HARBOUR BOARD.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14141, 26 February 1910, Page 6

HARBOUR BOARD.

ANNUAL MEETING. | Tlie annual meeting of the Timaru 1 Barbour Board was held yesterday. 1 Present—Messrs J. Craigie (chairman), j t D Youno-, K, Skinner, D. C. Turn- . bull, R. Thew, C. H. Besley, J. Manchester, W. Hayman, C. N. Orbell, F. : J. Rolleston, G. W. Arnutage, C. i±. 1 Stickings and J. E. Goodwin. * The Chairman commented on the 1 figures disclosed in the annual report, (which appears in other columns), and ] said he thought they indicated a very i satisfactory state of affairs. The re- < port showed that the revenue was still 1 increasing, and also the volume of . business done at the port. They i might congratulate themselves, and the < district generally, on the steady and ' substantial progress made by the port over a long period of years. It would be seen that the Government Auditor : had again attached some tags to the | Board's balance esheeet, but he (the • speaker) did not think there was much ' in the objections taken. The Auditor said the item "Harbours Association ; Conference and South Canterbury Jubilee expenses, donations, etc.," £IOO 13s lid, are without authority of law and therefore disallowed Canterbury Jubilee, £6O 15s sd; South Canterbury Employers' Association, £4 14s 6d; Delegates Harbour Association Conference, £l4 13s 6d; South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, £1 Is. He also said that the account headed "Harbour Works, Loan, 1905," (1) exhibits the proposed loan of £50,000 in two accounts—partly in one and partly in the other — contrary to the Drovision of , Section 170 of "The Harbours Act, 1908," and (2) both are charged with amounts exceeding those of th 9 loan moneys raised. Mr Turnbull said that tag No. 2 could have been dispensed with by paying the money out of the general aooount instead of charging it to loan; and that he contended, should have teen done. He also thought the report had too much padding, and that there was too much underlining of words. The Chairman said the report only contained facts, and' it .was as well that the ratepayers should see all the facts. Mr Rolleston said he thought' that more • importance attached to the tags than some members seemed to think. 'Whether they were right or wrong .they did not tend to promote a feeling of satisfaction, -and bethought it would be well for the Board to get at the bottom of these tags. Two successive auditors had now taken exception to the Boaro's balance-sheet in" certain respects, and he did not think they • would both do it unless there was something in their objection. He agreed, with what Mr Turnbull had said in regard to tag No. 2. If the money had been paid out of revenue it should be charged against revenue, but what had been done was'to pay it out of revenue and then charge it to loan account, the effect being to swell "the revenue account. He did not say it was wrong to pay it out of revenue, but it should be charged against revenue, and shown in the balancesheet as such. In its present form it made the ordinary ,general account misleading. If a tag could be avoided, it should be avoided, as it might affect the credit of the Board. He wished also to take exception to the method adoDted in charging reDairs . to the Eastern Extension against loan fund. K-epairs should all be paid out of revenue. The result of debiting'-re-pairs to loan account was also to swell the revenue account. he thought it wrong to charge the sahiry of the eneineer to loan account. "This too, should be padcF out of ordinary revenue. It would be just as reasonable to charge the salarv of the dredgemaster against loan account. What would happen when the loan was exhausted? They would have to pav out of revenue then. The result o'f xhis again,' was to make the credit balance appear- better than it really 'was, and he could see no advantage in doing 'that; it might even be a cuV

I advantage in that it. might be the cause or requests for a reduction in 'port charges. Mr Skinner thought the balancesheet a very satisfactory one. It showed that further records had been established, and this notwithstanding that large concessions had been made to shin-owners. It would be interesting to know how much these concessions amounted to. The Secretary said they amounted to £689 12s 9d in 1908, and £lll6 14s 8d in 1909. Mr Armitage agreed with Mr Rolleston in his contention about dealing | with the accounts. All renewals and j repairs should certainly be paid for out of revenue, and not out of loan. He contended also that insufficient was being put aside yearly for dredge 350. Instead of £IOOO double that amount should be set aside on her account every year. The same applied to the wharf renewal fund, and more should able be set aside on account of the TaniwJia. He also thought that before the annual report was finally closed, it should be submitted to the Board for--approval. (A motion to this effect was subsequenetly carried.) The Chairman pointed out that nothing, was done without the approval of the Board as embodied in a resolution.. Mr Bardsley, as treasurer to the Board, was asked to explain the items referred to in the balance-sheeet. He said_ Mr Rolleston was in error in stating that the general account showed- a debit. Mr Rolleston said his contention was that it. would show a debit if everything that should be charged against l it was so charged. Proceeding, the treasurer said that as regards repairs on works for which loans were secured, he had no authority to -charge them to any other account than the loan account. If the Board chose to pass a motion authorising him „to do" so, he would be pleased to transfer these amounts. The Board still had loan debentures on hand, but if they used them they would have to pay 4J or 5 per cent. on them, -whereas by paying out of revenue and charging it to loan account (on paper) thoy were able to use money on which the Bank was only paying them 2i per cent. They were only book entries. As regards the"* salary of the resident engineer £3OO of his.salary was charged to wharf and dredge accounts as he devoted most of his time to these two things, and the other £IOO .was charged to the Eastern Extension account. As regards the money set aside for the dredge the Board put £IOOO a year aside as an insurance fund instead of paying premiums to insurance companies. In other words the Board undertook its own insurance on the dredge. Mi- Skinner laid stress on the big concessions the Board had made to ship-owners, but Mr Turnbull said they had lost nothing by this, as it had been the means of drawing extra trade from Ashburton and Oamaru. The Chairman said it was very gratifying to know that they were "in such a healthy position as regards both trade and Tevenue, but. his oninion was whole financial business of the Board required reorganising. The loans would begin to mature in four years', time, and in renewing them they should be careful to provide a sinking fund for each, and thus redeem-the debt. They were not doing their duty in these prosperous years to do nothing in the way. of repaying the loans.' When they .renewed their loans the finances could be simplified and nlaced on a footing. They, would then be in a position to pay everything out of revenue and keep a loan account with a sinking -fund. _r?i Th'ew.. endorsed the remarks of Rojleston in regard to the various accounts, adding that when he first joined ■the Board it was understood that only new work was to be charged to loan account leaving reDairs to he paid out of revenue; but this was not adhered to. i , Tlle jeport and balance-sheet were then adopted. V_ ORDINARY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Board was next held. -...- STATEMENT. The. Chairman said the debit balance **jart'meeting stood at £3llO 12s 10d • and the receipts since last meeting

amounted ,to £3464 I7s 2d, made up of £IO9O 8s lOd, in ships' dues, and £2374 8s 4d in wharfage. The accounts to be passed totalled £2672 Is 7d .'The debit balance after paying these would be £2317 17s 3d. Of the 1905 loan £26,300 worth of debentures had been sold/ letfving £23,700 worth, still,to sell. The new steamer ' Ruahine had visited the port since last meeting of the Board, and it would be gratifying to all members to learn that she left here drawing 23ft 6in. of water. The Hon. W. Hall-Jones had promised some years ago, that as soon as cool stores were erected at Timaru a. Government Grader would be sent here : to grade . dairy produce, thus obviating the expense and inconvenience of railing it to Lyttelton. The cool stores had been erected yet the Government was not sending the Grader here. The Board should see that the Government keeps its promise in this matter which was a. very important one to South Canterbury. .As chairman- of the Board, and member for the district, he would do his best in the matter.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. Young proposed, and Mr Rolleston seconded—"That the member for Timaru be asked to renew his endeavours with the Minister for Agriculture to have Justice done to this port by having the South Canterbury dairy produce grader here as was promised by the Hon. W. Hall-Jones when cool stores were erected." Mr Young said it was a matter of considerable importance, and the Board should do everything possible to get the.grader. He could Yiot understand the position at all, seeing that the Government had promised to send a grader here when cool stores were erected. . It would cost nothing, or next to nothing, and it seemed absurd that we should have to send our produco to Lyttelton to be graded. He was inclined to think that there must be something more behind the matter than they were aware of. Mr Skinner agreed with the motion, and anid he thought that the various branches of the Farmers' Union should take 'the matter up, and assist tne Board, and the Chamber of Commerce in their efforts to secure the services of the grader. The motion was carried unanimously. i CORRESPONDENCE. I The Lyttelton Harbour Board wrote asking for a return showing what portion of last year's revenue was paid by importers and exporters on account of j poods passing Over the wharves, and | that paid by ship-owners on account of shipping, together with particulars of the various sources of revenue under the above headings. , The Secretary had replied stating that the imports and exports pay £15,113 while the ship-owners pay £12,391. The Shipwreck Relief Society forI warded a' statement of its receipts and j expenditure for the year ending December 31st, 1909. SALARIES AND WAGES. The Standing Committee. recommended the following alterations in salaries: —Captain Wares of the dredge Tani-j-wha to be paid at the rate of £ls per ; month. Mr Wightman (book-keeper), | to be advanced from £lB2 to £2OO per • annum,' and Mr Metson, junior clerk | in. the office, .from £9l to £lO4 per annum. Mr Manchester said he had been of opinion for some 'considerable time past that the office expenses were too heavy, and he would vote against any increase. Mr Tliew said the port was very much better advertised now than ever it had been before, and he was decidedly in favour of paying the office staff well. Previously, the Timaru Harbour was not -known, whereas now it was known all over the world, and the way it was advertised drew a lot ofvbusiness. The recommendations of the Committee were adopted, Mr Manchester oppdsing. TENDERS. The tender of the Westport Coal Company was accepted for coal supplies' for the year, at 24s per ton. There was one other tender at 24s 3d per. ton. There were two tenders for dredge repairs, etc.—-Wallace and Cooper and Pair and Co. A long discussion took place on these tenders. The Standing Committee recommended (at their sitting the previ- | Bus' day) that the tender of Parr and Co. be accepted, though it was not the lowest. The Engineer said that so far as he could ascertain the tender of Parr and Co. was 30s higher than that of Wallace and Cooper, but he 'could only base his estimate on the work done laSt year.; The work to be done this year might be q,uite different. Last year the work was normal; this year it might be abnormal. The two tenders were practically equal, but Parr and Co. had an advantage in that their shop was on the .beach, and in oase of work requiring io be done urgently, say for the dredge* the saving in taking it to their shop as against another one half a mile away, might be considerable. Mr Young said, he wae opposed to any but the . lowest tender being accepted. He did not think that the, i Standing Committee had proposed to accept Parr and Co.'s tender. The Secretary referred to the minutes to show that the. motion had' i been carried by 5 to 4 in the Standing i Committee. Several members said their sympathies were with' Parr and Co. "because , they were tenants of the Board, but ; the principle of accepting the highest j tender was bddi: I I Against this, it was pointed out that it was impossible to tell which was the highest tender, it it all depended on the work to te done. For some „things., in the schedule -Wallace and j Cooper, we»e lowest, an d for. other things v Parr 'And Co were lowest. A , suggestion was made that the work I should, be difided between the two i firms, but finally a vote was taken : when the tender, of Parr and Co. was j accepted by .7, td 6," the voting being !as follows:—For Parr arid Co.—The : Chairman and; Messrs RolleSton, Stickings, Goodwin, Skinner, Thew and Beslejj. For Wallace and Cooper—

Messrs, You'na.v TurnbUU, Orbell, Hayinsmj Manchester aid Arifiitage. It w:as saidVthat it' would be inadvisable call, tenders for. ttiis work another , : 'jear? as it is impossible , to tendet on any definite basis by which the tenders can be conroared. .'STANDING COMMITTEE. Thjs coniniittee recommended :—That oiie.obpy of }§© ' 'Shipping Gazette Annual? ffhdt.thfe policies with the. New Zealand -Insurance Company be renewed for the year 1910-11. That the tender of. Messrs ?Shillitb Bros, fof the alterations and additions to»the Harbour Master's house) be accepted, and that the. wooden portion of the existing liousejbe put up for" public auction at an ujJSet Vprjce.. '. That the next meetings .of.the Board to be held oh April Ist and.29th.jrespectivelv. ■■: HA&BOTJRHMASTER'S REPORT. departures.—The total amvals. .during January were 27 steamers, and.4 &ailing vessels, 'yriiih. an aggregate, .tonnage' of 41,171 tons; and the departures 28 steamers jnd 4 sailing vessels,of 44,796 tons. Soundings were taken on the 21st inst in the fairway and aboufc.the harbour. A. Seager had been appointed night-watchman in place.of, W;i. Clausen, resigned. RESIDENT ENGINEER'S REPORT. New Wharf Contract (No. lA.) Steady progress is being made with this contract, the pile-driving is now completed to a distance of 620 ft being »n advance of lJOft since last report. There are now only eighteen piers to he ..driveh to' complete the pile-driving. Pair progress is also being made with the super-structure.. A further supply of timber is expected in the course of a few days. Tie average number of

I men employed during the month was , seventeen. ■ . ; j Dredging.-—"No. 350" has lifted j 11,000 tons from the approach channel, ! and 13,000 tons from the. inner har-: I obur. In the approach channel fresh I moorings were laid for a cut'from the • end of the concrete breakwater outwards on the- south side of the channel. Inside, the dredge is now operating ahead of the new wharf. The "Taniwha" has been working principally at the outer buoys, and at the face of the Main Wharf. General.—The understructure of the Main Wharf is being repaired where the wailings and braces are defective. Some of the"concrete blocks under this wharf have moved beyond the face of the structure, and these are now being broken up and removed by the "Taniwha," so that there will be no I possibility of them interfering with the berthage. Some repairs have been made to the southern end of Hayes Street. Two men are working on the quarry tramline along the Otipua Road for a few days, removing weeds, cleaning water tables, etc. Installation of Electric Beacon. Eastern Extension Mole.—This work was satisfactorily completed on January loth. The contract time was November 2oth, 1909. The actual completion of the work was delayed in consequence on the necessary cables not coming to hand until the 4th ultimo. From December Ist 1909. until January 15th, 1910, the contractor kent the light going with kerosene at his own cost. As the Board has suffered no loss, and the delay in finally completing the contract was unavoidable, owing to the cables not arriving in time, I beg to recommend that the accrued penalties should not be enforced. The reports were adopted. ACCOUNTS. Accounts were passed for payment, and the Board rose.