THE HARBOUR BOARD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20906, 21 December 1929, Page 12

THE HARBOUR BOARD.

The chairman of the Otago Harbour Board expressed the opinion last night that the results of the Board's operations for the twelve months ended on September 30 afforded " just cause for satisfaction." The year was certainly a busy one for the Board, and the financial results showed an appreciable improvement in comparison with those of the past year. It is not quite clear how the chairman arrived at his conclusion that the surplus on the year's operations amounted to £10,718. The statement which he presented to the Board showed that the receipts totalled £183,358 and that the expenditure totalled £205,910. The expenditure included, however, a contribution of £39,000 to a loan redemption fund—a payment which, of course, is not an ordinary item of expediture but was in fact an appropriation to a reserve account of a portion of the balance of £49,899 which was brought into the Board's account at the beginning of the financial year. The total receipts for the twelve months exceeded those of the preceding period by £7537. Dues on imports showed an increase of £4757, and there was a still larger increase in the amount derived from pilotage, port charges, berthage, towage and carriage, the revenue from this source

during the year having amounted to £53,224 as compared with £46,584 in the preceding period. The increase in the receipts from berthage was due, to some extent, to the fact that for three months of the financial year the charges at the Port Chalmers wharves were raised to the level of the rates at Dunedin. The yield from rents is growing steadily, though not so rapidly as might have been expected,, and last year was only about £IOOO in excess of the proceeds for the previous year. The revenue from the-dock was £3480 less than in'the preceding year, and miscellaneous receipts showed a drop of £ISOB, These were the only, respects in which the receipts for the past year fell below those of the previous period. On the other hand, the expenditure on the dock working account was £1414, less than in the preceding period. A very considerable reduction in the expenditure on dredging—a reduction of £ 880 o—contributed very materially to the. favourable results of the year. This was just about balanced, however, by an increase of £8764 in the amount of the interest charge on the Board’s indebtedness. The result of the year’s operations as a whole is certainly satisfactory, and it was an act of wise policy on the part of the Board to utilise surplus funds for the purpose of establishing'a reserve against the need fbr meeting a loan at its maturity in 1934. -