ENQUIRY WANTED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16373, 22 June 1927, Page 7

ENQUIRY WANTED

HARBOR WORKS AND FINANCE INDIGNANT RATEPAYERS EXTRAVAGANCE ALLEGED Though there was evidence that many of those present had attended merely to hear the addresses and any arguments that might arise, the crowd which assembled in the City Hall last evening contained a large num- • ber of citizens and ratepayers who appeared to be genuinely indignant at the manner in which the harbor construction works are being con- . ducted. The meeting was a lively one, and lasted oVev two hours, several speakers expressing their indignation at the course taken by the Harbor Board in the past, and the policy proposed for the future. The platform men were not unanimous in their opinions as to how the work should go in the future, Mr. G. Smith repealing his statment that the board should go for the outer harbor, and the development of Whareongatngaj and trust to the ratepayers to give it more money for the prosecution of the inner works when, the loan I was exhausted; while others poured scorn on the quarry, and while- they did not offer any constructive suggestions, explained that before there could be progress they must clear the way for it. Eventually a resolution was carried, asking, the board to facilitate a public investigation of the finances and the state of the harbor works in view of the dissatisfaction expressed by the ratepayers. The number who voted) on the resolution did not represent a! i majority of those in the hall, but it ■ appeared that there Avas some misunderstanding of the resolution. The chair was taken by Mr. Alf. j Wade, who commented with pleasure on the attendance. Harbor matters had -become a household topic since, five years ago, they had been told in that hall that the boats would be able to lie as snug in the new harbor as they would lie in their beds. Mr. Wade read a criticism which Mr. Leslie Reynolds had levelled at the proposals to alter his scheme, which had been submitted to " and adopted by th= ratepayers. In that Mr. Reynolds had referred to the "tink<-ring" to which his scheme had been subjected, and the methods proposed /in connection "with the harbor construction, and also pointed out that he had advised that the .* first portion of the scheme could bo completed'in four years, and the whole scheme in six years from the time of commencement of work. Mr. Reynolds' criticism was further directed against Mr. Campbell's amendments to his (Mr. Reynolds') scheme, and submitted his opinions on the likelihood of confinement in the harbor to be provided by Mr. j Campbell's . amended scheme, if ever completed. Commenting upon the designing engineer's criticisms, Mr. Wade stated; that from the inception of the work,; £130,000 had been expended in! machinery, a good deal of which ho* understood would be valueless. Hej did not suppose'any man would take! on a work of this description from an j office. lie had expected Mr. Damp-

bell _to secure a first-class construe- '' tioa harbor foreman, but he had notj ; made > any attempt to do that. In his opinion they could have,made thej pile's and driven them much morel cheaply. Those piles cost about £2! : per foot, and every day about £l2Ol '. Jworth of piles was knocked off. lies did not blame the workmen, but the! ■ ynte'thods adopted, aud he did notj think the board had made itself conversant with the work and methods. Mr. Wade quoted details of some piledrawing which, was carried out by the harbor staff and, by a contractor,! ' the latter doing a £125 job in a little j over seven hours; The railway j * bridge was another"instance of waste,! and the speaker commented that this! was a most unbusinesslike method of j ?>uittiing. The work on the fore-i shore wall had been unsatisfactory, he continued,'and the results could be seen to-day in the raising of the height of the diversion wall at the: mouth after cutting off all those.' piles. Mr. Wade apologised for tres- j passing on the time of the meeting, I "and resumed his seat amidst applause • -.Dr. Collins, who was greeted with' applause, remarked that the district was faced with defeat and disaster. Construction was better than destruction, and the one must follow the 1 other. He proposed to move a reso-. hit ion, in order to give his remarks point, as follows: "That in view of Mr. Furkert's report 'that the works and the money have now got into : Bueh' a relative position that it is impossible to achieve the result ori-! ',. finally aimed at,' this meeting of ratepayers expresses its grave dissatisfaction with the position of the Gisborne harbor works. That theboard be petitioned to set up an in- j dependent and impartial committee ■ to investigate and report, (a) Whether the estimates were fair and reasonable, and in detail whetherj the works have been executed within the estimates. (b) Whether the work has been conducted extravagantly or economically, (c) Whether extravagance has been displayed in the purchase of unnecessary and superfluous "plant, etc. (d) Whether proper and sufficient eare was exercised in the selection of the Whareongaonga quarry, aud* who was responsible for the failure and the continuation of the work when this was proved, (e) j Whether the disasters to the diversion cut wall, the Waikanae beach, and the proposed breakwater at Whareongaonga were due to defective engineering or due to acts of Nature, which could not be foreseen and such further order of reference as may be j deemed desirable.*'

They had started with high ideals and light hearts to benefit the district, added Dr. Collins, and to-night he felt like a man standing on the shore of a sea of diyappointmeiit. He would go straight, into his subject. He quoted from reports of a Harbor Board discussion in 1925, when disaster already loomed in the distance. He had at that meeting asked what, work was contemplated for the £500,000 which the board had left, and was given a comprehensive list of works, estimated to cost £OOO,OOO He was not satisfied, and pressed the engineer as to the accuracy of the chairman's review, and was told the financial items on which the review was based. Those items included .042,000 for the inner works, and £258,000 for the outer works, making a total of £600,000. In September, 1925, they had £500,000 to spend, and £(500,000 was demanded, and he had realised that they could tell almost to the day when the board would have to come to the ratepayers 1 for more money. It had been the chairman's duty to make himself fully conversant with the details of a, programme,' and thus avoid the eventual misleading of the public Which must follow if the chairman failed for any reason to do so. Tile speaker then referred to the board',* treasurer's .statement of the finances, made in February, 1927. The statement included an item of £105,000 of expenditure, preliminary to the commencement of the harbor work. Dr. Collins mentioned various small items, and then followed with such items as cost of raising the loan £29,000, and land purchases £40,000. It was sad to relate, he said, that before they could do any work at all they had to spend £105,000. The amount available at February, 1927, was £230,000, and the board 'still needed £235,000. In September the engineer asked for £600.000 to build a harbor, and in February. 1927, he asked for another £55,000 to complete the work. In 13 months the tost of constrivctiiiLC the harbor had jumped from £600,000 to £7oo.ooo—quite reassuring, Dr. Collins remarked. Further analysing the treasurer's statement, Dr. Collins said the Korua had cost £45.000, and later the overhaul of the Pelican had cost £IO,OOO —after they had been bought, he emphasised. The £IOO,OOO shown to bo short in the first instance would figure all through the programme, he continued, and if the expenditure of the board was taken at £16,000 per month, they would now have only about £134,000- If tho ratepayers sanctioned the raising of a further £55,000. which the board had said it would need, they would have -only £190,000. whereas the hoard actually * would need £285,000 still £95,000 short. In various items, the engineer's estimates had shown a series of discrepancies, and he asked why. Where did they expect the hoard to end up when estimates were changed like that, and where did they themselves expect to end up? —Yet they had asked why he (the speaker) had left the board. Continuing, Dr. Collins pouited out that tho cost of plant for the work was £130,000, and ho compared this with the engineer's original estimate for plant, £40,000. It had actually <;ost the board £270,000 before they could make ono forward step. Members of tho board were writing letters to the papers, telling how they were going to dig out the inner basin without charging Hi to the £750,000 loan, and another citizen, who did not understand the tinantes of the board, writing back and making suggestions. This gentleman should allow the members of the board to apply themselves to understanding the board's affairs, instead of 'encouraging them to write letters to the papers for their own vainglory. (Laughter and applause.) The speaker then detailed the interview ho had with officials of the Marine Department in Wellington in 1925, when he had begged Mr. Furkert to come to Gisborue. He had been told on his return to Gisbbrne that, in effect, he had been interfering where he had no right to. Mr. Todd had even asked him for an explanation. (Laughter.) The chairman had told him in so many words that the board did not want Mr. Furkert to come and examine the harbor.

Dr. Collins paid a tribute to some members with whom ho had served on local bodies, and among whom ho classed Mr. C. H. Williams. This member, a fervent and .straight-forward servitor of the public weal, had asked the boarn in 1925 to send a committee to meet the Minister in conference to secure some lead in regard to their policy.,Had they accepted that suggestion they would have saved thousands of pounds. To-day they had a board of two parties, an outer-harbor party and an innerharbor party, and the board was being dragged in the meshes of a net to disaster. Mr. Smith had made a valiant fight to hold"off what lie saw coming. Had Mr. Smith not made that fight, Mr. Shcrralt would have carried there and then' a. decision to go ahead with the inner harbor, without estimates or plans, to be carried on by an engineer m whom a minority of the board had no confidence. Why had Mr. Campbell's resignation not been accepted?--Because the majority of the board did not have the moral' courage to take on the works without hfrn. Those members who had been prepared: to afc> eept the resignation deserved the thanks of the public, for they had had' tlio moral courage to act on their convictions. (Applause.) Turning to the problem associated with the 'excavation (if the inner basin, Dr. Collins suit! these works would coat ££03,000, when actually they had only about £134,.000 available. They were going to Be £7:2,000 short at least, if the inner work was to be undertaken under the subterfuge that it was part of the outer harbor. The only way to do the work was by contract, and ho prophesied with confidence that the estimate of the cost would be considerably above £203,000. They must stop the day labor, and ask for tenders for the completion of the harbor. If tho board came to the ratepayers with clean hands, they might expect to secure support. ]\tr. J. Webb seconded the motion proposed by Dr. Collins, and Mr. Geo. Smith*was the next speaker. Mr. Smith was given a good reception, and mentioned that Dr. Collius had spoken on many points which he might have selected' for discussion, but he himself proposed to deal with.tho future of the board's policy. ' He was prepared to take his share of any blame that

must rest on the board, but he would protest against the proposals of a majority of the board. Mr. Furkert 's recommendations had suited the views of a majority of the board, but as one who bad borne the brunt of the loan campaign, he had felt compelled to object to diverting loan moneys from the outer harbor to the inner work. He had no quarrel with the inner work, but the board should get money for that from the ratepavers if'il had to be done. The mo'uev could not justifiably be taken from'the outer work. The excuse was made that they wanted to show the ratepayers something for their money, but this was misleading. The board would be just as short if they turned from the outer work,, as if it went on with tho outer breakwater. Mr. Smith claimed that as the purchase of the Haiti land had not been included in the original estimates, the board was entitled to ask the- ratepayers to find this additional sum. The board had a right to go on with tho outside work, and if they could show the ratepayers that the money had been well spent, he felt sure the ratepavers would give the, board a good hearing. Ho felt that the breakwater was essential to the welfare of the district, for they had been assured that without it the inner harbor •would be untenable except in fine weather. The dredging of the basin might make some difference to this prophecy, but this would mean that the Cook Quay, for which £3OOO worth of material bed been prepared; would have to be put on one side. He said the board deluded itself with the idea that it could go on with the outside work later, but this was a mere delusion. The ratepayers need not mirse that delusion, for he assured his hearers that a majority of the board did not want an outer'harbor. As chairmau he had been fought by this faction, and the present chairman had himself moved a "resolution to tho effect that the inner work be finished before the breakwater was commenced. Finally, as a compromise, the policy since followed hail been decided on, and front that date until recently there had been no question raised as to the cost of the work. The quarry at Whareongaonga had not been fully tested out. he said, and the proposal to abandon it naturally suited the faction of the board which wanted no outer harbor. He himself was out to provide tlic district with an outer harbor, which would be of inestimable benefit to the district. He pointed out that a stone supply was still the key to the harbor problems, and if the Whareongaonga. supply failed, they must try out Waihirere.

"Where are you going to get the money?" asked an ihterjectof. Mr". Smith replied that the engineer had estimated that he, would need £55,000 over the £750,000 to complete the work. A voice: Estimates are no good!

Mr. Smith: Well, the board accepted, the estimates and the progress reports. The interjector: They'd accept anything!

Tho speaker continued, pointing out that though the board had now lost confidence in its ability to carry out tho harbor withiu tho estimates, yet it had not the courage to accept the engineer's resignation. The ratepayers would give the board the money to finish* the programme if it went ahead courageously—(Cries of "No!"—and unless they stuck to a progressive policy and went for the outer harbor the district would inevitably suffer. The board had no right, to alter its policy, and it Was the duty of the ratepayers to see that they got the results they voted for. "•(Applause). ■ Mr. W. Lissant Clayton supported the resolution, stating that the district was in a hole, faced with disaster that their sons, and "their son's sons would have to pay for. The district's finances were .approaching a desperate: state. They had a Harbor Board that was safely behind the ramparts for another two years, with a chairman that it thoroughly approved of. He felt safe in saying that the position was not to the satisfaction of this meeting (applause), and he asked what, the ratepayers were going to do about it. lie suggested that the board be asked to facilitate an investigation of the iiliances of the board, and if* that request was granted the report of that investigation would probably show the finances to be in ,a fearful hole. It was !useless to talk about estimates, or to say that the work was going on within the estimates. Estimates were nothing to go on. He was surprised at Mr. Smith mentioning Whareongaonga, when not one man apart from him in the town seriously thought that that quarry would be successful. He hoped that the! board would be induced to go else-j where until they found suitable i stone, and proposed that they should] make things so infernally hot for the board that the ratepayers would get what they wanted. (Applause).

Mr. J. Tombleson remarked that since the chairman of the board thought that a resolution he had proposed was too strong, he now suggested that the board itself should take the course, indicated by innumerable precedents. He had travelled some distance to align himself with others in making U. strong protest against the waste of public moneys for which the'board had beeii responsible;. Mr. Tombleson attacked the engineer's methods, and his persistence at Whareongaonga in works on the northern face, in opposition to the advice of the geologist. ile had protested against thai, work when it was started, and had expressed his opinion that the only thing that could excuse the engineer was the proof that he was a better geologist than Professor Speight. The procedure had cost, in the engineer's oWn figures, £32,000, and the work wtls still goiiig on at Whareongaonga. Mr. Tombleson then proceeded to deal With a series of what he characterised as serious errors, employing terms which aroused much merriment among his healers. He professed to be, unable to understand why a majority of the board had refused to* accept the resignation of Mr. Campbell. Ho gave ait entertaining analysis of the reasons which he suspected had moved the members of that majority, describing five of the nine as "men without an idea of their own," and two at least as "too good-natured to live." Laughter and applause rewarded Mr. lombleson's contribution to the debate,, and the chairman asked Ihe meeting"" to consider the resolution. ~ Mrs. A. O. Terry submitted a question j>s to whether the ratepayers had no redress. The chairman declined to expound an

•answer to the question, and also declined to receive other questions. Mr. J. Shanley submitted that in, thai case the audience should refuse to vote on tho resolution until such-time as a meeting was called at which the members of the public would be enabled to express their opinions. The chairman disregarded this proposal, and put -the resolution. A few bands were raised- in the affirmative, and no opposition was shown. The motion was therefore declared carried.