HARBOUR BOARD.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1555, 26 September 1912, Page 5

HARBOUR BOARD.

THE. MONTHLY MEETIKG. Tho Wellington Harbour Board met last night. Mr. B. Fletcher presided. • There were present, also, Messrs. W. T. Hildreth.J. E. Fitzgerald, P. C. Frectli, M. Cohen, A. M'Farland, J. Trevor, J. Ci. Cobhe, C. E. Daniell, C. W. Jones, and It. C. Renner. i It was reported that the current account showed a credit balance of .£30,127 7s. Id., and the imprest account a credit balance of ,£1221 9s. 2d. . There was .£70,000 on fixed deposit. The chairman reported that the tender of Messrs. T. Dillon anil Co. for the extension of the Glasgow Wharf and r 'T M ' shed had boon accepted. It was decided to reply to n letter of tho Marine Department (requesting tho beard to take over and maintain tho Homes Island light) to the effect that tho board, if required to recoup the Depart- , ment tho cost of the maintenance of tho light, suggested that the Department [ should continue tho administration and [ management thcrof. The board at the . same timo suggested that tho Department should take over and maintain tho low r level light at Pencarrow. . It was.resolved to inform the Minister ' for Internal A Hairs that the board would give tho fullest information in its power on tho subject matters to be dealt with by the Trade of Empire Royal Commission, and would appoint the chairman, secretary, and Mr. M. Cohen to give evidciioc to tho Commission on the board s ■behalf. , , The following motion was agreed to:— "That the experiment of closing the men s waiting-room in the r X* store building t between tho hours for engagement of labour having, after three months trial, proved unsatisfactory the board reverts to the original position." The board adopted amendments to bylaws 27, 191, 192. 272. The chairman said that the amendments provided that nil ash, fresh and frozen, intended for local consumption should be free of inward wharfage; thai artificial manures and guano should be scheduled at 2s. 3a. per ton for transhipment; and that timber, other than Australian or American hardwood, should be scheduled at 3s. per ton, and hardwood at 4s. 2d. per ton. It was stated that the advocates of certain railway proposals had represented to tho Minister for Railways that t.ho board's engineer had made a recommendation concerning To Aro Railway Station, which, as a matter of fact, tho engineer had not made at all. On this point the following passage from the engineer's t annual report was quoted in support of the statement that the engineer had mado no recomipendation: —"Later on it will 3 probably bo found advisable to construct ' n wharf to the oast of tho Taranaki - Street wharf. Should a Sydney ferry ser--1 vice 1)0 inaugurated, a wharf in this locality would provide a suitable berth for the steamers engaged in it, and could, if required, bo used for the Lyttelton ferry servieo if the mail trains were run through to To Aro Station." On the motion of Mr, Freetli, it was resolved that the secretary should write to tho Minister for Railways pointing out the exact terms used by the engineer.