HULK MOORINGS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 994, 8 December 1910, Page 3

HULK MOORINGS.

PROTEST AGAINST NEW CHARGE. THE HABBOUR BOAED GIVES WAY. Yesterday, at a special meeting, the Harbour Board reviewed its previous decision to charge owners of coal hulks a license fee of .£4O per annum for the use of moorings. Members present were Messrs. K. Fletcher (chairman), C. W. Jones, H. C. Teivsley, J. G. Harkness, W. T. Hildreth, and the Hon. T: K. Macdouald. A letter was received from hulk owners protesting against the charge, and contending that it should uot exceed a lair interest charge upon the amount spent on moorings. Fivo per cent, upon £jioO—about £17—would be a fair charge. Ihe recent imposition of a charge for the transhipment of coal to vessels lying at tho. wharves or in the stream pressed wnli sufficient severity upon the business in which the hulks wero employed. The revenue from this source should more than cover the cost of maintaining moorings. The Chairman stated that he .had not altered his opinion expressed at tho previous meeting. The Wharves and Accounts Committee, after careful consideration, had recommended ■ that the fee should be ,£3O, but the board Bad thought lit to increase the amount by ,£lO. It would be right, ho thought, if 'they now went back to the original proposal. He therefore moved that the fee be reduced from £40 to £30. ■ The amendment, Mr. iletcher, claimed, embodied a fair compromise. A thing overlooked by the hulk owners in their letter was that the board, apart from the.cost of moorings, £p ?i- 50 a Jeal ' in maintaining them. iir. Jones, seconding -the amendment,, claimed that the provision of moorings lor hulks was a tiling from which the board should not expect to derive a full and specific return. A genera 1 return was obtained from having a fully equipped port. An increase in i the charges bearing on coal hulks might lend i?, i s i omo steamci 's bunkering away from Wellington. The transhipment chargo on coal from the hulks had produced a revenue of .£1747 in four months. This had to be paid in the first place by the hulks, but ultimately by the people who bought coal. , This was an additional reason for being as lenient as possible with hulk owners.> . . . . Jlr. Harkness was of opinion that the board had acted hastily at the previous meeting, and supported the amendment.Mr. ,I'ewsley said ho had been led to believe that the charge approved was necessary to recoup the board for its outlay. Mr. Hildreth, who, at the previous meeting, had moved that the charge should be increased to £40, declined to admit that ho had acted hastily or to recede from his position. The board should be recouped for its outlay, and there was no reason why it should lose .£IOB a year in providing moorings. If the charge remained at £40, thev would not bunker one steamer less in Wellington in the next ten years than they did to-day. , '. , The chairman, in renlying, remarked that the proposed concession would be of importance to hulk owners in. a small way of business, ■ who had contracts to fulfil. ■> ■ . The amendment .reducing the license fee to £30 was carried on the voices. A number of additional by-laws relating to hulk moorings were formally confirmed. ■