THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE HARBOUR BOARD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4870, 26 September 1877, Page 5

THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE HARBOUR BOARD.

PROFOSAL TO VEST TIIE BOARD IN THK COUNCIL.

At yesterday's meeting of the City Coun--cil the question of amalgamating the Otago Harbour Board with the Council was discussed. All the Councillors were present, •and it wa3 resolved that the two bodies • should be amalgamated. . The following telegram was received from Mr W. J. M. Larnach, M.H.B. :—" Have not yet received copies of Consolidation and •other Acts. Have had others printed here -to go en with. Am bringing in Bill to vest Harbour Board in Corporation. Think I -am sure to carry it. Do you and Councillors -approve?" . Mr ; Fish begged to move—"That this 'Council heartily approves of the action taken by Mr Larnach in regard tothe harbour." 'There could be no doubt, he thought, that if the management of the harbour were vested in the Corporation it would be carried out in quite as efficient a manner as 'by .any outside Board, and considerably •cheaper than it was at present. After the dredging operations and channeling were • completed, there would be nothing but of a purely administrative character for the Harbour Board. The Daily Times recently had -a-leader on the subject, in which it was -stated that the" members of the City Council had tco much to do already. Now, two -of the Councillors were now members of the. Harbour Board, and he believed that - they did their duty to both bodies. From '.-his experience of the working of the Har. <l>our ;Board, it did not require the individual and collective wisdom of ten men to carry out the work allotted. to the Board. •Of course, engineers and draughtsmen were but tho general work of supervision could bo done by the Corporation. There -wonld-also be the cost of clerical work, accountant's work, and collecting the dues, »but the whole could be carried out at one-

fourth of the present expenditure of the .'Harbour Board, and he could not see why ggarthe: Corporation of Dunedin should net be -able to overtake the work. He knew ifc was the fashion of some men to say of the Council—"Oh ! look what a lot oi men they have -there!'' The best answer to this silly sneer was by reference to the beneficial works the Council had carried out," "and which would -cqnipare f.wourably with what the Harbour Board had done up to the present time This was a complete answer to the sneer.' Taking the argument upon another ground, "the additional .work being thrown on the might induce "those men who pretended to be the Superior class of .men to- - come forward as Councillors, then the citizens of Dnnedin would have the benefit of their -additional wisdom as well as the Harbour. He'certainly thought it was better that the • Corporation of Dunedin should have charge j -of ;the Harbour. They would then have no I bother about reserves, and they should have . Mip letters going between ." those two astute" -gentlemeD, the Town Cierk and the Secretary tothe Harbour Board." They should then ybe/'one happy and united family." The -action of Mr Larnach should receive endorsa--tion by this Council. He was aware that " the work was of some magnitude, and would - thipw'a great deal inpre responsibility on the : shoulders of the Mayor. He regarded that as^a yery good thing. The Mayoralty would then be corisideredone of the highest honours that jthe wealthiest of our. citizens could -aspire to. The proposed" amalgamation rwould - considerably increase the Mayor's -duties.-^ Hehad much pleasure in moving rthe motion that this Council endorses the •action of Mr Larnach in proposing the Bill *to vest the Harbour in the City Council pf iDanedin. Mr,GKANT seconded the motion. Notwithstanding "the opprobrium that was thrown upon members of this Council by some o£ the Press/.' he thought it would be " very unwise to pass such an insult on their administration, Showing the blunders of the past." Thay *<could not put tbeir fingers on the blunders; .and. that statement could go for what it was ' worth. . The statement would, apply to the •other, side. If the proposed; amalgamation topkjplace, ihe conflicting interests betwesen the .Council and the Harbour Board, especially with reference to the drainage ques? •tioa, woulcl be definitely settled. tMr Walter would certainly, support the motion. It would be .quite apparent to. - -everyone that if Mr Larnach succeeded in his •efforts the matter of the Wharves and Quays .Reserves, would be* finally settled. Where tthejent? for these Reserves were coming in -merely nominal, the Council had" increased •them to _ a very considerable amount. He thought it was utter nonsense ...to say, that -the management of the Harbour would be too ijnuch for the City Council. Every gentleman ■whoaspired to a seat in this Council looked 'iomard to a great deal of work therein. He - dared siy that, many of the Councillors had made personal sacrifices every year to •carry out the work, which: had been done amongst ,tLem. He took exception; to the former. Harbour Board having signed a large •*:3nfcraet at midnight on the 31st December last. Some members of this Councilhadret signed th eir positions in order to show that they •were prepared to fight for the Council's inter--csts at tho Harbour Board. He was sure that -■this Council would never, have accepted a -contract like the old Harbour Board had •done. He thought that Mr Larnach: had taken a step, in the right direction* Now, he might say that it was reported outside -that this had been done at ;the instigation of "the Council. He was prepared to state -that ". he. did not know' that the suggestion had •emanated from the Council or the Mayor. He (Mr Walter) was prepared to devote the "time he was giving now in the interests of _jthe Harbour and the City. : The conduct of y^ihe Harbour Board business; would not make -any material difference to the Councillors, -and the amalgamation woitld be ihe means •of settling the Wharves and Quays question /.now and for evermore ! ; :--.«. Mr Thomson would support the motion, inasmuch as it settled the '■ Wharves and •<Juays Reserves question. The functions of the.Harbour Board;clashed somewhat with the^wpiks of the Corporation. • The Council -washpt at first. represented at the Board at ■all, and it was only by "alittle stratagem" that members of the Council ever had a seat suppn it., '■

Mr Fish : Hear, hear. Mr Walter: Hear, hear. Mr Thomson thought there was no body thateould take a better interest in the Harbour Board, tlin the City Council. Mr Reeves could not vote upon this question without saying a few words: Much -«ould be said on both sides of the question. It'mighty be said by -those opposed to the Orporatioa having charge of the Harbour that the Corporation already had too much -work. To his mind that assertion was 'erroneous. The greater the responsibility •devolving upon this Council, the better class -of men they would possibly get in the Council. .At all events,it had been very strongly -assumed that the more responsible the position, the better the class of men obtained would be. Comparing the Council with the Harbour Board, the Board waa notarepre tentative lody. y. ■Mr Fish: No, representatives of cliques. ./Mr- Reeves : They are simply nominees. If a councillor did not attend to his duties and give satisfaction he was not returned ■ again.—(Mr Fish : Hear, hear.) Would not the same system be desirable'in regard to the Harbour Board ? Supposing the Board • amalgamated with the Corporation, how -would it affect the Corporation? His own -opinion was that it would not throw any Tnore individual work upon the Corporation than at the present time.^ If it was necessary, to increase the members of the Councii liothing could be easier. They could have •six wards for the city. They now had 12 members. They could have IS members of theCouneil, and the six additional members would give the Council sufficient strength to -carry out the work of the two bodies. The Harbour Board and the Corporation had. clashed already. The mercantile community ■had been put-to much inconvenience for ■; several months through the Rattray street Wharf not. having been properly looked after. It was :a disgrace net only to the y Corporation but also to the Harbour Board. It had been kicked from the Corporation to the Board so much that it had thoroughly • disgraced both bodies. Now they found that recently the Corporation had expended money on the Rattray street" sewer. The little matters that had occurred; in the past -pointed conclusively to what would be done inthe future. After the Harbour had been fully reclaimed, the question of forming and maintaining the new street lines would have to be decided./., Then there was the recent ■ question of running the tramway down to the Rattray street/Wharf. Many of-these" /difficulties might arise in the future.' In "Wellington he understood there had been ?aome attempt to constitute a Harbour Board cthere, but the Corporation of Wellington

had opposed it, and they were now reclaiming a large portion of land. They had raised a loan for the purpose of reclaiming about 150 acres. Were our Corporation to undertake the Harbour management and find that the work was too severe for the present members, those merchants and gentlemen who now constituted the Harbour Boardmight come forward for election, and the Council would be very glad to say " Here is the Harbour Committee." He believed that it could be just as easily worked as the present Corporation business; Of course, it was more easy to find fault with a Corporation than to give praise. Now Mr Walter had found fault with the Harbour Board of 1576 for having signed a con-, tract on the last midnight of the existence of that body. If the contract was carried out in' its integrity, he questioned vrry much whether Mr Proudfoot would ever make a sixpence oufc of it. This was the best thing the old Harbour Board could possibly have done for the City and the Harbour. The Council should strengthen the hands of Mr Lar.iach in Wellington in getting this measure passed through the Assembly. He thought there was a very strong probability of its passing. He was prepared to say that when they went in thoroughly for the drainage of the city, they positively could not get along without having some differences with the Harbour Board. They were nearly getting to extremes over the outfall of the Frederick street sewer. It was quite impossible that the two bodies could agree on the drainage question. What had been doDe in the past was likely to be repeated in the future. "His present impression was that he should support the motion.

The Mayor said he was one of those who in years gone, by had taken' steps to have the Harbour Board established, because he thought the Government were not looking after the matter properly. He then thought that if we had cur own Harbour Board, the work would be done better than it was by the Government; but he wad sorry to see that conflicting interests had arisen, and he thought that they would continue in the future. If the duties of the Councillors increased, the members could be also. He did not see why the Council should not undertake the Harbour management as well as other important works in the city of Dunedin. He should bs very pleased indeed to see the motion carried.

Mr Fi&h said that in seeking to endorse Mr Larnach's action to transfer the harbour to^the Corporation cf Dunedin, ifc should not raise the question town v. country, because the Harbour Board, as now constituted, was entirely represented by citizens proper, and whatever concerned the interests of the city must be also to the interests of the country. These interests were entirely identical. He thought that Mr Larnach should receive the support of the town and country representatives of the Province in Parliament. He thought that, if they looked into the matter fairly, they would come to the conclusion that the harbour could be properly managed by the Corporation. He estimated that the proposed amalgamation would effect a saving to the merchants and ratepayers of £1500 a year.

The motion was then put, and carried unanimously.

On the suggestion of Mr Reeves, the Mayor consented to telegraph the motion to Mr Lrrnacli.