JOTTINGS FROM WANGANUI.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1018, 6 January 1911, Page 2

JOTTINGS FROM WANGANUI.

NAVIGATION ; ABO.VE THE TOWN. jUy ! Telegraph,—Special Correspondent.) . W.anganui,. January ,5. Mr. Kerr, S.M., resumed duty to-day on his return from sick leave.

• Customs duties collected at the 'port of .Waugamu for December totalled ,£G2GS lis. .Gd. (iC5072 10s. 9d. for the previous December). Excise duty realised .£451 15s. (iM9B 18s. -id.) In the quarter ending December 31, Customs duties amounted to ,£18,510 5;. 7d. 9s. Gd. for the corresponding quarter of ■ 1909); excise duty for the quarter, ,£1165 4s. 3d. (,£llß7 18s. Sd.).'

The wharf-labourers' strike at Patea still continues, and according to advice received here, there is little prospect,of immediate settlement. Meanwhile steamers aro doing the host they can with their own crews and casual labour. It is stated that the organised waterside workers in other places intend' to exert their influence to persuade casuals not to accept work on tha Patea wharves.

• In the course of his latest interim report Sir. 'I'. D. Cummins (chairman of the Wanganui River Trust),' after detailing recent operations for the improvement of navigation, says: It is pleasurable to be able to report: that the work .of clearing and making the Wauganui River a safer-one for navigation, from Wanganui to Tuumarmmi, is now ncariiig such a position that the Trust can reasonably say that ordinary maintenance will, bo only required in future.' The sum voted for the work this season already has been allocated to Work proposed to be accomplished, and given the weather for v.-ork, tho river should be in a navigable condition for many years for the fleet of ■ steamers now employed on the river service. Maintenance works will always be necessary on the 114 miles under the jurisdiction of the Trust, but I hope that the lands proposed to bo put on the market for leasing on the right bank'of the river, as well as lands which) it is also proposed to lease on tlie other bank will, with the amount received from tolls and dues on goods earricd on the river, go a long way towards producing sufficient ■ revenue to keep the channel open. Occasionally, however, there may be an extreme occasion, especially tho Upper portion of the river, where work may be required that will necessitate asking for assistance by subsidy, but I am of opinion that the amount of subsidies required ":in the past will not be necessarv.» It shauld be pleasing, not only tn the Trust, but to the. Government, that the position is as I have indicated.