The Taranaki Harbour .--No 10

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12289, 23 June 1903, Page 7

The Taranaki Harbour .--No 10

THE SINK.ING FUND AFFAIR

A STABTLIN.G CONCLUSION

After expressing his opinion about the- No. 1 Sinking Fund Account Mr Seiuuel proceeded to tell tho Board that lie had arrived at a somewhai startling conclusion, which was that the Board need not ever have set aside any money for sinikLng- fund, and nead not in the future do s"o. He suggested tli at he should be authorised to yubmit a case to other counsel on tihe subject.

After discussion the Board passed a series of resolutions to the efiect that Mr Samiuel be instructed to claim from the Commissioners the moneys at .the credit of No. i Account; also of No. 2 Account; and that if tho same were not paid within one day an action in the" Supreme Court sholuld be commenced.

Tho members present paid a tribute to Mr Samuel for his services in the matter.

It ougjht perhaps here to be mentioned that Messrs Marchant and Yorjke, wh.o had previously expressed themselves against touching the sinking fund aecoU'ntw, wore not present at this meeting, which otherwise was ■unanimous in the action taken. With characteristic energy, Mr Samuel at once proceeded to Wellington — tihe Commissioners 'having, as was, of

course, anticipated, declined to htinicl

over the money — and took other Counsels' opinion — the nature of which did not publicly transpire biut was understood to be contrary to his own.

Having, however, received fiull discre-

tiohary power from the Board, Mr Samuel instituted the suit in theSupreme Court and endeavoured to get it removed to the Appeal Court then sitting, but the Appeal Court sittings ended before the requisite formalities* oould fie comlplied with. As^ the position of affairs at the harbour' could not brook of delay and no re- j gtalar sitting at New Plymouth would be held for several months Mr Sanyuol applied to the Judges at Wellington anid obtained an order (under the urgent arid sipocial circtutustauccs) for a gjpecial sitting of .the Supreme Court ' at New Plymouth on November 30th.

THE SUPREMOS COURT CASE

Accordingly Mr Justice Ward hePd a, Special sitting on Tuesday, November30tih. Mr Sam.uel appearing as counsel for the Harbour Jioaikl and Messrs Govett and Itic.b.monfd for the Sinking Fund Commissioners as defendants. In opening thot'ttse Mr Samuel said that the question might arise (it had al-: ready been raised by Mr T. Kelly in a letter to the Taramiki HcraM) as tt> whether the .power kept alive by the, Act of IS7B WH-s that of borrowing £200.000 or £350,000. He himself thought it perfectly unarguable,- to 'which his Honor replied that it was qtaite dut of the question; the power was only to raise £21)0,000 and no more. The witnesses for the Board were Messrs Kennell (socrottu-yK Baiidhoipe (the former T. King (chairman), T. Kelly (a former member and chairman). It. Kundle, A.

Standish, and W. Bayly (members or ex-inembfci'9 of the Board). For the

Commissioners, Major Parris and Mr F. A. Cairington (Commissioners), and Messrs Marchant and Yorke (members of the Boaud) gave evidence. The judgment of the "dnirt waa that the No. 2 Account y cauM not bo toucher], the moneys in it having boon deiVnitoly appropriated for the purpose of paying interest and sinking fund. With regard to No. 1 Account, the decree was thCft the Commissioners were merely' trustees for the Board, and as <?uch bo.uiul to account to them. An order was consequently made for. an account to be taken of all the land fund in No. 1 Account, and that

the amount of the land fund, after calculation* should bo deducted from the No. I Account then staudi'ng to tihe Commissioners* credit, and be paid to a f-e-paratc acemmt for interest and sinking- SUnd interest in the first instance. 11 is Honor nat in Chambers the following day and settled the decree, under which the Commissioners' had to

pay' £20,901 0s 4d to the Harbour Fund Account anVl £3345 10s ]Id to the Harbolur Trust -Account. The' £20.901 6s 4d ■ was made up as follows :— lnterest oh unexpended loan moneys, £19,6(54 15s Hid; rents, £993 11s sd; port charges, £218 Jos 7{d; beach stone sold, JD2-1 Vms 6d. Total

£20,«)01 6s 4cl. The decree was, it may lie remarked, in exact accordance with Mr Samuel's dpi n ion as given to the Board, which, at its next meeting, pa.Wd a reKoliution "that a vote of thanks be <rive,n to Mr Samuel, for his management of

tihe case, ' ami the Board desires to express its satisfaction at tho rapid manner in which it was comlxict<U o!xk\ brought to a success! u 1 termination." Mr Samuel farther adlvised that in his opinion it was no longer necessary to set asilde £2000 per an.ivu.tn as sinking EunrJ, and this opinion has over dince rjeon acted on and oonseqtfent 'drain on the ' finance!* of the Board avoided.

PROOEjEDIK-a WITJI r JTII.'K WORK.

Tho BoarH, having now over £'M).000 to tipend, decided to resume eonytnuction work at once. The stall were rc-o]iq,agcd artel steps were taken for the erection of a wharf. It was* alyo .decided to offer the Kawa'u J'ah reserve for lease for 21 years. ' On February 2nd, 1887, the Boanl accepted the tender of Mr James Phil,p for the construction of cattle and cargo wharves, the contract price beinjr £9053 7s 'I'd. On February 10lh the dredge "Thomas King" was launched, some

£1 :}OO or JCI'JOO having been spent in fitting her for the purpose of rJi'eklgfinjv saacl at the end ot the wall and within the harbmir.

On February 11th the biennial election took place, when Mr Merchant again roeeijved very substantial Wpport in the tow,n. Messrs Ootmott and Stcvtfi)«on (Opimjike) wore also elncted. Menses Corkill amf Rellrinper beinj? the unsuccessful caincli dates. Mr Kincr was re-elocted chairman.

Hi: ADJUSTMENT OF LOAN PROPOStfID.

On March :i:)i-<\ Mr Samuel as MJI.Ti for Now Plymouth waited on the members and laid before them a proposal for a readjustment of t'ho Board's finances. Briefly put, iho proposal was to obtain from the LegislotMrc an Act to authorise tihe conversion of the existing loan into one bearing 4 or 4£ per rent interest. JTo estimator! that a ten per wnt

premium would have to be paifl for the bontfn, making tho new loan £220,000— the accumulated sinking fund wo/ukl meet tihe charges in connection ■ with raising the new loan — which, at 4 per cent, w.onild r-ntail an annual charge of £fiSOO instead of £12.000-. Thn land fund ami tho rate would t>e MiUlk'if-nt to meet U\w srnailor

| f*vm. Unless borne kucJi veharm 1 could «be carried o#t he feared the rate

' would be ins,ufiiciunt and would have to be raised. 11? held out no hope of tjbie Government helping the Boarjd iK ]XM«t any, deficiency. The Board appointed a committee of the whole to confer with Mr Samuel and report, liut no such report appears to have been made.

THE BREAKWATER AS A'COLO-

KLAL WORK

On May ISth, 1-887. Mr F. McGwire g-ave an adUress in New Plymouth upon the breakwater as a colonial wonk. He said that while recognising' the importance of the wor,k he fJid his fellow settlers in the soulihcrii part of the district would continue to oppose any Bill which proposed to rate them further. He was averse to any more local loans, but thought the district sihould ttnite in urging the Government to take over the wot'k anrl complete it as a colonial undertaking. He jjointexl out that Sir Dillon Bell and Sir William Fox, as AVest Coast Commissioners, gave back to the nath es, o;ut oi tile unsiol'd Crown land^, 1-15,-L7O acres — the cream of tho wliole province. The Harbour Board should

have recei;\ ed a

fourth of the value

of this area, as ?)7'o-vnlod by section 17 of the llarbour 1 AeL. 1875. r rhis

lai>d, if sold in

ISBO. 1881. and ltft*2

woulU have brought on an a\ erage £o or «C«) jjer .acre. A^ain, It rge areas of Crown lands had been let

on perj)otiiial lease instead of beingMold. Fwther, owino- to v. blunder in (jutting the Coniiscation Line üboMt ll,()00 acres of la;ml bai) been t-iven to the natives, and the Board lost a fourth of its value. Altogether he estimated that the Board had beeu tirjustry de.nrived ol £180.703, whie«a would ha.vc stood ,is a Under against a i-ate. This. hejcont««nlded, .was a breach of faith 6n'*the"part of the C«-verann-nt. who oiig-ht to -remody the injustice by taking oVe.r t t hc whole

On the motion of Mr Cook, a resoliu•tfoh wiis passed thankimg Mr McCJ'uiro aiid exjpressin": conli^leiico . in hi» nehenie. A eojuiuittiy was ulectcd to investigate aiul consid'M- the. practicability of carrying- out ; the scheme; At the meotiiisi- of' the .If arbour Board on May lsth Mr J. C. Yorkc's rcsigination warf read, an.d it is w<u'tiiy' of 'note that he srtatod in 'his letter

that he ha«d always

fouivl the mein-

bers of the Board prqpared' to treat the claims' o£ outlyino' districts with strict fairness. RTRST XiIPOSITION OF A RATEi On June Ist 31 r Stexenson inoyetl : "That j/üblie. notice be »i\cn that it is tihe intuition of 'tKe Boaivl, in ex- . ei>eise of idle powers Aestod in it in tlhat bclialf,' to make a, rale of three

farthings in the £ on all rateable property in the New Plymouth- Harbour Rating District for the periud commuunn'j on Juno 20th, IhvS7. and entliiio- on .lime ID. 1888/' Mr Oonnett seconded tiho motion, which was carried unanimously. This coui.se was absolutely rteefpxary in onder to .meet the. paymeaits- of- interest. Had *he tiovcniinent- not substituted the leading and deferred payment systems of disposing of land for the cu^h system, ami had not the Board been despoiled of the value of its share of the land given back to the nathes, it would not have been noce.-oary to leVy a. rate for many years, if at all.

THE LAST SECTION LAHD.

On or about J-une 1-t, J.SS7, the last section oi the breakwater Mas fomented, brijifyinjr its total length to 1050 feet, or 21)3 feot beyond the limit anticipated by Sir John Coocle. (To be Continued.)