THE HARBOUR BOARD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13205, 11 February 1905, Page 6

THE HARBOUR BOARD.

The unanimity with which the members of the Harbour Board assented to the proposition that Mr Gourley should again for the current term fill the position of chairman implied a general recognition of the fact that he has, as Mr Mackerros ivas able to testify,. devoted his time ungrudgingly during a long courso of years to the business of the Board. Moreover, Mr Gourley did not shrink from the accept-anco of office and from the performance of the occasionally disagreeable duties which its possession entailed at a time when the Board was in a- much less sound position than it occupies to-day, and when, in fact, its credit was ro indifferent that a market did not exist for its bonds at even a heavy discount; and it is a happy circumstance that the members are not unmindful in the days of the Board's comparative prosperity of services that were rendered to it in the days of its adversity. In Auckland exception has been taken to the presence on the Harbour Board of parliamentarians whose legislative duties demand that they shall reside in Wellington for four or five mouths of the year, and objection might possibly have been raised to Mr Gonrley's re-election to the chairmanship of the Otago Board on the ground that his attention to the work of Parliament necessitates long absences from Dunedin. It is incontestable) however, that Mr Gourley has always succeeded in keeping in close touch with the operations of the Board, and the disadvantages arising from the fact that lie is one of the colony's legislators have been sufficiently overcome in the past through the appointment of a deputy-chairman for some months of tho year. As to the constitution of. the Board, of which occasional criticism is heard,, that is a matter, if its membership does not give complete satisfaction, in which the public has tho remedy in its own hands. Unfortunately theamount of interest that is usually manifested in the election of members of Harbour Boards is small, and the competition that is shown for seats on these bodies cannot, upon eyen the most generous construction of the term, be regarded as keen. The intimate connection that exists between harbour administration and district prosperity was never, perhaps, so fully realised hero as it is at the present time, when the questions arising out of tho failure on the part of Otago to maintain her position as a trading community are forcing themselves upon public notice. The Harbour Board itself has, we are pleased to say, recognised the necessity for an inquiry upon the matter with a view, if posi sible, to the discovery of a remedy, and has appointed a committee of its members to confer with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce on the subject. It will be desirable that, as Mr Fergus has suggested, representatives . o? the shipping companies and of produce exporters should be invited to he present at the conference, so that the problem' offered by the state (if tlio trado''.of the provincial district iiiay lie : exhaustively discussed in all its aspects, e - - r.

■We hope that the oc'tcome of sncl conference may be the production c practical proposal for the strengthen of our commerce.