HARBOUR AMALGAMATION

Taranaki Daily News, 2 May 1933, Page 9

HARBOUR AMALGAMATION

CONSOLIDATION OF LOANS

UNITED SCHEME FOR TARANAKI. GOVERNMENT COMMISSION ASKED. TARANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL MOVE That a Government commission should be set up with a view to reporting comprehensively on the question of harbours in Taranaki with the idea of the con- ' solidation of all the harbour loans, the / amalgation of the boards and the institution of a flat basis of rating over the whole province was the unanimous opinion of the Taranaki County. Council yesterday, when a motion was passed asking the New Plymouth Borough Council to co-operate to that end. , . The resolution was the outcome of the discussion of a report submitted by the chairman (Mr. J. S. Connett) and Cr. S. Vickers, who were authorised to go into the question of securing if possible some relief from the burden, particularly . on the inner area, of the New Plymouth harbour rate. The report contained the following information, which had been secured from the chairman and secretary of the Harbour Board: The revenue of the board in round figures was £55,000 per.,annum, having receded from £72,000, while expenditure, including additional exchange, had reached approximately £BO,OOO per 2 annum. Thus £25,000 had to, be found - by rate until the trade of the port'improved or expenditure could .be cut down. ’ r? Items responsible for the fallen revenue were a reduction in imports of manures from 60,000 to 35,000 tons, general merchandise 29,000 to 13,000 tons, coal 27,000 to 15,000 tons, cement 9000 to 2000 tons, benzine 13,000 to 9000 tons and timber 4600 to 600 tons. Expenditure included interest and sinking fund on loans £53,000, London exchange £7OOO and general maintenance and dredging £20,000. LOANS FALLING DUE. Loans raised by . the board up to September, 1932, totalled £842,000 —£581,400 in London and £260,600 in New Zealand. Of these £420,000 would fall due in 1989 and there was at present to credit of this amount a sinking fund of £130,000. expected to reach £200,000 by due • date. A new loan would then be required to f find the balance and a further sum probA ably for a new Moturoa wharf and other requirements, so interest charges were not likely to be less. Maintenance charges might be reduced to some extent while exchange was an unknown, ; 'quantity, though efforts were being made' , to obtain some relief through Parliament ! to meet tfiis hardship/ ' - . ‘ / It would be.’see that the harbour rate had come to stay for a considerable ■ period and would, be a heavy burden to ; the inner area. Under ordinary circum- • ; stances no opportunity would occur to remedy this position -until the new loan was raised in 1939, when a more extended basis of rating might be .secured. When the old loans were raised years ago there was doubt in the minds of many as to the possibility of ' making the * harbour a deep-sea port; hence differential rating areas were suggested to secure approval to raising the necessary loans. To-day the liarbour was definitely a deep-sea port accommodating ships up 4 to 12,000 tons and shipping all overseas produce dfrecf; "therefore there could be j •no remaining doubts as' to its success. c J Mention had been made from time to c time of .the desirability of reducing the v ” number of .-local, bodies.—-The., committee thought the harbour boards of Taranaki g could well-.J>e;- cited as in point..- g The following statistics taken from the , latest year book would be found in- 3

Opunake -rri ~ ■ The striking features of the, foregoing 1 were: The ;; Waitara • fating area, all the 1 produce froiii - wdnt . through the port off -.'New Plymouth. .> was . free from rate/,-|hqu^i ? its nearest >boundary, was withip’ten'.miles-of; the. port. The; transhipment’pf Patea-produce to Home, boats at Wellington, .125-miles; distant, while New -Plymouth 'was within 80 iniles < and the ■ great’ bulk - bf'rthe produce < bandied was drawn- from an area withinj • 50 miles of Moturoa.' A-diversion of this: - quantity to Moturoa? would’ mean a con-1 siderable aggregation to the port’s funds,; each shilling per tan being wbrth;£l2oo. , Surely some scheme. of 'amalgamation could be devised tjiat would prove more t advantageous to Taranaki province, and so far as rating yfas' concerned, more j equitable in its application. ‘f VALUES OF AREAS. , x The capital value of the' present rating £ area was £15,450,000, whereas,-that for i the whole province wa5.'£29,600,000. It was believed that this-matter/should be 1 further considered with a-'view to secur- £ ing the setting up of a commission to inquire into the position thoroughly and I bring down a recommendation, and to I - this end the New Plymouth . Borough £ Council should be invited to-cd-operate. i The chairman considered -the report, : which touched all the' salient-features/ £ showed there would be very little possibility of relief until, there was an al- £ teration in the basis-offating. .’Otherwise f improvement could not. be'-looked for- c ward to until of >the port in- r . creased, which under-the.present econo- < tnic position would be a long time. If > the trade of. Patga . could-, be brought, to, i the New Plymouth port the position i would improve at once. He recognised 1 that the /opening, of the Main Trunk rail-, i way would have a beneficial effect, but £ it would take time’ for the. results to be' i very great. The cotiiicil should take steps, i with the co-operation of the Borough 1 Council to have a 'commission set up, t though it would* take. , time to have .any effectivejresult,. ‘ ; c Cr. S. Vickers •> endorsed the remarks c ’ of the chairman. Ratepayers to-day were £ mainly concerned about the present and I the prospects of the immediate future, he said. The very seriousj- falling off in fertilisers, he suggested, would sen- £ ously effect the exports in the next few i years. He did not think that for the next few --years the exports, ’and imports : would improve very greatly. Though the < maintenance might not be so great for the next four years, a new dredge would i have to be provided, adding to the rates. 1 Provision would have to be made for the erection-of a new wharf to replace the -< Moturoa wharf, costing £200,000. That £ would add to the rate considerably, while £ another contingency would be the in- 1 creasing repairs of , the Newton ' King < wharf due to its increasing age. The i loan of £60,000 now being raised would : add to the rate also. Therefore, unless £ conditions improved the day was not £ far distance when the inner area would £ / not be able io meet the expenditure i necessary to maintain the harbour in a i 'ln condition to handle satisfactorily the e \ ' trade of the whole province. He could see no prospect of decreasing the rate but rather of heavily increasing it. He would be a very optimistic man who would prophesy that the trade would • soon again increase to. what it was a few ■! years ago. He made it clear that the t report was not presented in.a carping c spirit M .#0 enable xa&BNffiP to stfj.

the position as it was. It would be a great pity if through any inactivity what had been done in the past were allowed to depreciate. , ' Cr. W. A. Thomas: The gist of your report therefore is that a commission should be set up. How do you propose it should be set up? The-chairman said a commission should be set. up to review the position as it was at present Cr. Vickers pointed out that the paragraph in the report relative to lack of/ back loading for the Patea ’ steamers showed the necessity for a shed at the wharf. He thought it would be some years before the Patea produce would be shipped through New Plymouth. Cr. Thomas said there had never been any inclination shown ’ oil the' part' of South Taranaki people to have their produce shipped through New Plymouth. The matter was so important that the Government should set' up a commission itself to investigate the position. There was no doubt that one portion of the ratepayers Was suffering aii injustice for the benefit of the others. He did not think the ratepayers outside the inner area would agree to an .even basis of rating.' The Government had intimated 1 its intention of investigating the position of . local : bodies and he considered this was a matter where that investigation should take place. He also considered the Harbour Board should 1 c'ollect its! own -rates, as the council’s ordinary rates- 1 suffered through a portion of what was paid by'ratepayers having to be credited to the harbour rate. 1

Cr. Vickers agreed that that would be an advantage, but against that there would be the extra cost of collection if the Harbour Board had to put on its own staff. The Act did not give county council's any option.

Cr. Thomas said if the harbour rate increased much more the council would be unable to collect its own rates. On the motion of Crs. Thomas and .Cartwright, that a vote, of thanks be accorded its authors the report was approved and it was decided that the New Plymouth Borough Council be asked to co-operate with a view to obtaining a Government commission to report on the? consolidation of all the harbour loans in Taranaki with a view to the amalgamation' of the boards and the institution of a flat basis of rating. It was stated that the additional rate levied this year would mean an extra £1179 to the county ratepayers.

teresting:— New Plymouth Patea .......... Inwar'd Outward Total tons. tons. tdns. .. 108,000 49,QOO 157,000 .. 3,200 ‘ 25,000 28,200 460 225 685 Mokau 228 ,394 622