A WANGANUI MATTER.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1776, 14 June 1913, Page 6

A WANGANUI MATTER.

The deputation from Wanganui which waited upon tho Minister for .Railways yesterday, in connection with Harbour Board matters, seems to have met with a somewhat _ unsympathetic reception. The Minister was very much the business man anxious to drive ai good bargain, and the deputation was in. consequence placed in a far from happy position. The outstanding, facts of tho position seem to bo that the Wanganui Harbour authorities a good many years ago, in their anxiety to secure railway extension to tneir wharf, gave the Railway Department certain land along the whole of the wharf frontage. A difference having now occurred between the Harbour Board and tho Railway Department, the latter, sometime ago-r-prior to the advent to office of tho Massey Government—decided oxi a course of action _ which the Board considers prejudicial to the interests of the port-, _ and, in consequence, the Board desires to regain such increase, of control as will, give it access to its wharf, and the use of the goods-shed, the property of tho Railway Department. Tho Railway Department, not unnaturally perhaps, , desires to drive a good bargain as tho result of tho necessities of the Harbour Board, and, in response to its representations, has offered to lease its property for £700 per annum. This is all very well, so far as it goes, but the charge >fixed by the Railway Department is regarded by _ tho Harbour Board as an exorbitant one, and, in view of tho whole of the circumstances, they appear to havo good ground for tneir complaint. Tho Railway Department,- apparently, is asking £700 a year for something which it itself runs at a loss. If it cannot itself handle the business profitably, when it'pays no rental, it seems a little curious that it should fix this very substantial rental, and expect the Harbour Board to make ends meet. Moreover, if its share in tho control of Harbour Board matters at "VVanganui involves an annual _ loss, it should surely be a good thing for it to relieve itself of that loss,, especially if by so doing it also made a gain in tho way of a reasonable rental. The Harbour 1 Board appears willing to pay a reasonable rental, but in view of the fact that it originally gave the land free of cost, it docs not consider it a fair thing that the valuo of tho land should bo used by the Railway Department as an excuso for tho substantial rental asked. The. deputation to the Minister not being open to the press, wo are at somo disadvantage in discussing tho matter, and thereforo refrain from voicing any definite opinion. On the facts available, however, it _ certainly seems to us that the Minister, like his • predecessors in office, lias been somewhat over-anxious to conserve the interests of the Railway Department, with too littlo regard i for tho welfare of tho Port of Wa- : nganui. Wo had an experience ot this in tho case of the Port of Foxton, when the Hon. J. A. Millar was Minister for Railways. We should bo sorry to see Mr. Herries following in tho footsteps of Jvln. Millar in this respect.