HARBOUR BOARD FINANCES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 412, 22 January 1909, Page 4

HARBOUR BOARD FINANCES.

It is th 6: penalty of, greatness that it creates new cares arid'responsibilities for itself, as the Wellington Harbour Board is realising just now. One of the most remarkable examples ,of enterprise and progress in our country, tho port of Wellington now occupies a' high- ■' placo amongst the prominent names in Australasian commercial geography. Year by year the figures relating to the tonnage the goods that pass over tho wharves and to the. volume of tho shipping that is entered or discharged at the port have leapt ahead in the most astonishing way; and the work of theHarbour Board, has for years been a work of rapid and ceaseless, extension of -harbour facilities. For years tho port has been quoted as the' cheapest itl tha Dominion; it is generally recognisedto be as finely equipped as any port in Australasia. . The time' has arrived, however, when tho Board's finances call- for revision. The . .revenue still exceeds the expenditure each year, but by a margin that is far too small when the magnitude of the' Board's operations and of its present and future, liabilities is taken; into account. The' credit balance for the yo..r ended September 30, 1907, was only £2424, 'which the lata secretary took as .a- v;arn-; ing that 'the. means of obtaining revenue should :be enlarged. Various -increases' were accordingly made in the'charges Lr wharfage, cranage and labour, and in tlio Harbour Improvement Rate. But it .is quite apparent that,, further increases must without much .delay. V , .In the series of'interviews -with ' c'onirnorcial men ,which we, printed on Wednesday and yesterday, loss was .said about the necessity -for increased charges, ; and. the ways and means of raising fresh revenue, than about the long-standing dispute as to the equity of the distribution of existing charges between the. iujJbrtors and the. shipping companies. Nothing,', wo dare say, will ever bring the two sides to tho controversy to . agree upon what is a fair allocation of the ■ work of providing theßoard's revenue. The shipping Companies 'are complaining that they are already charged more, in detail as well as in : proportion to the charges paid by goods, than at any-othof port of any consequence in the Dominion. When we add up the details.of revenue given in the Board's current report, we find that of the £176,7.09 gross' revenue ships contributed £83,752, or 47 per cent. But it must bo noted that the amount credited to ships includes £7627 for water, which is in tho nature of .goods supplied, and not properly a port charge at all. No doubt there aro°pther items which, for one reason and another, cannot fairly be quoted .by the ships as proof of their ' heavy burden. 'All these items go to discount the complaints, Of the shipping companies. There is also this to bo said, that the ships are afforded such facilities for working as do not exist at the other ports. Efficiency must certainly be paid for ; it is only sound business to pay for it. The wholo question is, we admit, fairly open to of .opinion on nearly every point. What the Board has to do' is to distribute any new charges fairly, with an eye 'to whom the extenof the harbour works most benefits. To us it seems, an argument of doubtful soundness/that the importers and exporters—whose ability'to import and export is fixed by conditions beyond the ken of the/Harbour Boards-profit in proportion as the-means of importing and exporting is increased. |The 'ships benefit most largely and most directly from harbour improvements. The Board is naturally . Anxious to maintain the a ttractiveness of the port to the shipping companies; heavy charges, ii they were, heavy enough, i might, drive ayay trade. But this is not a very large; risk. It need hardly be said that at least as important as the invigoration of the revenue is the securing of economy in expenditure; 1 There, are more ways of - making ends meet comfortably than by stretching out the ' revenue.'. . j". '