WESTPORT HARBOR BOARD

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 86, 11 December 1913, Page 6

WESTPORT HARBOR BOARD

FINDINC OF THE COMMISSION. £Per Press Association.] Wellington, December 11. The report of the Westport Harbor Board Commission was laid before the House this morning.

Tlie Commissioner was instructed to inquire into and report upon the administration of the affairs o fthe Westport Harbour Board under a nominated board. In the opinion of the Commissioner the administration in the past has been unsatisfactory. The expenditure of the Board has not been watched with that amount, of care that should reasonably be expected from a board entrusted with the expenditure of public moneys. The methods of recording the results of the deliberations of the Board were unsatisfactory owing to the impossibility of tracing through the minutes the history of important transactions. With regard to the purchase of the dredge the Board did not conduct the transactions with that amount of prudence reasonable business men would have brought to bear in the conduct of their own affairs. The Board's works had not been carried out w ' tn economy. The T bulk of the evidence with regard to extravagance had been limited .to the last evidence was forthcoming l on the •question oHhe 'method of levying wharfage? rates and dues.- The 'co'mm'issiorier recommended that tl/e tliargVs'for;wharfage., and dabpur levied by the Railway Departmerit > be' VeyisM..'; : The iiivt'uj-al features of 'the'"hai;bor are such that the .execution, anj:]'.'maintenance, o£ harbor ' works' require special knowledge. If, however, the Board is to continue in existence, its constitution should be amended in the direction of substituting more national representation of several interests affected oy the Harbour and its work. The interests represented way, of«Westport, and. a statutory judicial ;