HARBOUR BOARD REPRESENTATION.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 24, 5 March 1914, Page 6

HARBOUR BOARD REPRESENTATION.

To the Editor of THE SUN. v j Sir,—lt had not been my own- intoa-1 tion to raise the canal question at the present time, and, unless further batted, shall content myself, vritnvi reglyingt shortly td the in Mr Moore's letters. v

The bogie of taxatiott of thedistriptS'Which he has resuscitated is still only a bogie. Mr. Mpore's assertion does not give body to it, ! and until he produces something ttf up" sertion that' will discredit the tions of the Canal. League defining the pfoposed canal distHet to give security to the lenders of the necessary loan, your readers Urill appreciate his assertion at'its true value. * ' In my. published criticism of the Canal Commission's report, I have included a statement certified as correct by leading accountants of Christehurch, that instead of the construction of the canal being likely to impose a burden on the ratepayers, it would effect an 'annual saving of £30,141; or 23 per cent, of what we would pay under the present tariff of harbour and railway charges. So far, no one has attempted to reffcte this statement, and uutilit is refuted by something more than mere assertion, it must be accepted as correct,, and if correct, what becomes of Mr Moore's , assertion that the canal would lead to the imposition of taxation of the country districts?

Mr iioore's statement that the majority of the board, and also therepresentatives of the local bodies in the harbour area, at the conference held on April 4, 1913, turned dowii my. explanations and proposals is ; really no ar'gument. From the conference as constituted through'a mistake of the City Council, little else could be "lexpected. A large majority of the members represented " prupputy,'' ■ " prupputy;" ch|efly, land, sheep, and cattle, whose motto %e know generally is '' vf hat. we have we hold; " \The country delegates wer& there in full the result being that 17 delegatus were" from the country 1 " districts', and seven from: the eity and suburbs; the city proper being represented- by its Mayor alone,: whilst: districts like Akaroa and it ß ' adjacfent districts, which contain;; only a Small fraction of the population pf the city, had nearly as many .delegates.' as Phristchurch and suburbs. ' In reference to the alleged necessity for further- deep dredging,, we nowhave a wide channel dredged right up the harbour, big enough for the navigation of the warship Nsw Zealand. The dredging has been taken down' to the solid clay bottom, and the majority of the Harbour Board are preparing to plough up this solid bottom and possibly blast the rocks that rnsiy be found embedded in it, as they have been doing in the inner harbour, with a view to provide for mammoth ships that may never come here, and for which the trade of the port harf at present no use. The vessels now trading here carry away our wool arid produce to the Home and Other markets . quite as fast as necessary. Indeed, Bradford manufacturers have stated that it would suit them better if the delivery of wool were spread over a longer period instead or being crowded upon them as at present. What, then, do we want larger ships for? We certainly have not passenger traffic to fill them, and it is very doubtful whether even whexf ships come through the Panama Canal there will be sufficient inducements to send larger ships here with merchandise,. If they came, it is most probable they would go to Wellington, and distribute from there to other ports by smaller vessels, and when such cargoes arrived here they would probably consist of products of cheap labour of larger countries, which, when dumped here, would swamp our lpcal industries, which provide emploffiipht. for a considerable portion of our population; I don't want what Mr Moorfe calls a first-cliass port'At such a pric.e, aiul prefer to spend our money in our facilities for trade with Other parts of the Dominion and Australasia, which 1 we cannot do whilst our

trade is all compelled to come through Lyttelton. The 72 acres of land that Mr Moore - says will practically cost nothing, will probably cost more than the land will be worth when reclaimed, • and this independently of the damage that maiiy people aver has been done to the harbour by the retaining bank :diverting the' range of the seas in rough weather into the inner harbour. ~

Mr Moore's anxiety to know whether the League has altered its plans: on the representation question -will probably be appeased when the praposefr. Commission meets, which,. I ■beis what he refers to as the proper time.—l am, etc., - CHAS. ALLISON. , March 5, 1914. ** .