Harbour Extension.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12287, 20 June 1903, Page 2

Harbour Extension.

'COMMITTEES;" JIEPOE^^pOi'TED. , At" the Harbour Bos^d on Friday 'afternoon the report of the Special Committee upon harbour extension was considered*" s The Chairman moved the adoption of the report, which has already been published in our columns in full. Briefly, the Committee suggested the advisability of first endeavouring to obtain from the" Government the services of sufficient prisoners to carry out the work in conjunction with men to be employed by tthe Board. Should prisoners not be available, the Committee recommended that the necessary steps be taken to bring a Bill before Parliament giving power, with the consent of the ratepayers at a poll, to finance a loan of £160,000 at the rate of about £25,000 a year. Mr Connett said he had communicated with the Premier re prison labour, and Mr Seddon had promised to lay the matter before the Cabinet on his return to Wellington. The Ministers were now in Wellington and he (Mr Connett) was prepared to go there at once to interview them. Mr King, in seconding the motion for the adoption of the report, first referred to certain statements that had been made in the country with reference to the proposed berthage accommodation being insufficient for steamers trading to the colony. He would like to ask the Engineer whether there was any ulffieulty in the way of dredging berthage accommodation for the largest steamer trading to the colony. . Mr Marchant said that in the plans -for the harbour extension the dredging of the large area of sheltered water was the 'expensive jmrt. Formerly 28 feet* was regarded asi the maximum draught of vessels fully laden, b(ut it was not considered livkely that vessels wojuiijd vistit here fully ; laden, therefore 25 feet of water at low water was provided for as ample. This would give 36 feet at hjgh water, with which it would be possible to. • work the wharf for 3 or 4 hours. It would, however, only cost a few hundreds to dredge a berth to a. much" greater depth. ' Mr Mac Lean asked how many feet of water was required under a vessel in a fair way. He understood 10 feet was required. Mr Max-ohant : Nothing of the sort,' in sheltered water. The J'send" of big steamers was only a few inches, say six or nine inches. At a berth practically no spare water wasi required, while in a passage two feet was ample. Mr King, continuing,, said it was time something was done to give the ratepayers a chance to,' say whether there should be an extension of the harbour. Parliament would meet shortly, and a Bill should be brought in in order to give the ratepayers an opportunity to express their opinions. Mr Maxwell opposed the motion. He contended that the Board as at present constituted, with Government nominee members, had no right to debate a question in which the land revenue was not concerned. The proposals in the report meant more borrowing, which could only bo effected^ on the security of an extra rate. The Government nominees had a right to vote on the ordinary business of the Board, but not on a matter affecting the rate* payers only. Either <tße Government nominees should abstain from voting, or the Board .should not donsider* the report. The Farmers' Union Conference had discussed the question that" day, when not a word was said against the harbour or its extension, but the Conference, which included delegates from all parts of the district and of all shades of opinion, unanimously decided- to oppose any extension until the constitution of the Board was altered in the direction of giving the ratepayers greater representation and reducing the Government representation to one member. It would only, injure the extension movement to bring it forward now, for many who might be favourable to extension woiUfL oppose it on the ground mentioned. They had no right to ask the ratepayers to do any "more. The first loan was obtained on the assurance that no rate would be levied and that the harbour would be of enormous advantage to the district. These ' assurances had not been fulfilled. The loan was secured on the harbour fund, that is, on all revenue, from dues, charges, remits from endowments, rates, and land revenue, and the interest should be a first charge on all revenue. It was stated by - Captain Wray — backed up lay. Sir Harry Atkinson— when land was being solid that although the land was liable to a rate there was no likelihood of a rate being levied, at any rate for more than two or thrfie^years. But tho loan ran short, and the harbour was incomplete, and then the sinking fund was seized. He had been accused of misrepresentation on ' the subject of the sinking fund, but he contended that the money seized was trust money, wha't'eveir "it "was called.With the exception of two sums of £27 and £58 the money was all land fund and interesit on unexpe'iudecl portions oJ the loan. ' The balance of £26,000 odd, with the exception of about, £3000 which was paid into the Harbour, Trust Account, was seized. ' According to the Act land revenue should be devoted to paying interest, yet, in defiance of this, the money was diverted, otherwise no rate would have been required for at least seven' years. He admitted it was done under the protection of the Supreme Court, but it was 1 unjust and the Board dttght to have protected the , ratepayers instead of being party to the seizure. The re- j suit waa that a rate had to be levied. It was stated in the report that there was' surplus , revenue amounting to £3000. If such a surplus existed he considered it scandalous that it should not go to paying interest. Other Boards strapped their ordinary fund for every . coppeC it was worth, and even overdrew their account to pay interest before going to the ratepayers. The Chairman and Mr, King interposed that the report proposed to meet interest. on tho new loan, out of ordinary revenue. Mr Maxwell, continuing said the Board, by good management, had got into a, good position, and if it wasable to pay interest on a new lo&n it should firat devote its «iurp}u& to pay interest on the old one, instead of striipjpJMg the ratepayers. 'TCo wo'ulcl support improvements to the wharf, but he thought that at least the rents, from endowments, now amounting to, about £1000 a year, should go to pay , interest on the old loan. He l^ad previously moved in that direction, The ratepayers "were entitled to that and it waa hopeless to go to them

with new proposals until they were fairly dealt with. He was absolutely unconvinced of the need or the feasi-; bility of the extension proposals. The interests of the whole district would better served by making the . .port a good coasted port as a tributary to Wellington. Wellington ranked from fifth to seventh among the*harb'ours of the world, but it had to spend large revenues and loans in keeping its accommodation abreast of the times. Its whole success was due to excellent equipment and low charges. Millions of money spent at Moturoa could not bring the harbour "within a coo-ec" of Wellington, and then the cost -of equipment would only commence. Mr King had once told him that hefouMl it cheaper to import through Sydney than direct from London to Welling-, ton. That was because Sydney attracted the, largest liners with plenty of competition. If they extended the harbour here they would have to depend on perhaps only one line of tramps, and they would be worse off than trading through Wellington, where there was competition. Wellington was trying to concentrate trade there, so as to get the largest class of 'steamers, and it wojuld pay, us infinitely better to have the advantage of . those vessels than to depend, upon a few inferior boats coming he-ore. If direct vessels «came here the charges would be high, the vessels of a poor and limited in number, and^t was a ''dead certainty" that occasionally they would have to go by. • Moreover, large boats coming here would cause the withdrawal of ihe coastal boats, and ihen if a steamer could not esommiunfeate their produce would have to be railed to Wellington!, At the Bluff/- although vessels of 6000 ton* lay there, the butter was sent by coastal boat to Lyttelton. (MrJKing: — That is because they have not the, freezing accommodation). The class of vessels coming here would be the ocean tramp, and theyNvould prefer .to send their butter by the largest steamers, shipping it fortnightly immediately before the departure of the vessel for London. Another serious feature i was that there were such rapid changes in, the shipping world that before long ' the • Home-going vessels would only be limited in size by the accommodation in the best ports.' . All the minor ports, probably even Timaru, which is perhaps the best artificial* port in the colony, would boeome tributaries to the largest ' ports. Yes-, sels of 5000 and. 6000 tons would not be in the Home trade for long. The -question of cost was .a serious, one to,' producers. At present they could send Jbutter from New- Plymouth toi London at the same rat© as from. Wellington. Where then 1 advantage to be gained ?•' It waa' $mp*os J sible to suppose that Plymouth' could provide equal facilities at alow cost like Wellington. It therefore plaid large vessels better to pay the cost of freight to Wellington than- jfco come here. , Mr King : Are you sure of that ? . Mr Maxwell : Yes, quite sure. The low dues at Wellington are.ooj of its chief advantages. Mr Foreman : What are the dues: in Wellington ? - < Mr Maxwell : Where a vessel ' pays £120 m Wellington it would pay J&.180 at Lyttelton and £(240 at Port Chalmers. ' Mr King: What abowt the charges on goods ? 'Mr Maxwell could- not say. However good a port was, heavy charges were against it. If New Plymouth liked to pay for the harbour it was j all. right. He pointed- -out, however, that in addition to tihe 2s wiharfage, tho interest charge© amounted to another's per ton. H«e said the Board had received no information ing it in proposing an extension. The imports amounted to 51,000 tons a year, but that included Government coal and sleepers—dead trade"; only 42,000 itons paid wharfage. This was chiefly colonial trajde, English imports forming a very small proportion. Their exports were drifting, although they liad reduced their ohairges, thus saying a portion" of the trade. They haid an excellent little coastal port, whirih might be improVed, btut tihere was nothing tp show 1 , that the large sum proposed ' to-be 'spent was* war— l'antdd by the foreign. trade. # 'It would cost ijheim 15a ' per ton in interest alone. •Mr Dinlgle said he^ would be in favjoui: of the Coranitbtee's recomtmondation with regard to prison labour, w3iioh he thought might be profitably used until the present loan matured. Hie was disappointed, that no favourable .reply j had been received from the Government. If they made an apteal to the ratepayers now tthey would only court defeat." At Sir&tford there , wcvulH be 2to 1 against them 1 , anjd in the Elt'haim anH H'awera- •districts they would get little or np sw'p&orl. If he voted m favour of the motion he wduld only be voting to be badly defeated, b(ut if prisoners! were obtainable ho would certainly give ihero. a trial.

Mt M.oLean said, he had considered the miatter from a W)aim,at<3 point of view. He noticed it^w-as' stated in the "FeraM" that he haicl at one time seconded a motion by M.r Livingston in favour of the Board boxrowli'g a further sum of £60,000 (Really £100, OOO.^Ed. T.H.)- He did so 'because lit that tinre the Board haid spent £200,000 arid had no facilities for carrying on the -trade Wdtihotit boat: ing, and they haid the authority r of . Sir Hjarry Aitkinson, ,o,ne of the great*, est financiers the colony ,ey e v had,, that tlioy would never be^called. onjtb pay a irate. At .th-'af time, he hinpiscli! saw no reason to expect a rate, for they had the laoid fund and about £40,000 of accumulated. hm r ds. It was impossible to foresee, even if £60,000 more was feorr.owe'd, that a ra{e would be required. It would have been selfish of them to oppose the loan then. Perhaps ...tihoy had also a Helfiaih motive in stip^orjthig- the loan, j for they ,ha r d beef, and' mutton to ox- , port antrl Waitara as ;an only outlet, ' •■wh&re Mr Thomas Bayly was able to charge them Is per head. But their

interests t vvyerja,, dov. : very „-' different. Their beef Went' to'^ondfon^andV^atea took their butter. They were; entitled to hajve surplus ' revenue devoted ,to reducing .their rates. The<Boai:d- had seized the Sinking I<Hgid legally throjugii the SiijprejaDe' Court and he< could not altogether blame the New Plymouth" people, fyut as guarantors of the loan -the ratepayers QUgjht to have been considered. It was foolish to Suppose tihey could take trade feonx' Wellington. At Btome, although there were many; ports,. Liverpool, Xonldon, and -Glasgow really did the foreign trade. 'Even if l they spent another^ £1150^00^ they wo^d not get the! large" .There was nothing" to in— dluce" them- • to come- Ttoejfc -had. no titrijber^ti no corn, nothing but a bit of twitter arid cheese. Their land funH was nearly gone, atiH faitih h'a^d beeij broken with the ratepayers in every respect,, for .r 200,000 acres of lanjd had been' talked! frbin them. Niapier had spent ' afccut £500,000 .'anfd haid 5 feet more water at the wharf than could be hcipefct for 'here, yet vessels would not go alongside, when they, were even offered a remission of all dues. , • - Mr Foreman , aipfked if the fatter was a fact. The Secretary of the, Napier Kariboxir Board Had told hin* they frajcl never asiked vessel a to go alongside, an/d did not want tiiem until- they ha,tL proper accomm'pdatiom. * .x » . ... .j , Jtr Maxwell said he Jiaicl ., se^n the statement in a Napier, paper. Ajiy--hiow dfc was a fact 'thiat the, large vessels' were tendered and never went. -to the wharf. , ■ - * , - ' .'- ' 'Mr S/faeLean said , he ,wouM- waive that argument. At Wianganui they were able with one tender to put '35, 00° <*heep, besides hides-, .tallow, etc, r-«- yd an Englisjh , vessel in ,12 r•• c "Then' why should the Board hv,*.tf "put all this- terrible- expense on the ratepayers.' It wqSuld be crju^hirig: They were told no rate would, be req.uired, but Sir Efarry Atdrinsoti had formerly told them ihe same thing: Owing to irigfhcr valuations ;tthe raising, of the, rate from £d to fdhad. nearly doubled- their, rates. •He o]p'~. posed the motion. ' ■ - --_;*•_ : Mr Foreman. §iaid, he cduld. not sujj- • port it, but wo(uld, if allowed, support the portion . referring to prison, lafoofoir. He thought an appeal to the ratepaylars now would' be a loss of mloney. The country would- be almjost unanimbus *. against it, and -even in .around . N-ew T - IPlj»mio!utih" {there wjould be .opposition. The time", forextension had not arrived, and of they were not cautious they would place' a frtfrden on tihe ratepayers; which , ".the trade wouM not warrant. In Napier, they could - accommodate ' larger* boats than here, but he. was told the rate, which was •Id in- "the town and %d in the cbiiniry, .was' severely , felt!. T|hey wduld th!us see that it was ea&jr '4fc> **£<? Jtoo* far. B/e - moved anamtendinDent that' 'the- portion of the report" recommending prison' labour be adopted. jMr Ward said Mr Maxwell was very one-sided. lie supported . ■'the motion and saw. no occasion . for Mr Fore— mian's . amendment! Hje felt sure they wcjulid. get prison labour, anjd no haaSdaihlp HurojuH" be inflicted on ratepayers.. With regard to Mr- .Maxwell's argju— mjeni about Governmeait nominees.' not voting, he said the Government had paid nearly £200,000 of land revenue •'tp the Board and were entitled to re- . presetatiation, and men who were entrusted with the representation were 'surely entitled to vote. Moreover, the Government nominees were ratepayers . as well as the others, and. on that ground were entitled to a voice em' the miatter. CJertain of- itjhe Board had taken ,up a lot of time,in fact, adopted stone-walling -tactics in hope of defeating the motion, which he would support. J The Chairman .having - esked if any other member wished to' speak, and no one responding, even to - second Mr Foreman's amendment, . proceeded to reply. He said Mr Maxwell had taken up a lot of time, and asked, by •what right he opposed ratepayers being given ihe opportunity €b vote' on the question/ as they; N wpuld be" when arguments— not, of the class Mr Maxwell -had advanced— rhad, been put' before them. J lie believed in getting prison . l&boilr./il . possible. t With" ;re~ gard to Mi* Maxwell's .assertion, "that they ; hsd , nothing before .them, to iwarrant the extension proposal^,: he said the ratepayers, the Chamber of I'cmmerce, the Dairy Association, and Farmers'. Union branches had.^asked for it. He was surprised at Mr Maxwell raking up the matter, of a promise 'that no rate would' be. required. Since that statement was made 200, 000 acres of land had been taken from them, and the land ( .tenure hact been altered. The. then Chairman had been quite 'right, and the ( cover umeot v»s responsible for the altered conditions. With respect to surplus Revenue, lie said that in '4£ months the overdraft had been reduced £2000 and in another four .months it would be wiped. out. Their Engineer reported everything, in first-class order. They had a surplus' revenue, as well as power to overdraw so that ' there is no likelihood of, a further tax on ratepayers. The ; . sinking fund referred to was sinking ftiinti in name only. The Supreme Court had decided that question and ordered it to be refunded to the Bdaed. The interest earned by anex peatfed loan, was a part of the loan. The Supreme Court said so. * Wita xegoic to butter, the existing arrangement under which the Shipping . Companies paid, freight. io -was for; a term only ...w^s -,no.« , likely to be irenewed. Jfet '-wished n*.ei,iHrs wojuld --.' move .in,,, the direction Of • progress. . Before the. breakwater was ..constructed freights to Wellington were 40/, and if they had not built it where would they be now ? What, would their lands bo worth ? The Paitea boats, it was true, sometimes took butter away. , > jMr Mac Lean :' Patea sends away 1 nearly .as much butter as New PlyI and they were satisfied. I Mr Connctt : The deatem are not satisfied lor' sometimes the boats 'are detained for days with bufler on

board. In conclusion, he urged that there need be no ' fear of an. increased rate for six. .years 1 . Then .the present loan would mature, and the interest on both would.be no more than they now

.paid on, ope. T i „ iljr itf'a'xwell rosp tp mjave, an amendment^ but ? was ruled' put' of order. He held that he had a fightto- move'eau a,menJdanent r at' any; time before ~ the motion was actually put. -.• Mr ' Price said he had *2C|i years' experience on local bodies, £>nd.ha lpld that any amendment niust .be ihoved before ", the mover of the original motion, replied. - T '. "-.*/ " Mr Foreman thought *Mr Maxwifl .was wrong, -an ' opinion in 'which other members condiirrefl. The Chairman said, when Mr Maxwell was Chairman lie made -a practice of speaking before putting a motion, a, practice which he always believed - was -wtfong^ . ' , ' - '-.;, Mr Maxwell reiterated his right to move an amendment; but the Chair- . man ruled him out of order*, .saying; that it would be grossly unfair. ; The motion was then put, and a division being called fo^, the voting- re- ;*; * suited' thus: —^Ayes (in favour 'of - theadoption of. the report). The Chairman \ancl. Messrs King, Price, and Ward ; Noes : Messrs Maxwell, Mac,Leanp Dingle* and Foreman. The Chairman gave his casting vote with the Ayes sand declared the motion carried.; Mr .Maxwell rose to a point of order, ' arguing that < Parliamentary ' procedure must be adhered to. ' The proposal, -was to ' borrow thus depart from , •^.©bxi»ting -state of affairs, and the k casting vote' should be in favour of the existing " state of affairs- ' Mr JBang said the proposal was^bnly; to 'sul?niit t lie question to the .ratepayers. . ' - / ' Mir Maxwell asked for his protest .. to be recorded, , whereupon Mr Wartl reminded 'Mr Maxwell €hat he had, when ' chairmaii, on occasions; given his casting vote against the existing state of affairs. ' " . . ■ -Thus^ the7,discus> ! .ioli >1 which at, th» r latter - en^. V^ha4. T .beepme 2 heated, . concluded..,. ..->■ n -•

, Little. Jack Hprner^., , .).-/" )•--'::) •-- ': : kpped in a t corner, r., . . • t : -<n.^ And couldn't eat pudding or pie. Till he 'heard fr^^a-toff '-'^ H^>> About. Sykes^Cura^ Cough, , "] ■ And now he shputs never say die.* \ You want value for ypur'^ii^oney^ Yqu want your.jnoney's w.prtihy - The "Kash" Clothing Company gives you both.* .' _,- ' Tot Children's . Sacking- Gaugh at! nitrht take "Woods'- ' Great Peppermint S^e, 1/6 and 2J& ' . .