SAILINGS FOR PICTON.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 836, 7 June 1910, Page 6

SAILINGS FOR PICTON.

THE TIME-TABLE IMPUGNED. OTHER COMMERCE MATTERS. The Council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce met yesterday, there being present: The chairman (Mr. H. C. Towsley), and Messrs. G. AVilson, J. Mackintosh, A. A. Corrigan, C. W. Jones, J. G. Harkness, W. G. Duihie, and D. J. Nathan. The Picton Steamers. The Marlborough Chamber of Commerce forwarded for tlie consideration of the "Wellington Chamber the following resolution:— "Thai- tho attention of the Union Steam Ship Company be drawn to tho inconvenience which the peoole of this district and the outside travelling public suffer from the lateness of the present hour of sailing fixed for the passenger steamers from Wellington to Picton, and strongly urges that the earlier hour of departure as provided for in their previous timetable bo reverted to."

It was pointed out, in the covering memo., that the present arrangements hardly gavo passengers time to board their train for Blenheim; it. was impossible to obtain meals at Picton, and tho time of arrival at Blenheim was too Into for dinner. .Commercial travellers bad little or no time to put their samples on the train, while passengers with children were also inconvenienced. The present time-table was arranged to suit shippers of cargo, but the Marlborough Chamber considered that this reason was not a sufficiently strong one. It was pointed out that similar representations had been made to the Unio:i Steam Ship Company by the Picton Borough Council, tho Blenheim Retailers' Association, the Picton Retailers' Association, and, it was understood, by the Wellington Travellers' and Warehousemen's Association also. It was decided to communicate with the Union Company in support of tho Marlborough Chamber's proposal. Public Companies Disfranchised. In a lettor from the Napier Chamber of Commerce, attention was drawn to the disability under which 'public companies and institutions stand as ratepayers on local questions. "Tho law," it was stated, "gives these the right to vote through their representative, who pays tho rates for them, and to'whom demands for rates are addressed, but in practice it is nearly always the case that such representative is already on the roll as a ratepayer for his own private property, and the company is, in consequence, disfranchised." One institution paid ,4110 per annum in borough rates, but had not a vote, and a large proportion of others were similarly situated. The only remedy, stated the Napier Chamber, was not a desirable, one—tho appointment of a dummy representative to pay their rates.

After discussion, it was agreed to support the Napier Chamber, and to refer tho question to the Minister for Justice.

Unsurveyed Coastal Waters, A letter was received from Mr. John M. Murroll, in which tho writer urged tho chamber to move strongly in tho direction ot having an adequate survey niade of tho New Zealand coastal waters. Tho council agreed to refer tho letter to the Minister for Marine.