosperity of Glasgow, and we urged upon the Chamber of Commerce and the influential merchants of Dunedin the advisability: of taking example by the success of Glasgow, and bestirring themselves to get a Harbor Trust established for this Port. In doing so, we indicated how,- to compare small things with great, the cases of Glasgbw T and //Dunedin were; precisely j parallel—how in each case it had heen found necessary in the first instance to establish a Port some miles nearer the sea than the cityhow in the case of the Port of Dunedin, the facilities for finding profitable employment for the stuff to be dredged from the harbor, were at least equal to those in any other harbor in the -world—and we ventured to express a hope that if the subject were taken up in an earnest and practical spirit, it would be found that there were but few difficulties in the way. The appeal we then made seemed to to have at the time no practical effect; but we are pleased to find thafc the subject has not been altogether^ neglected, and that, in the present Session of the General Assembly, a Bill has been introduced for the establishment of Marine Boards, which will in some respects be able to discharge the functions' that we proposed to delegate to a Harbor Trust The Bill, which there is every reason to believe will become law. provides for the establishment of a Chief Marine Board, whicli will bave the control of the Lighthouses, and Pilots for the whole of New Zealand, while, in the several Ports, there will be Local Marine Boards, which will, in some respects, be invested with similar powers to those exercised by the Clyde Trustees and other bodies of the same class. It is with these Local Boards that we we have now to deal ■ ■■ «• '" On glancing over the hill, we find that the Local Marine Boards will have the control of buoys and beacons in their several harbors, will he empowered to license boatmen, tugs, tanks, and ballast-boats, and to regulate the ballasting of ships. They will also have a certain power over wharves and jetties, and will have control over the Harbor Masters. There can be no doubt that these are very important powers, and that if they be wisely exercised they may be made to work in a very effective manner for the benefit of the harbor and for the prosperity of the city. But it appears to us that they hardly go far enough. In the scheme of harbor improvement, which we sketched out in the article above referred to, it was made an important feature that the Harbor Trustees should be endowed with at least a portion of the land between high and low water mark within the harbor. The object of the endowment would be to enable the Trust to at once raise a sum ot money to begin operations, and also to afford them the opportunity of employing the materials raised from the channelsin a profitable manner by reclaiming lands which they could lease in such a way as to bring them in a considerable revenue. We looked npon this as an important part of the plan, being well aware that to begin operations on an effective scale a considerable outlay must necessarily be incurred. A steam dredging machine for instance would cost some seven or eight thousand pounds, and other expenses would have to he incurred in getting it to work ; and, unless the Board or Trust has some property that it cau hypothecate, it is difficult to see where it is to obtain the means of making an effectual start iri what for a long time at least must be the most important of its duties. We say the most important, iand, we say it advisedly, for it is impossible to blind oneself to the fact that unless active and effectual means are at once taken to deepen the channels, ■ the commerce of Dunedin must suffer very seriously. It is a well established fact that the harbor has a natural tendency to silt up, and even lately the existence of that tendency has been made painfully apparent by the formation of a sand bank in the very month of the harbor. We hold, therefore, that it is of the utmost importance that the body entru&ted with the management of the Harbor, should be able at the outset to raise sufficient funds to begin dredging. We have, however, in the present case to deal with things as they are, or rather as they are likely "to he,'/and not as we would have' them, and it seems by no means probable that any endowment wiU be provided for by the act. Indeed, from the way in which the house treated the bill in committee, running through all the clauses' in & few, minutes, it seems highly improbable that anything will be done in the way of alteration or improvement before finally passing it. We have, therefore, to look for some other means of obtaining the property, or the funds, required. The whole of theland befwem high' arid low watermarks^ is vested in the Crown, hut if we'arfe not ;mfs-j- ; informed that opposites the/town bCDuh^din, and below high water markkas held by the ; Superintendent of the Province ia trust for the improvement of the harbor. * An attempt was made on a former occasion to enable the Superintendent toleasethese lan(lsorto por-/ . row money on them, but the OrSiharicfcwas; ; disallowed by the General-Government; it is, however, not improble) that /there may ibfrmeans of converting these^ lands to use, -ibr it- > could never be/ intended /that/they should be kept always idle and* unoccupiedj;,which-must. be the case if they can be -neither let/ 5 sold, nor mortgaged: It may we sayi.be found.pos-;: sibletoeome/tb/some/arrafi^me^t/between '' the local ManSey^oard^J^ Provincial Go-"" vernment,/aThS^|he|jGTeheral by which the same ultimate result to the public ' interest/rhay"^ Board had theT ownership of a portion of the!; I land in question;, The/Prpvinci^iGos^»men^ ** for instance; mights!a;dvance-Uhefiftind ibr the J purchase of th# dredge* orj^redgi^ ) and might' enteif^into ah/agreement/ with; t^e ' ;Manite?Btf&3Jj^^ |, on "such placed las tli^^hiightla^bintl/uUl^j that we contend for/lsStheprinciple^hat the ;' work of flr^ging-^ebnauctfettift Ml^li wapt ias, while-iiitbertiighest?ddgr^e 3"cbiicliioii^ ter' I the improvementiof the^harbbf, *Bhall/at;the-; / same^time^ddHthe iitosMpr^ \ W^baveil^i^loM^^^ffl^^|#K^ ? deepeai»tg.T/ok^ke~cl^nfils^iK^^ lliave/ ' scarcely left <m^ other faxictMaMi^^

boats, Stc:, the / control^of Harbor Masters^ thej maintehanc^f/,huby^and: beacons,^ and «e:Buperyisicttpf quays and wharves. These, ; aUampbrtaht, ?ara matters 9*:°=t£ul»andidoriofcrequipeaiiy-special potice •at "^present tihie^ « We 'Mj safely deffer any remark upon-thffiuhtif theilMt^ie ■ C(Me : mi&lfoteArkx''x^