Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE,WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1889.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5578, 25 September 1889, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1889.

THE HARBOR RATK. Thekk is not much interest taken in harbor affairs at the present time, but an announcement will appear in the course of a few days that will have the effect of quickening the pulse of the settlers. In the ordinary course of events, the rate for 1889 would have been levied before tins, but the affairs of the Harbor Board do not proceed in the ordinary course. The interference of Parliament upset matters, and the Board was not in a position to strike a rate with any degree of safety until the Legislature had mended its handiwork. The attempt was made during the session just closed, but we are not at all sure that even now the rating clauses are clearly denned. However, there is no ignoring the obligation which the district labors under in regard to the L2(X),000 borrowed for harbor construction. A rate must be shuck and enforced for the payment of interest. No decent man should wish to shirk tlmt liability. When the raising of the loan was put tv the vote ' 1 1 iv re were "lily a fevv dissentients who

went to the pull, so the deeiMiori then re j em'tUv.l • umy bo re^nided an prautkiully I'.muiitttoua iJAIt even had the> o|»i'iohition liotu eoiuudtfrnblo the minority both morally and legally are bound by the verdict of the majority of their fellow-settlers expressed in accordance with an Act of Parliament. That is a cardinal principle of representative government, and one which well - ordered communities must recognise. So much for the general principle, which in our harbor affairs will be fully adhered to by the ratepayers discharging their obligations to their creditors. Parliament has seen fit to impose certain conditions not in the original contract. To these conditions the Harbor Board, which represents the ratepayers, has not been a consenting party. In fact, Parliament has on three separate occasions acted in defiance of the wishes of the ratepayers who are responsible for the loan, and who never showed any sign of shirking their responsibility. In the session of 1887, an Act was passed limiting the expenditure of the Board to L 65,000. The consequence of this was that the works came to a standstill for three months, interest and certain other charges going on all the time. In 1888 the restriction was removed, and the Board was authorised to spend a sum not exceeding L 105,000 on condition that a majority of the ratepayers both in number and value within a portion of the harbor district recorded their consent, and it was enacted that the settlers north of a certain line should be absolved from liability for further expenditure. Parliament in that case was guilty of a clear breach of the terms of the agreement entered into between the ratepayers of the harbor district and the bondholders. Indeed, under the Act the Board did not possess the power to raise the loan under the conditions imposed by the Act of 1888. This subject has already been so fully discussed that there is no need to refer to it now at any length. Suffice to say, that the ratepayers of the special district regard themselves as the victims of a gross injustice. This year the Board was forced to go to Parliament in order that the bungling work of last session might be repaired : and again the district has fared badly at the hands of the Legislature, though the injustice is more of a negative than positive nature. The Board asked relief from payment of £1080 per annum to capital account. Mr Ormond objected, and ho had his way. If the £1080 had been spent on concrete blocks, instead of being devoted to the payment of the first year's interest, would anyone pretend to say that the security would be better for the loan. It is the property of the district, and not the breakwater, that is the real security ; but if the sum alluded to had been expended on the works there would now be no trouble over an overdraft. It may be said that the Board did wrong in expending loan money in aid of revenue, but in this respect the Board only followed the example of the Government. A return presented to Parliament last session shows that since 1875 no less a sum than L 0.822,532 was taken from loans to assist revenue, and of this amount a million and a half sterling has been added to the permanent debt of the colony, besides which there is over half-a-million outstanding. The charges and expenses of raising the loans amounted to nearly one million, and no doubt a considerable portion of this sum was manipulated to meet the interest during the time the loans were not available. At any rate statements to this effect were constantly made in Parliament, and Sir Julius Yogel, when Colonial Treasurer, scarcely attempted to deny them, fn fact, he claimed that such a proceeding would be perfectly justifiable. Leaving disputed matters on one side, there is the clear fact that a million and a half of loan money used for revenue purposes has been added to the debt of the colony. Parliament did not not compel the Colonial Treasurers to pay that sum off by annual instalments. Such a course might have necessitated extra taxation. That is now attempted to be inflicted on the ratepayers of this district through a similar cause. The Board will behave in the spirit of a craven if it subjects the ratepayers to taxation to meet the annual charge of LIOBO per annum to be repaid to loan. There is another payment that might well stand in abeyance, viz., the L4OO yearly contribution to sinking fund. After the L 105,000 is expended there will be L'.)0,000 in hand of the L 200,000 loan, in addition to which there is the whole property of the district as security for the bond-holders. The two annual charges amount to over LISOO a year, the payment of which would increase the Harbor rate by about 'io per cent. It behoves the board to take a firm stand in the matter. By doing so no breach of faith will be committed to the injury of the bondholder or to anybody else, but a substantial measure of relief will be afforded to the already over-burdened settlers of the Bay.

The Hussars parade to-morrow at 5.30. The Fire lirigade meet for steam practice this evening. There were only three applications at the Crown Lands OlHee this morning for suburban sections in the township of LJawa. There was no meeting of the Harbor Board last evening owing to a quorum not being present. A meeting of the Board has been fixed for to-morrow (Thursday) evening. Mr W. T. Neill, Government surveyor, has arrived in this district for the purpose of laying oft" road.-s in the neighborhood of the Oil Springs. The local committee of the Dunedin Exhibition were conducting an active canvass about town to-day. They have met with great success. Tenders were opened to-day by the Chairman of the Whataupoko Road Hoard for work in Wi Pere street, when H. Looinl/s tender of £9 17s was accepted. The other tenders were A. •!. O'Xeil £14 and Robertson and Gregg £19 7s. Messrs Graham, Pitt, and P>ennot(, under instructions from the .Sheriff, will hold an extensive sale of furniture, household goods, and Jo head of cattle at their mart tomorrow at 11 a.m. At 12 the firm will submit to auction a third share of, and interest in, the Opou station partnership, lands, credits and effects. At the (juarterly meeting of Court William Gladstone Ancient Order of Foresters last night, liio. \V. L. File was elected delegate to the Annual District Meeting, which this year will take place at Wellington on Oct. .*>]. It was resolved that Gisborne be nominated as the place for holding the following meeting of delegates. The Edinburgh Exhibition of ISSG included grounds to the extent of l(i acres, but the building covered only six acres. It is interesting to note that though the exhibition at Duuedin, the modern Edinburgh, includes only an area of 12 acres, there will be from 7j to S acres covered by buildings. A country settler who had been imbibing too ficcly was brought to town this morning by Constable Farmer and charged with being drunk whilst in charge of a horse and trap at Ormond. Accused, who was a first offender, pleaded guilty, and was admonished by Mr Bennett, J.P., and then discharged after being ordered to pay his coach fare to town. There are some very bad tracks on the West Coast. The Grey River Argus of Monday aays :— ".James Maher, one of the men in the Roaring Mpg Water-race Company, met with an accident on Friday evening while felling a tree. The tree fell on his chest and ankle. The injured man was brought to town by the Hrunner train on Saturday evening and taken to tlic Grey River Hospital. It took 4<i men from eight o'clock in morning till four o'clock in the afternoon to take him from the scene of the vcciilcnt. to the Grey River (a distance of seven miles). The track is simply abominable, and the proposed foot -track will li.udly improve matter*,"