Taranaki Herald SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1908. THE HARBOUR LOAN.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13797, 31 October 1908, Page 4

Taranaki Herald SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1908. THE HARBOUR LOAN.

Last night's jneeting of harbour ratepayers concluded" tlje series of meetings made necessary by statute for the purpose of enabling the ratepayers to have- the borrowing proposals explained to them. Upon the whole ifce results must be regarded as satisfactory. The proceedings being purely formal it was not expected that the gatherings would be large 'or enthusiastic for or against the proposals. At two or three places, where a few months ago there was active hostility to the Harbour Board, the meetings lapsed for want of interest, which shows that the ratepayers in those districts accept the new Act as placing them in a better position than they are in at present. At Stratford, Elthani, and Toko some little opposition was shown to still exist, but evidently it is in a minority. At two or three other places, notably Whangamomona, the most remote centre, warm support was given the proposals. These have been very fully explained by Mr. Connett, Mr. King, Mr. Marx, and other members of the Board, but since many ratepayers have not attended the meetings, we may be excused if *tfsur<tfetf: briefly to them. The Act empowers the Board to borrow — with the consent, of course, of the ratepayers— up to £300,000 at not more than five per cent, interest, but it is confidently expected that £250,000 will suffice | and that the money will be obtained at four per cent. This, with a sinking fund of one per cent., will make an annual charge of £12,500, to meet which the Board has £5000 land revenue, £2000 rent of reserves, and not less than£4soo to be set aside from the port's earnings. These sums total £11,500, £1000 less than the annual charge, but since the expenditure of the loan will be spread over three or four years there will, for some time, be an unexpended balance earning in-| terest, or the Board may perhaps arrange to have the money advanced as required. In either case for the first year the net amount upon which interest will have to be paid will not exceed,

I say, £170,000, entailing a charge, for interest and sinking fund, of £8500, which will leave the Board a surplus of £3000 to carry forward. In the second year the charge may be £10,000 on a net amount of £200,000, leaving a surplus of £1500, in addition to the surplus of £3000 already brought forward. Thus it will be seen that there is little or no risk of a rate being required while the loan is being expended, and when the work is completed the land revenue and the port earnings will have grown sufficiently to meet all charges. The land revenue must continue to steadily increase as the waste kinds of the province are made available for settlement, while the earnings of the port have steadily grown from £2157 in 1890 to "£13,613 last year, and with better shipping facilities the expansion is certain to proceed at a greater rate in the future. We need not jusi now enlarge upon the value of a deep-sea port to the district, though it would be easy to prove, by such facts as Mr. King quoted at Stratford, that the district will save many thousands a year in freights on imports and exports. Mr. King referred to the single item of artificial fertilisers, upon which a saying of 13s 6d per ton will be made. Every farmer who uses these fertilisers — and all ought to — can calculate for himself what the completed harbour will save him on this particular item. Just now, however, we wish to put the question to the ra tcpay ers in a no ther way . At present they are liable, all over the rating district, to a rate of threefarthings in the pound, and have'i actually to pay a rate of threesixteenths. If the loan proposals are not carried at tjie poll things will have to go on as they are at present, the land will continue •liable to a three-farthing rate, and a small: rate will have to be collected annually/ - On the other hand, if the loan proposals are ■ carried 'no rate at all is likely to be required, and the liability will be reduced in the case of the southern part of the district to a farthing, and in the central part to a halfpeniiy. JVc cannot think that' ratepayers will hesitate to choose ,the latter ' conditions, even if they are unable to see what, other benefit they will derive from the completion of the harbour. But with Mr. Connett we urge ratepayers who favour the proposals to make a point of voting for them, instead of leaving that duty to other people. If everyone were to think that his vote was unnecessary the proposals might be, defeated by a very small minority of objectors. Therefore we say again, all ratepayers who approve them should record their votes.

In the Magistrate's Court this morning, before Mr H. S. Fitzherbert, S.M., Frank Malbon Alison, charged with being found helplessly drunk on South Road, was renianded until next Saturday for medical treatment. The Curator of the Wanganui Museum has received frpm Mr A. McLean, New Plymouth, a splendid specimen of a large potato. It is 9J inches in length, ,4J inches in width. Its circumference is 24 inches. The handsome shield presented to tne Euchre and Cribbage Association and won by the Waireka Club will be on view this (Saturday) evening in the window of the Auckland Clothing Company. The shield is to be presented to the winners at the Association's euchre party on Thursday evening. The degree and scholarship examinations of the New Zealand University will be held from November 9 to November 20. The supervisor for the New Plymouth candidates is Rev. S. S. Osborne, and the place of examination St. Andrew's schoolroom. The committee of the* United Service Cricket Club desires to acknowledge receipt of donations, to the funds from Mesrs. F. Simpson, G. T. Murray, G. Tisch, A. H. Glasgow, and Dr. Fookes, and a trophy from Mr. Deare, Boot Arcade, to be alloted as the committee thinks fit. The New Plymouth harbour loan proposals were discussed at a meeting of ratepayers at Manaia on Thursday. There were about twenty people present. Messrs. J. Marx and Hughes were present .to explain the Act and answer questions. At the conclusion the following resolution was carried : — "That this meeting recommends that the ratepayers vote for the new Bill." At Toko a similar meeting was held. There was only one dissentient to the proposals submitted by the Mr. N. King. \ Mr Newton King's Holstein-Frisian cattle gained most of the awards at the Wairarapa Show, held this week. The sections in which he was successful were: — Bull calved prior to July 1, 1905: Newton King 1 and champion. Bull calved since July 1, 1905: Newton King 1. Bull calved since July 1, 1907: W. I. Lovelock 1, Newton King 2. Cow, any age, in calf or calf at foot: W. I. Lovelock 1 and 3, Newton 2. Heifer calved since July 1, 1905: Newton King 1, W. I. Lovelock 2. Heifer calved since July 1, 1906: W. I. Lovelock 1, Newton King 2. Heifer calved since July 1. 1907 : Newton King 1, W. I. Lovelock 2 and 3.

November 23 has been fixed as tho date for the election of Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards throughout tho Dominion. "I am here to give information. I am not like tho Premier, who came here and spoke soft nothings for an hour or two. I will answer questions." — Mr Massey, at Feilding. The new section of the Main Trunk line from Taumarunui to Erua, a distance of 37 miles, will probably be taken over by the Railway Department from November 9 (says The Dominion^. This section includes the famous "spiral" and much other difficult country. "Oar Parliament has too many mice in it, and not enough men," Mr T. E. Taylor declared to an open-air. audience at' Christchuroh the other evening. "With all my faults I have the Parliamentary instinct, and while I don't want to be thought egotistic, I think I am just about as good a man to send into Parliament aa you will find in the N r orth Christchurch electorate." Some excitement was caused in commercial circles at Cambridge one day this w?ek when it became noised abroad that a local fruiterer had "skipped" with his wife and family to a southern port. Apparently, says a local paper, the copy-book maxims about honesty do not appeal to him, as he omitted to pay, his creditors before he vanished. A short time ago the house he resided in was burnt down. ' | The Post Office discount-stamp system has almost died a natural death, Wellington being the only district where it shows signs of life. There during last quarter stamps to the value of £619 10s were issued. At Auckland, i the value issued was £7 los, at Napier : os, and at Thames £2 10s. At Wanganui the solitary transaction was the redemption of a shilling stamp, and elsewhere there was no business at all during the quarter. The skeleton of a Maori in a canoe., with a chain, fastened by a padlock, round the leg bone and attached to the canoe was found by children on the beach at Fortrose near Gore. There was also a double-barrelled blunderbuss ■ with flint locks, a pair of scissors, a butcher's knife, lead bullets, and other Maori curiosities. A strong wind had blown the sand away, revealing what must have been buried for many years. The stock of the gun was rusted away, the iron parts being not much more than rust. — Gore Standard. The Hon. W. Hall-Jones, Minister of Railways, has wired Mr Okey informing him that to celebrate the opening of the Main Trunk Railway for ordinary traffic a special train will leave Wellington on Thursday evening; November 5, at 10 o'clock, and inviting hinuto be make one of the party, which will reach Auckland the following even1 ing, after staying half an hour at Makatote to drive the last spike. Mr Okey's election campaign engagements will' not permit of his accepting the 'Minister's invitation. As a means of raising revenue under a modified system of taxation, Mr. S. Laurenson said at Christchurch that he agreed with the late Mr Gladstone that tho easiest tax to raise, and the fairest, was on moneys left by deceased, persons. In the case of bequests- to, persons other than blood kins, he thought that 10 per cent was not at all too large. If someone would leave him £5000 in the morning, he would boi quite willing to pay 10 per cent, tax ; and he did not think that anyone in the hall would not be equally willing under the same circumstances. The quality of the hemp that is at present being exported from New Zea- • land- is better than 'at 'any previous time (says an exchange). The chief i reason attributed for this is the widel margin in prices between the different qualities, in view oofi f which it pays flaxmillers to make every effort to put a good article on the market. The recent typhoon on the Philippine Islands does not appear to have affected the prices in any way, which bears out the information received by the Secretary for Agriculture to the effect; that no decrease in the output from the Islands could be expected. All through the session Mr Perry, Registrar of Awards; has been windingUp the business of the New Zealand International Exhibition . in' an office in Wellington, which until a day* or two ago still bore the name and was devoted solely to the business of that almost forgotten institution. f That chapter of the Exhibition's history i$ now closed, and Mr Perry has beoome a member of the staff of the District Health Office. In his odd time, however, he is still concerned with belated Exhibition correspondence. The official record of the Exhibition, which was to have been presented to Parliament in a bulky volume last session, has been completed by Mr J. Cowan, of the Tourist Department, and is now in the hands of the Government Printer. The latter, however, is unusually busy, and the record may not see publicity till the beginning of next year. Mr H. L. Michel, who for the second time' is contesting the Westland seat with Mr T. E. Y. Seddon, referred, in the course of a speech, the other' night, to the interference of public servants holding positions in Kumara and Hokitika. He said these gentlemen were openly canvassing and otherwise behaving in a manner which was both discreditable to them and to their Departments, and that he would probably be compelled to communicate with the Prime Minister on the matter, in order to put a stop to such tactics. Government raodmen, overseers, and inspectors were, he asserted, wrongly using their influence, and it was bad enough to have to fight them without having to contend with the heads of Departments, who occupied positions which should cause them to desist from their indiscreet and unfair practice. The candidate said his remarks did not apply to all the Civil Servants in Westland. What's the use of coughing when Zytnole Trokeys will stop it? They are pleasing in appearance and taste, thoroughly antiseptic and contain nothing injurious. , 17