HARBOUR CHARGES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 411, 21 January 1909, Page 9

HARBOUR CHARGES.

SEARCHLIGHTS ON PROJECTED TARIFF. 'DECLINE OF IMPORTS EXPLAINED., IS HARBOUR EXPENDITURE RACING ? : .• Additional interviews bearing on tho pro : posal to increase the tariff for the. port of Wellington were obtained by a Dominion reporter, yesterday. Interest in the question is heightened by the fact that there was a falling off in the imports during the.Deccm'ber quarter. This decline, however, is generally regarded as being only of a temporary character. !;':. THE MAYOR'S VIEWS, The Mayor (Hon. T.'""iV. Hislop) said he .thought it would.be foolish to unduly press matters until calculations had been made for the information of the board. Assuming that the revenue and expenditure were on the same lines next year, a credit balance of over £8500 would be netted.' ,But' in view of the altered relations between the exports and the imports, a diminution in the imports during the next twelve months would pror .bably take, place. The extent of that shrinkage could not be estimated, and it was impossible: without analysis to find out'how much revenue would be affected. Obviously the revenue: would bo affected by the amount '.of difference in connection with wharfage and : storage, bift other items, of income might not be.diminished.' He did not know what proportion 'of revenue was derived from imports, and it was impossible to arrive at the amount from the statement of accounts for the year without spending a_ great deal of. time upon them. Probably a year was too long: to -give for. the restoration of the imports.: There,- would also have to be taken into consideration in order to arrive at the amount which required to,.be raised: as additional charges the interest upon'new works which were, contemplated. He presumed, that there, would bea greater amount of-interest in respect of'wharfage and the dock. .

Need for Creater Export Trade. .'/;.'■ ■• It was premature, Mr. Hislop continued, to decide what inorease in . the ■ rates was. re- . quired until'the whole matter had been ex- ■ haustively'considered. He was not'able to ■ be present at the last.meeting of the board; ' and might, therefore, not be in possession .' ,of information which was • It" ■was possible that _ the extra income derived - from exports might ; counter-balance . the shrinkage in respect of .imports. If Wellington export business did. not ; greatly, increase, : .the Main Trunk. Railway ' and the purchase of the Manawatu, Railway 'would have.: proved ''failures; It was satisfactory to note. that.tho prices of the main products' . were payable.: During previous periods of shrinkage of monev -they were low. ■■ Then again, : the capital in .-'the products was not shrinking, but was somewhat; increased,' and - must go on increasing, and, further, the volume of business must increase. He hoped that, 'with proper management, ■it would not ' be,necessary, to materially increase the port charges. ..//• , /.. ' / '"SEQUEi. TO OV ER-IMPpRTATION." ! Mr. ~S., Carroll, secretary; of- the_. Chamber; of Commerce, ; said that- the .reduction ; of .-iin- ' : ports; was,.;:notY unexpected,/'becausei' : all/'im-\ ■ /porters■;■ hade made '■; arrangements/;! with -~'that: . view in end;/ : the I 'fact-was"that^in-.several. ' branches of 'trade, importers had been heavily overstocked, notably./in:soft goods,-and also' in,' a great; : measure .'•■ iii hardware '. and . in' groceries'. during the past' twelve '•' months.. The. necessity, for a,reduction: in,the/imports .had been 'felt -./among: importers for .some, "time past,, and consequently .orders had gone , Home 'on a reduced.scale in order that surplus .stocks/might' bo. reduced;,'/The/extent ■ .of tho over : impo'rtatioiv. during'/'tho .past'few. ..years could.ibo;g4u'^ed v by:'tho.'foUbwin'g fig-' '.ure's, which,did■not;i!iblude:.spe'cie.;',The.:tbtal: 1 value of jtliejmpor-tsMnto'^te^ Wthe'year £12,387,313; '■-..■ year.' ;/the; total; had risen- to, £13J575J.2Li rDufing'itho'.follow-;. iri'g took whilst, : the;,aggfega'teV forV-last -year >:was' I £17,750,868.'. It/', would thus; :be;seen '.'that in' 'three years/^.the;value .of.'.the/imports/jrito; ■the Dominion:had/;increased, by'■■.£'s,4oo,ooo)' or by aboutvip per/ cent. ;'•' It was /significant to., note ;"tha't yduring/ the ' same ; period 'the inorease. in 'population .w.as, less than/10, per, cent. , : ; ;/';;/-/:-//■/£ : ;/;":,;: : : '•'..,■. .;.;'v.'..-' •..-: - . Imports, Exceeded Exports Last .Year. / ■ ? / During'the/recent fat'years, -Mr. Carroll; continuedj'impbrtersi'r'had' found business pros-/ : porous, "'and;th'eif ..hopes./had>been/;for..still/ : better, times.;';.■:Tho .banks ./could ;firiari'cev'the; , /trade onlyi^^qng^as^tiie^expSr^stinbrea'seW : 'iri' tho. samo'tratibii.as^&'iimgp^^ ' "had ;ihg'_the .paSfc;l2;/morithst/;ittsWas/ne'ceVsary.' ; during that period': for"the/ banks" ; to' bring--.ini. funds from'outside,.which they had done to the extent.bf :.£4,000,000.;/;Bven .that, amount; ' had not been'sufficient for .the req\iife,ments: . of their /customers,;.and, therefore, :they. :had had_ to.' severely; taboo' 'all advances on the.seourity of'landl-'Asa matter of fact, .'instead6f, there being;an excess/of exports over.im-: ports last year as,had been the'experience in 1 previous years, there was a shortage of £1,370.000.' He thought there required, to be .both a reduction in the~imports arid an increase in.the exports tp/restoro .the equili-. .brium. : The return to the normal proportion' between:exports and imports would not com© /about in' one . quarter,; and -it was .not/unlikely that the process would: occupy, twelve •'. months.; : .ln no sense could the.temporary falling-off in the imports be looked upon as ■' a'serious matter/ : '/-."./ :■•:'■

: ; OPINIONSOF AMERCHANTv '/Mr. G. Shirtcliffe,(of Messrs. A." S. Patersori and Co.) said that one thing, which'stood ' put clearly was that, the; increased trade of the port, plus the additional charges imposed last yoar, were not sufficient to cover, the increased;expenditure. In. other words, the. expenditure' was: increasing atV a. niore, ijapid rate 'than tho - revenue/.from- the /in-,, ■ creased'charges and the increased trade*,'As additional permanent charges in respect Jof further wharfage accommodation ' and the dock had to be looked, forward to, it seemed; certain:.that/further increases in the charges: wpuld.have to'be made, and both shipping companies-" and importers] would " probably, have to share "any additional burden that mighty be imposed. While he did not quite agree'with,the statement, that. .Wellington was the cheapest port in the Dominion, there was no doubt that it was tho best equipped port, probably; in the Southern Hemisphere, I and, consequently the facilities ,;for giving dispatch to vessels and for rapidly andling; cargo - through the board's ware-; houses were unsurpassed, and wore probably worth paying a little more for. than was the caso at other ports .where the facilities were not so good;} The decline-in tho imports during the last quarter was only what had been expected would take place owing to the general financial stringency and the decline' in the volume of business genqr-■■lly-zV-..- !-:■-';::■'- ; ,-..;.. :. ; ; Prospepts Considered Satisfactory.. ~! Importers had for .some time past, booncurtailing; their oversea; orders, and : it was. just as well that they had done so, in view of the substantial decrcaso that is temporarily taking : place in the, value of New Zealand .'exports.-.';Ho'looked upon tho falling off in, the volume of imports as a temporary mat-' ter,'. though it was impossible to say whon any, substantial increase would again take place. -That depended so much upon tho prices that would bo realised in future for the : exports from the Dominion. Generally speaking, he thought the prospects were better than thoy were a few months ago. TVhilo wool was'realising much, lower figures than was the case twelvo months ago, still it was at a fairly payable price. Dairy produce was still commanding excellent prices, and the prospeots for the coming harvest wero such as; to lead one to expect that.'heavy, yields would bo oxperjonced tliroughout the Dominion, so thai he did not anticipate any further check upon'business during the next twelve.months. MEMBER OPPOSED TO INCREASED ; RATES. . ■ Mr. 'F. G. Bolton was of opinion . tho i board should wait until the present charges had boon in operation twelve month* before

it again reviewed .the tariff. Personally he was averse to increasing' tho port charges, because it reacted upon tho consumer, inasmuch as that eventually tho. increased charges either on goods or shipping companies were necessarily passed on to him. Whilo admitting that thore.had been a drop in tho rovenuo derived from imports during the past two or three months, ho, was of opinion that tho oxpbrts were of an increasing character,, and the reason for tho drop of imports had been excessive importation during tho last twelve' months, and tho necessity for merchants to. clear their stock. Ho had no doubt that as soon as the present stocks and those that had been ordered wore sold, im-. portatiohs would bo revived again, upon sound lines. It was significant that last year tho imports exceeded tho exports, and he thought that the temporary falling off iii the imports was a good sign, as it indicated prudence on tho part of tho mercantile community. The question of increasing the charges to provide for- interest and sinking fund on loans to be raised was a matter which should not bo dealt with until ■it was decided to approach the money market. "•.