HARBOUR EXTENSION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 11661, 22 January 1901, Page 3

HARBOUR EXTENSION.

TO THX KDITOK.

Sir, — Orer two years ago I wrote to the local papers on Harbonr matters, and I will now, with yonr permission, repeat my letter with some slight alterations. As the Harbour Board elections will take place in about a month. I think it a good time to lay before the public the following scheme, which I would suggest for the development and improvement of the New Plymouth Harbour ; a scheme which will enable us to pay off our present indebtedness of L 200.000, give about L 130,000 to the New Plymouth Harbour, and at the same time decrease the rates now payable by LSOOO a year at first and finally and permanently by LISOO a year, after the sum of L 130,000, which this scheme makes available, has been expended in harbonr improvements. My proposal is to borrow L 300,000. in the London market on debentures issued by the New Plymouth Harbour Board bearing interest at 3J per cent., and these debentures could, I believe, be iloattd at par, if not at a premium, considering the splendid security the Board can now give to the debentureholders, as a rate of |d enabled the Board to pay L 12,100 a year in interest, and that not only the extent, but also the value, of the rating area are continually increasing, and the land revenue is not likely to diminish for many years to come. With the L 300,000 thus raised, I propose first to take up and pay off the present debentures, as before stated, representing L.200,000, of which about L 41.000 are already in the hands of the Sinking Fund Commissioners, and L 159,000 remain in the hands of foreign bondholders. These L 159,000 debentures can, I believe, be purchased in the open market for about L 167.000, and those in the hands of our own Sinking Fund Commissioners at par represent L41,C00. Taking the expenses of raising the loan at L3OOO, we have: Cost uf debentures in the hands of foreign holders, LI 67,000; sinking fund, L 41,000; costs of floating loan, L 3000; making a total of L 2 11,000. This sum, taken from the proposed loan of L3OO 000, leaves L 89.000, which, with the sum of L 41,000 in the hands of the Sinking Fund Commissioners will render available for expenditure the respectable sum of £130,000. To carry out this scheme it will require the consent of the new Board, also the co-opera-tion of the members of the district to obtain the necessary legislative authority; but the advantages of the scheme are so obvious — the obtaining of L 130,000 to spend on new works with a decrease of the present burdens of the ratepayers — that there should be no difficulty in obtaining the necessary legislative sanction and consent of the ratepayers. The annual interest on the prcsont loan of L 200,000 is L 12.000 a year, the interest on the proposed loan of L 300,000 at 3} per cent would be only L 10,500 a year, thus permanently saving annually LI 500: but before the sum of L 130,000 rendered available for improvements has been all expended a large portion of it, say LIIO,OOO at first, and decreasing at the rate of L 20,000 a year as the expenditure on improvements goes on, can be deposited in the Bank at from 2$ to 3 per cent. This interest can be appropriated to pay the interest on the L 300,000 and so relieve the ratepayers to the extent of the interest thus derived from the money so deposited; so to begin with, after the new loan is raised, the ratepayers will have at first lo pay the annual interest of L 7,500 only, which will gradually increase to LI 0.500 as the money deposited is expended. Not until tbe whole of the sum of LI 30,000 is expended will the annual interest amount to L 10,500, and by that time the ratepayers will be deriving the benefits of all the improvements which shall have been effected by this expenditure. Such a scheme as I now submit should have the ready approval of all ratepayers, the L 130,000 given to the New Plymouth Harbour should be sufficient to construct a mole in extension of the present breakwater such as is proposed by Mr Marchant, the Board's Engineer, and erect the necessa-y wharf accommodation, make other improvements, and purchase a powerful dredge such as was recommended by Sir John Coode. With regard to the townships of Waitara and Opunake I would suggest that they be relieved from payment of the Harbour rate by providing in the new Harbour Bill for their entire exclusion from tbe harbour rating area, and thenceforth they would have no burdens to meet in respect of the New Plymouth Harbour, although both of these towns must benefit considerably indirectly by having 4 larger and safe harbonr of ref nge being constructed at New Plymouth. These towns then would have in the future no votes in New Plymouth Harbour elections or matters, but, as we are generously relieving them of all rates, they should throw in their influence in favour of this scheme, and so we think and hope they will. The ratepayers may cheerfully, and with confidence, enter into this scheme, as, besides the enormous direct and indirect benefits they will derive from extended harbonr accom- 1 modation, their burdens most certainly will be greatly lessened. The land revenue has for years averaged i 6000 a year, and is not likely to decrease, the harbour endowments will shortly bring in an annual rental of £1000, so that there is only £3500 a year to be made up out of rates, and this again will be lessened as the harbour accommodation is extended by the increased harbour and wharf dues which will undoubtedly be then received — so that the ratepayers may look forward before long to be entirely relieved of the payment of rates if they adopt this scheme. I think, too, we may confidently expect the loan to be floated at par, as the security offered is so abun dantly ample, sure, and complete, and is ever increasing in area and value, and in fact is now at least three times as valu- | able as when the existing loan was raised. Extended accommodation at New Plymouth must greatly benefit the inland towns of this district by cheapening freights and lessening the cost of exporting their produce and importing their goods. Let u» then sink petty and local jealousies, and unite in a spirit of just and honourable rivalry in endeavouring to make this fair land of ours not only a large commercial centre, carrying on a direct trade with England and the Commonwealth of Australia, for which our po-t will then be eminently suitable, but one of the finest and most prosperous in the colony.— l am, &c, Arthur Standish.