OTAGO HARBOUR IMPROVE-MENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15384, 22 February 1912, Page 4

OTAGO HARBOUR IMPROVEMENT.

Mtt BELCHER'S VIGOROUS POLICY, \ RECLAMATION AMI) RATING. i In speaking to Hie toast of "The ' Chairman," proposed by Mr Wilkinson >■ at llw H album- Board outing yostewKiy, ! Mr W. Belcher, chairman ol the board, took occasion to make some very interesting remarks upon Harbour Board matters. j Mr Belcher prof ami liis remarks by j stating that, as far an Harbour Board : busituws was concerned, sinco 'he had I been n member and since lie had occupied the position of chairman lis had endeavoured, so far as was possible to serve I the interests of the city of Diinedin and i to mete out o.ven-liande'd justice to every- , j lnxly connected with the board. Con- ; j tinning, Mr Belcher said he was one who : had been dragged through a hard school ; of adversity, ami possibly his idean iin to i the maniK f and methods j© which they j i.-hould conduct the biiGi>*. of the board were not approved by l:>> other members. He wins an advocate of something more : up-to-date in the machinery they had in : use in their harbour. By 'he expenditure of, say, £250.000 to £300.000 they could gel some machinery which would do more good in the course of a. month than thefr present machinery would do in six months. It might be said that a man with large ideas was a bit ahead of his time, and possibly what he was going to suggest would be ahead of the ideaa ' of other members of the board, but still lie was interested in the harbour, and wanted to sec it capable of aceonmiodal- ■ ing the largest ships that came lo the ! port. To attain to this position there were certain things to be faced, and it largely depended upon the question of finance. Sine* 1884, when the new channel was opened to accommodate vcssclo of the Penguin size, it had been deepened till almost any vessel could now come up. The question they had lo consider now—and it was one purely of pounds, shillings, and pence—was bow they were v.aw> to deepen the channel te allow the largest vessels at present being built to come up to their wharves. The position now was that, there kid been £750,000 spent on the improvement of I ho harbour, which had a waterway of 16 miles. Since the Dock Trust liad gone out of existence ami the board had taken over its affairs the responsibilities of the latter had ' grown to, roughly, one million pounds, on [ which interest hid to be paid. That ran into £50,000 a year interest on loans contracted for the purposo of making the channel what it at present was. lnad- ; ditiou. nearly £750,000 had been spent 1 on <lig','ing the channel and keeping it clear. "Nearly £27.000 n year additional. [ and yet he had heard a good deal and ' read u good deal abont making Diinedin a free port. When they were saddled ' with £50.000 of intnrest'and had to pay 1 £27X00 to keep the channel clear how ! were they to make it a free port" Their vjvenue amounted to about £85 000 .-i 1 ;nar, and from that they had to deduct 1 everything that ho had mentioned in the ' shape of interest and upkeep. It had unfortunately fallen to his lot when be 1 took the chairmanship of the board to ] find out exactly how the board stood, ami j 1 when ho had got to the bottom of things / he bad found that matters were drifting and drifting, audit had been his unfortunate duty to bell the cat and get the members'to face the question of finance. ] It was unpleasant, but bo could not help it, although he had been severely castigated by 'many people, especially by the - newspapers, but any man who was con--1 ncctcd with the board would give him : credit for showing them where they stood and how they were to rehabilitate themselves. He had looked over the engineer's proposals for reclamation, but ho did not think that the board was sullieicntly alive to grasp what, was necessary for the progress of Otago. He thought ("hat (lie plans I hoy had for dredging and for reclamation were altogether out of date, and that if they wero to keep e abreast with other haj-lmurs of New Zeae hind they would have to spend more 1 money. Many of the members were too y cautions. They wanted something more 0 up-to-date for keeping the channel clear.— s "Hear, hear.") At present they could li not do the work unless they spent mi- - necessarily large sums on it. They went i. ;,boiit tilings differently in Wellington, s where they iiad a dredge that would [| pick up her spoil, come alongside the i, wharf, connect her pipe up, and squirt ,1 llio spoil half a mile away to the recla- •- mation works, ami they were reclaiming I. ground there that would shortly be as il valuable as the freeholds on Limblon >• quay. With regard to the reclamation of I, Anderson's Bay, he thought a mistake n had been made'by the engineer in laying it down his plans for that work. It was Is proposed to reclaim 60 or 66 acres, which n meant the construction of a, wall from the u Bay to the railway line. Now, they [>. should make a good job of it, and get |. 550 acres by running a wall right from «• Anderson's Bay across to the Kitchener ir street wharf, and reclaiming everything ■i! behind it. The expense would not be v. any greater for the construction of one io wall than for the other. Let them look .1- the thing fairly and squarely in the face. v Mr Belcher went on to tell the memio hers lliat they were up against trouble, r . and that he had had to meet it recently »s in connection with certain correspondence ]f with the Drainage Board. He was sorry 1 that there should lie trouble between twt | e local bodies, and no one regretted more | v than he did the possibility of litigation if in such a case, where the general public t .. had lo pay the piper in the long run, , 3 They were'negotiating with the Drainage ~. Hoard just now with regard to the re--10 liculation of storm water avenues froii: ii" Anderson's Bay, and so far as he could s r,fe there was a probability of trouble, Lo although provision was made by law foi ln arbitrators to step in and asseM costs tc re each hotly. Since the trouble had arisen a they had' had several conferences, where PS the whole question ad been discut-sed. nnci he wanted to make it known that the .„' Harbour Board had offered £9COO-aml cs the offer was still open—for the purpose rn of doing any necessary works in conncc i' 0 lion with the reclamation. The money , I was there when the Drainage Board like, j to lift it. lie was also prepared, in th< ' event of £9003 not being sufficient foi carrying out the works that the Drainage Board thought sufficient, to say that hi< hoard would consider how much fnrth?i j it would go. iui Though the members of the hoard wen ;*,, desirous of improving the harbour, sail te Mr Belcher, they were rather slow am •a' I dilatory where spending was concerned a j To use a colloquialism, he would like 1: iw ! see them "make .-. splash." At presen up ! thc-y were doing things by half and half y, As'he had wiid before, they paid JCSO.OCI ri- interest on loans and £27.000 in theshani ro j of maintenance of the channel, and ye idl I there were any amount of people hollow ng ing and crying out for a free port. Well he give them one; they charged so much 01 re ! goods enteritis the port,but they had.ni he I alternative Since the Government bar im ! extended the area of representation o nil ' lb" Ifrtrlxmr Board they could make Dun Is,! edin a free port by establishing a tat he j over the dislrids ' interested.—(" Hear tre j hear.") It sounded bad to the ears o d'y those renrcsoiiting pastoral interests, bn 's. 1 he was fully convinced—and be knew th he ! amount of stuff coming and going in th lie | port and how much wad paid on it—tha ml ! if thoFn who were clamouring for a fre ■lit i i/irt were to he satisfied they would hav of I to pay the piper for it. There was u he I ether vac The", how far were the •v- I —ling to improve the status of the noil [•ir j The" produce raised in Otago lie hear ik, ' was h»iti'.' trucked away even- night t "I. j Canterbury, and fluff which should b vo i "blimpd from Diinedin and on which dim i'r ■■ should bo riised for th? revenue of th ;h. ! 'it-'rii Harbour Board was l>"ing raile ■»s j to I'arcora. wher« it war. slautrhteved ar he I (wit awav from Tiniaru as nrimo Canlei •id i bury mutton. Down south they wool lv. I find that cvrytliimr that ronld nnssibl ■ be fent on the so:ith«rn railway lines i nr- j Oiago was sent !■-> the Bluff. At tli irs present mommt influences were at v.or ■/"i te prevent, wh«"ewr Possible, foods bein st. -'•irii>cd from Diinedin. He was sow r-w times amused to read remarks by tli •rv members of the committee set un foy H os- advancement of Otago. lxran«o thcvovei looked such things as ho liad 6r>oken o:

They could set up as many committees its they liked, hut so Jar as commercial interests were concerncel peoplo would send their stuff to where l-hcy could get it, shipped cheapest and get the brst price. In conclusion, Mr Belcher said again Hint now thitt they bail such an immense ivrea, represented on the board, it was only a right and proper thing thai that area should assist in making Dunedin a froo port.—(Applause.) UNLICENSED PRIVATE HOSPITALS. A CIIIMSTCIIURCH CASE. (FltOU OOH Ows CORBWrOiIDSNT.) CIUiISTCHURCH. February 20. At tho Police Court this morning Mis Annie 11 omershem pleaded guilty to using a house as a' private hex-pital without having a license. .His Worship remarked that she had been fined botore for a similar offence, ami he asked why she set herself up against the law. The fine under the act was £5 a day until the home was closed. Her counsel, Mr Cassidv, replied that she had held a license for three years, and had been endeavouring to get a license. Tho Magistrate said the license had been refused because defendant insisted 011 taking mental patients. Mr Cassidy said defendant bad splendid testimonials from medical men to show the home filled a want. The Magistrate replied he knew that. He offered to grant a week's adjourn, ment to allow defendant to consider her position. Defendant remarked that she would not. close the home as long as there was a nervous natie.at desiring her help, Ihe Magistrate : Thcro vou arc, Mr Cassidy. I shall fine Iter £5 a day for every day she keeps the home open if slip talks like that to me. 'the case was adjourned.