NEW ZEALAND HARBOUR BOARDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3338, 6 March 1918, Page 37

NEW ZEALAND HARBOUR BOARDS.

The President of the New Zealand Society of Engineers (Mr J. Blair Mason), at the opening of the session of the Society at Wellington, in the course of his address, . said: There were in the dominion fortyfive harbour boards, twenty-five of which had a collective loan indebtedness of nearly £7,120,000, with assets other than cash valued . at £8,440,000, and total annual • charges for interest and sinking funda amounting to £350,000. The loan indebted- \ ness of the terminal and main ports —Auck- ■ land, Napier, Wellington, Lyttelton, Timaru. Dunedin, and Bluff —amounted to £5,400,000. Most of these ports possessed landed property of great prospective value. For example, the port of Dunedin possesses 145 acres of land ■ in the City of Dunedin, available for leasing. Ulrom the portion fully absorbed in the oity rentals at the rate of £ISOO per acre were obtained. When it was remembered that Dunedin, _ like other New Zealand towns, was yet in iti infancy, it could be predicted that such an estate would some day provide arereiiua large enough to meet the cost of harbour improvement and maintenance. The position of subsidiary ports was not so fortunate, and in such easos Government assistance was advisable. The war had drawn attention to the necessity for providing; facilities for handling cargo with despatch, and the absence or presence of these woukf often have some influence in governmg th« ohoico of a port of call. Special appliance* for handling grain, oil, coal, and othef commodities were required at first class ports, and, even though the quantity of grain produced in New Zealand was at present not such as to demand the immediate installation of appliances for bulk handling, the speaker thought there should ' be no- hesitation in metalling &em, although its use might not show a airoet profit, for the sake of bettering the facilities for trade as a whole.