NEW PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER AS A COLONIAL WORK.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7375, 19 May 1887, Page 2

NEW PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER AS A COLONIAL WORK.

ADDRESS BY Mb. F. McGUIRE. ' Mr. P. Mo&uire, of Hawera, delivered an ! address in the Alexandra Hall on Wednee-' day night upon the breakwater as a> colonial work and not a provincial one. It 1 was giverj in response to an requisition from a number of inflential ratepayers in the district. Considering the state of the weather, the meeting was well attended. His Worship the Mayor occupied the chair,- and iaMntroduciag Mrr McCJuiFe, said he trusted that he might be accorded a patient hearing upon a question that was of great importance. to the district. , j.Mi\ McGJdir^, on coming fowardj. wns received" with 'applause. He said: The question that I?hay,e"to speak npDanis' one that J8 r of T the,,grea,te,sj; impoitance to New Zealand, a T nl3 especially this district. I have always been,, as you- are aware, a staunch supporte'r-of^the'NeV Plymouth harbour, and I recognise the force of the opinions that the harbour will be useless to you if not completed 1 , and tliat your town will be without ••' commerce, ■ influence, or prosperity, bat I also believe that. the prosperity of the whole -provincial district is dependent upon ' the completion of the iworfc. '"Whilst looking upon trie work aB ' being of the greatest importance to the j district, as an outlet for the settler's produce, I fully recognise the fact that those parties who opposed the Harbour Loan last year . will do .so again. On that ground our. interests are identical with yours in this respect. We shall never submit to a rate ; we shall oppose any ißill, and vote against any rate, almost to ; a man. It may seem to yon paradoxical •to say in one breath that we recognise the vital importance of the harbour, and the same moment to assert that we shall oppose the loan by which it is to be com ipleted. , The fact is that W3 do nor admit the necessity of a loan at all, nor do we admit. that it enould be oarried out as a local undertaking. . The harbour is an bid idea ; it has been going on since 1852, being then advocated by His Excellency, then Sir George Grey, and afterwards ordered to be surveyed by Major Brown, the then Superintendent. I did not have anything to do with it till 1873, when in the Provincial Council., I then opposed it with all my power, as I considered it a, colonial work that should •be undertaken by the colony. (Cheers.) Mr. Carrington ; who Was then. Superintendent, 1 also opposed it as a provincial' work. This brings me to I, he /present time/ and as. you are aware i he* Government is opposed to local loans, 1 ' md if determiiie.d' 'opposition'"]* madejn . the'-distridfi- tiHb^ loan", "Parliament woiuld ' be b certain , to 0 shelve your Bill. Under tjhesii circumstances, .1 therefore think it ip hopelesß. v iqr,'yQu to~ expect,, the completion of your harbour out,, of any local 10an. ., Hope is a very- fine thing, but it is f,olly to i hope against hope and. common sense. ' , IE '.this is ■ so C. what ■* are we-, to- do with a comparatively empty exchequer a»d a harbour just carried out sufficiently near completion to be useless for ocean-going ships and almost'- useless as a harbour, of refuge.' With a .rate of Is in the £ upon all the, land within the harbour district. ' Now it' is useless that we should be divided upon the question. we adopt some vigorous and united action at once we shall drift iato a most uasatisfactory and exceedingly dangerous position. We should unite our forces upon some common ground of interest; seek oat some other means to complete the breakwater, and also to avoid the. rate collector, whose heavy tread is already 'to be'heard^ approaobing.' It' is my endeavour to-night to vindicate a course that will relieve the whole, district and unite you with, the, assistance of the whole of the provincial district. I may say at once that there must be no further local loans. That .the Government should be called upon to take over the work and complete it as a colonial .undertaking. In' such a scheme the whole interest of the district is with you. Our desire to obtain the harbour will act as one lever; our desire to avoid the rafe will act as another lever. Waitara would ,act with you in order to get her rating area unencumbered for her local work. Opunake would do ditto. .You will readily! see that by, changing your- front, to- use a .military term, you would' 'convert a ca'ao's of hostilities into one enthusiastic support ; of tne common interest. " I do not propose to toiich further oh the necessity of adopting a scheme, which will unite us in our interest, but £ propose to lay before you reasons jyhy I think, looking at it from a colonial point of view, the .Government' should take .- over the harbour, .and finish ' ' it. -Before doing so I must touch upon one • poiat that- has been urged against my scheme — that if the Government took over our harbour they would have to take over ■ all the barbours of the colony. • In answer to that I would poiat out 'that the Government' already contemplates having to take over the Westport and Greymouth harbours, each of . which have been given authority to raise loans. [Mr. McGuire quoted the Empowering Aot of 1884, authorising the loans ] From that it would be seen that there was nothing binding upon the subject. The Legislature,, so late as, November 6tb, 1884, recognised that it might becoj ne desirable: that the ooloay should take! over these two harbours, and' that J they shoald be completed as colohiarwOrk's.' You 1 will therefore see that there is no hard and fast rule, entailing as a consequence that if the colony took over "one harbour and its liabilities' that all other harbours and their .liabilities should" :be taken over also. This, too, I might tell you is an idea that is not a new one. A casual glance at Hansard will "show that" member after member had said in their tspeoches ujon the harbour that the' Go* • vernoaent ( would ultimately have to tote ■over and complete it. That is to say, if the Board broke down, as moßt aßs'uredly'it will, the colony will be compelled to take the harbour over. But apart from that aspeot 1 propose to Bhow you that the work is really a colonial oae — essential to r the. 60, lony as the only harbour of refuge©a the whole webtern seaboard, a Beaboard '1500 miles, while on the eastern coasc there are five ports for the largo class of shipping. If the New Plymouth Haroour Board; stopped work 'to morrow can anyone doubt that 1 the necessity of such a harbour would not arise and force itself upon the attention' of the Legislature? From ' the relative position of the East Coußt of New Zealand to Australia I thijk that the harbour should be completed iBl ■essential to the prosperity and the interests of the colony. (Cheers). I say, sir, that if New Plymouth is to take her proper place in the commerce of these seas it is absolutely necessary that a good harbour should'be built upon this seaboard o£ the colony. (Hear, hear.) I think it is nteo absolutely necessary in theintercsts of the Publ'o Works Policy of the colony. Until thoio is a good harbour established here the New Plymouth-Fuxfon liiilway caunot possibly pay mo: dtlmn a mere pittance above the working expenses wl 'eh it now pays. It can also be seen that while the harbour is unfinished our railways and roads cannot be as useful to settlors and reproductive to the State as they should bo. By the completion of the harbour the railway instead of leading as it does at present iato a village, would become a great artery of the country, profitably carrying goods and passengers to a port from which they t oould be embarked direct on board the • large class of shipping. Looking at it ' } from a business poict of view as being a , tax-pioducing district, I think the Government fully jf- tified, and indeed bound to establish a harbour on this coast as a colonial work. Xam confident that from

tbe prosperity that would result the colony would reap iv the not distant future a golden harvest for the expenditure incurred. With the increase in the prosperity of the farmers the property tax returns would improve; the demand for land for settlement would increase; and the tendency to subdivide into moderate holdings \vould_set in with the increase of small settlers. The Customs revenue for the provincial district would increase very largely; • Tho value of the Crown lands would rise, the condition of the farmers occupying neighbouring land would be improved.- Tha -just- expectation of these far-reaching and permanent, results is a strong "argument in" favor' of the New Plymouth harbour" being taken over by the colony "at la'rge.*"There ,. are, . hawever, ar^uniehts turnmg'pn matter's £ sW., but important asjl^ese^are,..! now to deal with the still more important question, that is to say the justice and fairness of the., proposal*", .(Applause.) , First, from the. settlers' .standpoint, and then the ; bondholders'. ---There .were "many parties who bought land in" ignorance of the rate (cheers); others ~ vrith ! representations made to them that the" rate would not be payable ( for 26 ' years at the, soonest, and would not 1 'then exceed' 3d in the £. Since 1875, when the loan, was authorised, settlers ' purchased their. land upon the distinct^ understanding that- one-fourth (25:pey cent.)" of the proceeds of the whole land was to be -paid cer from time to. time. to the- Harbour or the Sinking Fund Commissioners as- security for the loan. [Mr. McGuire here quoted the section of the-'NeW Plymouth Harbour Board Loan Act bearing, upon -tho percentage of- land rey,enue.j At that time ;the whole of' the^lands within -what is Ikriown as 'the confiscated line had become prown- Land.B, ; with the exception of certain small areas set apart for the natives^ ' You will "all remember that the Reserves Commissioners," Sir Dillon Bell and Sir William Fox, gave back to the patives out of the -unsold Orown Lands, , 145,170 .acres— the ; cream of the whole ■ Province". W^ should have reoeived £ of the r value of ' this r v area, as' provided by cection -17 o£ "rThe° Harbour Act, 1875." This 'land if solS in 1880, '81, ard '82 would have brought .on an average £5 or £6 per acre. Again, large areas of Drown Lands instead <Jf being sold hay« >een let upon perpetual lease. The pne'ourth "of" the'sS lands is . consequently, indefinitely withheld from thY Harbour Board. . The area_.of land , under per--petual jleajse.jp Maijch 31st is _1 6,000 cres. ' A blunder ''of eighteen miles pas- made in. cutting the Confiscated ■ AM, w!h^reby''jabo^tj 18 . square miles of < ountry'~nortn and .east -of the- Ngaire Ewainp.had been restored to the natives. ' I'his' block would equal about 11,600 tcres. .Again,, up. to March' 81, 89,000 acres had been sold upon the .deferred payment 1 system. l Should the present, tenure Gontinue'we will" get the fourth of- the land revenue for the Harbour Board, but you will notice that there w riot;<3ne.'raeeting now of tbe Land Board ft which there are not numerous applications for';' the land to be capitalised, and the .25 pet cent/Is t,hds withheld for ten yjeirs^ Ah'd when the time - comes for 'the capitalised settler; to. pay up be can • have his land leased as. .a perpetual leasehiold.-; In this vjay the 25 per cent, will be indefinitely; withheld from the Harbour Bjoard. I .think. I would not be over- , estimating the area if I said that of the. 89,000 acres already sold on deferred payment .quite 40,000 acres will become, "in a few. years, perpetual lejaseljpldsL" If 'would, therefore, if I am-correot, he, right 'for .me to assume tHat.pne foi:rttf,6f the 40,000 acres will be withheld from (the Harbour Board. Sutn.marising these. areas I have mentioned, we 'have no less than i 213,3 .8 acres, which, Estimated at a ; prioe of say- £3 10s per adre, gives' l a '-"value of the whole of £746,823.- -Of this our one fourth share wjmld amount to £186,705. (Cheers). I have, not taken education or other reservesinto consideration! for witli'tyem I. could baveFshown a much greater grand total. Now gentlemen you will. see, had the tenure, not'been altered ; had the blunder "o£jthesurveyors not been made ; and had the - Government . net been obliged to retium-the Jand to the natives, as recommended by.-the Royal Commissioner, this £189,705 -should- have been to our crejdit at the Harbour Board, and stood as a buffer against the rate about to be levied. Now," all this amounts to a breach of faith with'tho settlers, and a grave injustice to them, and Government should, therefore, remedy the" injustice that has been done by faking over the whole thing. (Cheers.) It is far worse from the bondholders' point of view. Consider, would they, if the Board stopped payment to-morrow, be able to touch the lands held on perpetual lease ? Could they touch the land granted to the natives ? They could 1 not. Then whe.re is the' 25 per' cent, land security ? Can* it be denied that the introduction of the perpetual leaseholders, and the granting jof the lands to the natives, is a grave injustice to the bondholders ? It cannot be denied thatfaith has been broken with them." .(Hear,* heari) Those who have followed me so far ' will, I hope, see that* the. colony should take over and complete the work as a colonial- work, not only as a remunerative work, butasa moasure of justice to the bondholders and settlers. These .are ..arguments which have had '-weig'htjin Parliament on similar questions, notably. 'bo ,in,the case of the District Railways: Act,- under which the railways had ;beeji made. The lands within the railway district were made liable to a rate equal to 5, per cent, on the cost of the construction of the lines. A large number of sottlers had been induced to purchase ' lands within the district, without express knowledge 1 of the rate:- In the debates in , Parliament 1 you 'will see that nearly every speaker who voted for 'the bill gave h" reasons for so doing bb being that t 1 "t ratepayer? and Bottlers had been- wr<- £™( and shouldbe relieved of the ratp m la « n * only possible way-buying out & ° pames. JFhat wrong ,was dr « b th private persons who. sold the, raQ(J £ th ° settlers; but in our case tVinjuatioe complain of was done- by ■ ibQ Government, and the wrong done > t0 the bondholders has therefore been <fc ae by the colony. If the first case- ffaß a jUBtj UBt clai how much greater is 'oura an injustice to the bondholders -«fid settlers at the hands of tne colony? If you adopt my schema ,tben it only remains for me to state the means I propose should be taken. Let it be adopted then without delay, and the news will, I assure you, be received with enthusiasm all round Mctfnt Eijmont, and our members in the provincial district will have to pledge themselves to adopt it or give plaoe to those who will. [A Voice: I will do that.l (Laughter.) -In the case of the district railways no profits were being made, and. yet the colony to relieve the oppressed ?-2? a y ers ia fchat caße «ad expended £000,000. Why not in our oato,whew the Government cauld profitably take over and complete the harbour ? I urge you .to advocate the proposal, and to so cause nil the contending interests and jealousies to merge in the common cause. If you 1 do not adopt it you have a hopeless maaa of conflicting interests to deal with—nopoint upon which you can agree; no common platform; and with every prospect oil failure and collapse. "There is a tide in tho affairs of men which taken at tho liood leads on to fortune; ooitted, all the voyage of their life is bound- in shallows and in miseries; " and we oust take ttio current when it serves or lose our venture.

ill. McGuire resumod his seatainid loud applause, la reply to ft number of qujtions, Mr,

McQuibb said in "regard"to the tota amount of money spent upon Westpor and Qreymouth, it was £900,000, of whiol wo Government was guarantee nowfoi »300,000. Hb . did not know who wen tjie owners of the land ocenpied by the Kailway .Departmeut and the retaining W. alty asjt was a local question. [Majoi Browß, who was present in the body oJ thje^ hall, said the land in question never belonged to the Harbor Board bul to the Provincial Government.] In reference to. the area of lands' unsold' he woe uTiaoleiio,. state tha exact amount. The sohqmehe had propounded would at least doableftj^e population and might even increase -it tenfold, if the Government i^oujd only take over the -work and reap thegoldSn harvest resulting to the outlay. i|n>. Cock moved a cordial vote of thanks to^Mr. McGuiro f[6r his* able oddreas, and that tbe meetings expressed confidence in the scheme as propounded^ to relieve the distfict"or"the"Harbouf Bbardf rate. Mr. Smith seconded the motion, which was put and carried unanimously. Mr. Dookbill spoke in favour of the formation of a committee to investigate and consider the practicability of carrying out the scheme, and to not in conjunction with c6mmUtees that may be 'elected in other ; centres of the district. On his motion, seconded by Mr. W. A. Colus,' the following committee, with power to .add to their ;number, was appointed : — The Mayor (Mr .'W. Bayly), Messrs. Connett, Goldwater, Bellringer, Dookrill, R, Cook, J. Teale, jun., W. Wright, Smith, J. Ward, Ardan, Denham, J.- 0. George, R. C. Hughes, W. A. Collis. The mooting terminated by Mr. McGaire movirig a vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding.' At a meeting of the Committee held immediately^ after a sub-cohfmittee was tppomted,tdenquire.into -th& ,autheaticity of the figures quoted by Mr*. McGuire, and also to ascertain the area of unsold; Crown Lands -and the estimated value of the same. Mr. W. Bayly, wag. appointed Chairman of the executive ..Committee, witlfMr. "J. Q. George., as Seo., and the sab- committee were. elected as follows :— r Meßßrs: Bellringer, Cock, Connetty I)ook-i, rilJ, and George. t