PORT OF OTAGO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20318, 28 January 1928, Page 10

PORT OF OTAGO.

A YEAR’S OPERATIONS. BOARD’S ANNUAL REPORT. The annual report of the Otago Harbour Boad for the year ended September 30 was adopted at last night’s meeting of the board. Consideration of the balance sheet wag held over pending the return of the certified copy from Wellington. Interesting statistics of the past year in the report are as follows: Cash receipts for the year ended September 30, 1927, were £168,187 3s lid, compared with £IBI,OBO 15s 7d for 1926. In 1927 a transfer of £2515 13s lid from the Rattray street widening reserve fund brought the total up to £170,702 37s 10d, thus reducing the difference to some extent.

Cash expenditure totalled £154,893 6s 7d in 1927, compared with £150,621 Os 8d in 1925. Added to the former total were two transfers, one to the fire insurance fund (£350) and the other to No. 1 loan account (£15.022 12s 7d), making a grand total of the expenditure £170,265 19s 2d. Statistics of imports and exports for the past two years are as follows: —In 1925-26 the imports were 316.815 tons, compared with 291,310 for 1926-27—a decrease of 25,505 tons. The exports were 132,193 tons in 1925-26. compared with 131,891 tons in 1926-27—a decrease of about 200 tons.

Monetary values for these two periods were:— '

1925-26. 1926-27. Imports ... £5.452,150 £4,676,744 Exports ... 3,125,784 3,144,668 Shipping arrivals totalled 547 (967,704 tons net) in 1925-26 and 568 (1,001,355 tons net) in 1926-27.

Attention is drawn in the report to the large volume of tonnage, Government goods, on which the hoard collects no dues. From 1914-26 the board lost £90,285 from this cause, and for the past year the estimated loss was £5534. For the longer period this represented dues on 581.309 tons and for the past year 39,262 tons. These totals include both imports and exports.