HARBOUR BOARD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10398, 28 June 1895, Page 4

HARBOUR BOARD.

An ordinary meeting of the Otago Harbour Board, held yesterdays was attended by Messrs H. Gourley (chairman), J. Robin, E. G. Allen, W. Wright, J. T. Bffaekerras, M. Joel, J. Curroll, W. Murray, N. ¥'" A. Wales, and Captain Jloir. .... . FINANCIAL. . The bank book,/which was laid on the table, showed a credit'balance; of £2926 5s Bd. . . CORRESPONDENCE. Mr T. Arthur, district 'traffic manager, wrote to the secretary of the board as follows :— My attention has been' directed to the report as' published in the Otago Daily Times of the 14th inst., of the ordinary meeting of your board held on ihe previous day, in which it is stated tlv.it Mr ! Button, chairman of a special committee appointed by the Lauiiceston Chamber of Commerce, had ! written • asking for information regarding the ' advantages that might hi expected to accrue to the port of Launcsston by connecting the railway i system with the wharves direct, and in reply to which you stated, "At Dunedin there is only one short connection, anxl that used for coal only or mainly. .No -doubt.' more advantage would be takeu by exporters of grain arid other produce of this connection were'it riot that the terminal and other charges are so heavy that in practice it is found cheaper to receive at the maiu station and cart to ship:" I wish to point out that i.his statement is not iv accordance with-fact, as you must be aware that goods to the tongue wharf for shipment are charged tha same rate »s if consfgned to Dunedin proper. I shall therefore be glad if you will take an early opportunity of correcting the information given to Mr Button. ' The Secretary explained: tljafc if grain came in consigned to any rtote a' chfcrße of Is 8d was mader-that wss Is' 6d for- cartage, and a terminal charge of "2d. If taken to Jetty street tfaere was no cartage to do,"Bub the same terminal charge was made. The words "other charges" would have, been better expressed " inconveniences "—viz:, ; uncertainly of arraugemenfcs being earned oufci The matter, was referred .to the Finance , Committee. .'''■■-.■• BEPORTB, ' . •.■ The Works Committee reported having authfirised.th.e expenditure of £6 iv road metal to complete ths connection of Frederick street, between t\ie railway reserve and Morgan's baths.—Adopted. ' -.."■ ' The Finance Comooitt-e reported that Messrs Mackerrss and Allen baingthe only members present at the meeting of the committee there was no quorum. They, however, examined the Recounts amouoting to £651 Is 6d, aDd initialled the same ; .;for /passing.. The secretary was authorised to press for the settlement of several ontttanding accodnts.- Re the 5 per ceat. coasol bonds rejieasad by' drawing for June 30 as advised by cable" from London, it was recom- ■ mended that the released bonds under the conversion scheme be sent out through the Baok of New Zealand here for local sale, and that tenders be'called for the' flame as may be arranged with '■ the bank;-v-lhe report was adopted. ■/ ,•■• v

The Harbourmaster reported that an easterly swell, accompanied by..; stormy unsettled weather, had prevented accurate soundings' biing obtained in. the entrance to the harbour' ' since May 29. . The three best lines of soundings in the west charihal gave 20ft, 20it;'and 17«t. Soundings talren in the "Victoria channel .on June ,25 gave , 12|ft at low water ; The ship'pjng returiis:fpr;-6»ay showed that U vessels (39,676 tons), had arrived, and 45 vessels (37,926 ton's) had <sep»rted from this poi-6. ■ . . ' DUES ON HOME STEAMERS. ' The Town',,Clerk of Port Chalmers wrote I statiafr that at a raeeiiinjg'of his council, held on the 17th-in>t;, a resblulion was unanimously adopted reqaesSing the local membark of tha HarbDur, Board to support Captain Moir's motion re "dues ;On ;Home gteamevs arriving at the port, and strenuously recommending the matter to the hoard, neing confident that it would be a;s£tjp in the right direction. ■■• Mr E. A, .Gpdfred, president of the Workman's Keading Rooiii, Port Chalmers, wrote' fctating tha;t at a meeting or the members of that room: the. following resolution.- was passed :--".That-fn view of the loss experienced by all classes in the .qommuoity owing tothe steady decreass in the^riumber of large vessels .visiting th<s. port;, this .meeting respectfully ■urges the board to adopt some means of encouraging this class: of vessels to visit this port."- :.-. .••'■ .«. '.; ■/, ..,!... ... ■-■■■..- Captain 'MoirJs. motion;-was as follows — ''Thatit is desirable that .the dues on Home Bteam«rs. h± ch&vgeßb!e un Ithe toniwge of cargo landed and shipped, instead of on the registered tonnage as at present, charged," The following reason was appended :—" It. is well koown that steamers makins • Wellington . and Lyltelton' their first port of..call, aud having a portion of their cargo for .Otago, 7 .tranship their cargo instead of coming here, as otherwise they would do if they w?re charged on only cargo tonnage." Capin in Moiß' said he thought it wonld be advisable to,' refer'; the motioa to a select committee in order to give him an opportunity of getting information with reference to the.matter to-lay before'tbe board.' • As an illustration of how the matter worked out, he mentioned that up io the 'present tim'a. the' Rangatira haddischarged and ; taken jc; 2902. tons on her present trip, and she was still/ woilnug and taking in cargo.' Her re?,Jstere'd tonnage was 2641, upon which the board charged ; bub if they charged under his proposal they would get the benefit of 261 tons rbote;-,; ': '■•'.' J

Mr. Alpen seconded 'the'motion. He recognised that they matter was one that required some consideration bsfore the board could deal with it. It would therefore bs well if thu matter were remitted to a,s;'lect committee: He was tot aware that there was any precedent for this, but he thought it was a sound principle to make vessels-pay for the benefit they received.He. did not think. that.',the board's revenue would be greatly affected by the adoption of a system of thekini^ proposed, but such a system would have: %j':-jfaect; of inducing a.large num--ber of; vesselßAtb ( ball I 'b.4re that did-not call at presents J'Tjd.geographical position of theporb was such 'tb#t' roftny rWsgels would make it the first pnrfc of call, and alfp the la»6 port of departure. If vessels coming from Home, having very little. cargtf. on board,-had only to pay pilotage find-.port charges upon that cargo they might be -induced tt> came into this port. Vessels, goiDg Home; might also be induced to fi!l up here instead 6f : . waiting,, as they otteu did, iv pthejy ports for days to -get sufficient cargo to fi)l up.-■ ■• .. ' ,

_ Mr ; Mackbrbas ithouglafc it was a pity that the time ofth'e boardjshould be taken np with this matter ah all jusfc now. Most members of the bou-d admittod^jiatut was a mistake to Tie continuall) tinkering^ith1 {he Harbour Board dues.' Not long ago they had the whole range of their revenues 'vihderconsidftrition, and occupied a'considerable time in discussing the matter. Several; meltings Were held, and ultimately the board came to » decision whereby the dues on goods were m&tarially increased. When that/increase was made- on goods there was no alteration made on the charges of shipping, notwithstanding that the revenue from this department •had considerably fallen off, owing no doubt, to :.the>vj;ry increased facilities afforded stiaimer^tci'ctiiTieHnto port without the aid of pilotß|e; of 'ttfwage-^-at anyrate, without the aid of fcoteaße. In this item alone them was a decrease in 1894, '»k compared with 1884, of £2210 The revenue in 1881- from towage was £4666, while in 1894 it had decreased to £2456. Notwithstanding this, great decrease in the revenue from this branch «of the service, and notwithstanding also that t\ie service had to bs fully maintained, the board (Aid not increase tho dues out .shipping. He preceeded to say that although letters had been read urging the bonrd to adopt Captain Moir's motion, neither Captain Mqir ncr Mr Allen liad given any reason wby this great change should be effected. It was freqnentlysaid bypeople who ought to know differently that'the shipping and trade of this port were falling off. <* Now, in order to meet this kind of cry sud to satisfy himself as to the position of the shipping, he had prepared from the public records of the board the shipping returns, for 1884 and for 1894. This showed clearly that the tr&do of the port had not fallen off.— (Hear, hear.) He would also like to tell thojp. people wb.6 talked about the trade failing off, that as long as wo had the produce here we wonld have' ships to take it away.—(Hear, hear.) ' The returns he had referred to were as follow:—In 1884 the number of vessels that arrived in Dunedih was 651, with a tonnage of 124,069. In 1894 the vessehs that arrived here, were 483 in number, with a tonnage of 299.495, showing a cesr'esss iii the number of vessels of 168, but an increase in the tonnage of 175,426 tons. At Port Ch^hriers io 1884 fcbe number of j vesssla that arrived was 242, with a tonnage of 233,051. In 1894- the number of vessels that arrived there was 287, with a tonnage of 297,968, showing an increase of 45 in the vessels I arriving, and an1 increase in the tonnage of 64,917 tons. In 1884 the combined arrival:! ab. Port Chalmers and Donedin v«sre 893 vessels, with a tonnsge of 357,120 toss. In 1894 770 vessels arrived at Dunidia and Port Chalmers, with a tonnage of 597,463 tons, showing a decrease of 123 in the number of vessels and au increase of tonnage to the extent of 240,343 tons. He hoped, therefore, the board would not waste any time over this question of tinkering in any way with the incidence of taxation They had spent no end of time over.it a few months ego, and had come to a decision with regard to it. Let them now work out their destiny according to that decision, at all events until another year had el&pssd. Captain Moir said he might mention that this last jearthe.New Zealand Shipping Company had transhipped from Wellington and Lyttelton cargoes for Dunedin from nine Home steamfcra. If the board bad cbarged in accordance with his proposal these steamers would have come to Dunedin. At the Bluff and at Lyttelton the Charges upon these steamers for pilotage was 4d a ton —in Dunedin it was B£d—and he thought if the board saw their way to reduce the pilotage chr.rgea the ships of the kiud hehad referred to would eoroe here. Me Cabroix objected to Captain Moir's proposal, as he thought, if it wore adopted it would seriously aft'eefc the fiusnec-s of the board. SPKINQ BLOSSOM TEA.

Mr Wales thought ifc would be suicicte! to adopt the motion. He questioned if the board reduced the charges tipou Home steamers to nil whether any more of them would come to this port. He would like some proof from the agent 3of these steamers that more of them would come before he rn&de any alterations in the present arrangements with reference to charges.

Mr Murray expressed the opinion that if the board thought there was any prospecb of Captain Moir getting any further information upon the subject, they should sympathise with him to the extant of postponing further consideration of the matter and appoint the special committee that he asked for.

Sir Joel said it appeared to him that Captain Moir's proposal wenb in a roundabout way to effect what he wished—namely, to increase tha shipping of tho pott. That; morning he (Mr Joel) met a gentleman interested in shipping, and he said: "What is this new move. Wo are quite satisfied with things as they are. We don't know iwhat it means, and we will have nothing to do with it." Tb.it showed thera was fiomeiinder-current at work with regard to this proposal that the board knew nothing of. ' If the board's charges were tco heavy they ought to reduce them. The question was were they, in a position to do that. He said they were ijofc in such a position at the present time. He therefore thought that the proposal should not receive any consideration at ail just now. Mr Eobix said he did not know any place in the world where tha inhabitants co decried their port, the trade"of their city, their citizen's: and everything belonging to them, as they did in Dunedin. If a vessel got stuck in the channel it was telegraphed all over the world, but we nesrer heard,of vessels sticking in the Lyttelton Harbour although they stuck there frequently. Notwithstanding what was said about the trade of our port our trade was steadily increasing day by day and year by year. Captain Wloib. : I wilt withdraw the motion until I get more information.

The Chairman said Mr Mackerras bad omSties to mention that the board's iucomofroiu shipping in 1884 was £12,263. That was received frem a tonnage of 357,120 tons. Iv 139* the board 'only received £10.902 0s lid from a tonnage of 597,463,80 tbxfc while the board got nearly £2000 lesn iv 1894 tfaan they did in 188* they received 240.543 tons more cargo. ■

The motion ,was then withdrawn, and the meeting concluded.