The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1890.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8755, 17 April 1890, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1890.

The harbour works at Gisborne have had to l)c stopped, and the works left in an unfinished condition. This .state of things had been brought about owing to the money in hand having come to an end sooner than was expected. It appears that £3585 having been borrowed from loan account to meet the interest falling due in London, the money lias to be paid back. This sum has to come out of th« rates and wharf revenue. The highest rate the Board can strike is a penny in the £ in the borough and halfpenny in the country, which would raise a sum of £5000, and, j with £3000 derivable from interest on the amount in Public Trustee's hands, the Board will be able to make up £8000. But the local paper says £10,000 has to be paid annually to the bondholder, and, in addition, £212 as costs of transmission to London. Thus there is a deficit of £2212, even supposing the Board be absolved from the yearly payment of £1000 as contribution to sinking fund and repayment of money borrowed from loan to pay the first year's interest. The general account, however, can be made to yield a net revenue of £2000 per annum, and the revenue oi' the port is said to be increasing, but there will be a deficit of £4.000 to meet. The only course open to the Board is to raise the wharf dues, so as to bring in an additional £2000 a year. " That," says the Poverty Bait ! Hem hi, ''would bo a most sorrowful result of the attempt at harbor building at Gisborne, and the very opposite of what was expected. Rates ami heavy wharf dues, with no better shipping accommodation, is assuredly not the state of things that people bargained for. This is not a cheorfal way of regarding the position, but it is just as well to look mutters squarely in the face. It would be a most serious handicap on the port if the Board were compelled to raise the shipping dues so as to yield a net revenue of £4000 per annum. We refrain from mentioning the charge per ton necessary to bring in the required sum. Still a three half-penny rate in the town and a three-farthings in the country would be a grievous impost on property-holders, but if the choice be be limited to additional wharf dues or additional rating, we believe most people would pronounce in favor of the former." To add to their other trouble at Gisborne, "the Board's engineer has now to admit that the sand is travelling from the westward," which will tend to fill up the j harbor in time, so .that the work will be pendered useless. We very much regret to learn all this, aud hope that our friends on the East Coast will yet see a way to get out of their difficulties.