A DOCK FOR WELLINGTON.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1883, 17 October 1913, Page 5

A DOCK FOR WELLINGTON.

Sir,—The lengthy letter in your issuo of Wednesday, Bth instant, is chiefly remarkable for the little there is in it, and for the lot that Mr. Cable forgot to state. Summed up briefly, Mr. Cable wants the Harbour Board to use some £12,000 or £15,000 yearly in order that th& ironmasters of Wellington may da a little extra woik in the way of ship repairing. Mr. Cable might have given us a little information in regard to the financial side of the Otago Dock, and also to his proposed Wellington Dock. The complete cost of the Otago Dock, including the up-to-date equipment ho speaks about, was well under £100,000, while the contract- price of our aban-' doned dock was somewhere in_ the region, of £250,000. Now, sir, this is tho point, notwithstanding all the Work done at Tort Cha'mers, tho Otago Harbour Board have a loss over tliel dock every year of £1200, to £1500. What, sir, would be the loss hero every year with our much costlier affair ?_ Anothor thing, does Mr. Cable think if wo had a dock wo would capturo tho work? Most assuredly not. 1 hopo tho Wellington Harbour Board will always remember what the Union Steam Ship Company's representative stated, when tho deputation waited on tho board to ask for more berthage accommodation: "Even if you build a dock we will still get our work done in Port Chalmers." This was some nine or ten years ago, at about tho time tho dock was decided on. Now. does Mr. Cable think an occasional Indrabarah is going to keep the dock going? The remark about a hostile cruiser shelling Evans Bay applies equally to_any part of tho harbour, including Kaiwarra, where somo people say Mr. Cable 'thinks tho dock ought to bo built.

Now for tho Calliope Dock, the Auckland white elephant. All tho world knows that this structure was the niirht-.

mare of the Auckland Harbour .Board for many yours, and after a lot of plotting and working they were thankful to be relieved of it, and let tho Admiralty tako it over. And, mark you, sir, Auckland is not like Otago, but rather like Wellington, a largo shipping port. Again, does the Lyttelton Dock pay? No, sir, and never will. About tlie equipment and facilities at Port Chalmers I will take it that Mr. Cable is right. Incidentally, however, notwithstanding the remarks that ironfounders make hero from time to time, about work could bo done hero as well as any other placo in tho Dominion, Mr. Cable admits in his letter a liner's shaft couldn't he forged in Wellington. All tho talk about the thousands of pounds being paid in wages weekly, we can dismiss as a mere scent across the trail. There appears to me t) be- a bit of jealousy in Mr. Cable, or why try and take away what Port' Chalmers has got't I hope Mr. Fletcher will keep on his present policy, increase our berthage, ana make us the chief distributing centro. If wo become that we will havo no little cause of pride. Tho losj yearly on our dock will build us a £70,000 or £80,000 wharf yearly. In conclusion, it has juste struck 1110 that perhaps Mr. Cable thought the Government should build the dock, like the Museum, Art Gallery, and as another iionmaster has suggested, the Technical School. Just as well try for the lot. —I am, etc., MOMUS. , October 9, 1913. / , CIVIL SERVANTS' SALARIES. Sir, —I see in your paper to-day that there has been a question asked in the House re Civil Servants' wives earning outside money. Well, I should like to say there is an easy way of preventing that. Let the Government pay their servants a fair salary. At present, in many cases where there are several children (and our Government say they are anxious that the population should increase) it would be quite impossible for a Civil Servant to keep his family and educate them were it not for the help of his wife. Where the house is big enough to kcop a boarder or else by teaching, or othor ways. Could any of the Commissioners bring up"a family decently, say, of seven children, pay rent, etc., bn the salary they offer their Civil Servants ? Rents and the cost of living aro much higher than formerly, and wages of domestics so high that only people with good salaries can obtain any, and I say again were it not for the outside earnings of the wives, in many cases Civil Servants could not marry and bring up a family decently in these hard times.—l am, etc., AN INDIGNANT WIFE.