BLUFF HARBOUR BOARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3029, 3 April 1912, Page 8

BLUFF HARBOUR BOARD.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR THE :; YEAR. i jFhou Our Own Correspondent.) INVERCARGILL, March 28. * In the course of his annual statement '■at tshe meeting of the Bluff Harbour •Board to-day Mr R. A. Anderson (chair,man) said that the total receipts for the year had been £24.457 7s 7d—£2504 5s 4d less- than in 1910. During the latter year £1612 106 was received from the New Zealand Railway Department as a refund for the cost of reclamation; the actual decrease was. therefore, £B9l 15s 4d. There had been an increase of £B5l in wharfage dues, a decrease of £335 in berthage charges. £llß6 in pilotage, and $405 in port charges and in other ways. Whilst a large quantity of cargo had entered and left the port, there was a decrease of £1926 in the charges fromship£ing, due, he believed, to the concentraon of larger cargoes into fewer vessels, end also to the arranging of both inward and outward cargo in the same vesels, a •ours© which the increasing disposition of shipping from Home ports direct to the Blnff enabled the shipping companies to take.

There were increases ae follows : Towage, £102; Stewart Island services, 5C30. . The fact that the first wool sales ■were not held until January had affected the revenue for 1911, and but for this ft was probable the receipts for the year yould have been little short of those of 4910. The strikes at Home were also reSoneible for disorganisation and delay in e arrival of steamers bound for the Bluff, which was another cause of loss in revenue to the board. But for the year }912 they might expect average returns ram all sources, as our staple products ■would put up the figures to those for 1911. During the year £7716 had been spent. While the debit balance of general account had increased from £7536 to £8626, the balance in credit of fire, marine, and accident insurance , had increased by £5421, and at least £5500 of the expenditure had gone to increase the assets, which for the first time exceeded the liabilities by over £IOO.OOO. The revenue from the Btewart Island services had been £1262 9s Bd, an increase of £3O 15s 2d over the returns for 1910 —an improvement chiefly in-the carriage af cargo. The passenger returns were £737—within £7 of the previous- year. During 1911 307 vessels, of 584.034 tonnage not, had paid dues—a decrease of 22 vessels, of 31,165 tons, compared with 1910. Jn the latter year

50 ocean linere came to the Bluff, but in 1911 there were only 40, although there was an increased quantity of cargo to carry.

The total trade of the port was 135,631 tons, an increase of 3952 tons compared with the previous year. Every item of import showed an increase—general merchandise 5918 tons, minerals 1116 tons, coal 719 tone, and timber 144,810 super, feet. Increases were shown in the exports as follows :—Grain 1668 tons, minerals 1026 tons, cheese 375 tons, timber 653,684 super, feet. There were decreases in the following : —Merchandise 353 tons, frozen produce 1223 tons, flax 1036 tons, avool 715 bales, and sheep 690.