No Fight With Whakatane, Says Tauranga Man

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 92, 6 September 1950, Page 5

No Fight With Whakatane, Says Tauranga Man

“I have said before and I say again that there is no fight on between the Tauranga and Whakatane Harbour Boards over the location of the port for the Bay of Plenty,” stated Mr J. D. Alach, chairman of the Tauranga Harbour'Board at the meeting of representatives of local bodies in Tauranga. “We have always maintained a friendly relationship with the Whakatane board and, I hope, will continue to have that relationship.” “At the same time we have to prove our case against theirs,” he added. “If it was a case of the Whakatane board developing the proposed port at Whakatane it would be all right, but when it is a question of the Government—in other words the taxpayers—paying for the construction and bearing the expense of maintaining the port, it is a different story.” Mr Alach stated that he knew the people of Whakatane would he “up in arms” at the thought that they were to be expected to finance the Whakatane proposal by means of rates.

In the case of Tauranga the facilities already existed to handle up to 20,000,000 feet of timber annually, without a penny being spent on the port. “The position is much the same as it is with farming,” he continued, referring to the port of Tauranga. “As a good farmer knows, one half of a property broken in can be made to pay for the breaking in of the other half.” So with the port of Tauranga, the present facilities and revenue will pay for the development of the added facilities needed to expand the Workings of the port.

At*, Whakatane, he said, the proposal would be no facilities and no revenue until the whole scheme was completed. “We take no credit for the port of Tauranga,” concluded Mr Aiach. “Nature gave us a fine natural harbour and it is up to use to see that nature’s gift is put to the best possible use.”