WHARF ACCESS WANTED

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 278, 23 August 1945, Page 6

WHARF ACCESS WANTED

Harbour Board To Take Action BAN CRITICIZED

Immediate re-opening of the wharves to the public is to be urged by a deputation from the Wellington Harbour Board, which is to wait on the Minister of Defence. A decision to that effect was made by the board last night. The question was raised by Mr. It. L. Macalister. When the war ended, he said, the Commissioner o£ 1 olice stated that it was not intended to allow Lie public further access meantime. At the same time the Prime Minister announced that all unnecessary controls were to be abolished without delay. “It "is time one took the subject up more actively and called the commissioner’s bluff,’’ he said. “It is up to the board to say who is going to run the wharves—the board, or a civil servant. The public had had the right—not the privilege—to use the wharves for many years before the war and would not stand for continued restriction. The excuse given was the danger of incipient fires; but where were the incipient fires and where were the King’s enemies? It the police in the last five or six years had not been able to round them up, there was something wrong with the police. , “I feel that there are no King s enemies and that the whole thing is a lot ot hooey,” said Mr. Macalister. The public was paying ±1)0,000 to £60,000 a year for 40 to 60 police officers on the wharves when half a dozen night watchmen could do the job equally we PIt was time the Commissioner was teal that police were needed iu other places. Wadestown, for instance, had recently been without a policeman for'months. In view of the needs of other districts anl the vandalism that existed in the city, surely all the police should not be concentrated on the wharves, keeping the public off their rightful preserves. The Commissioner had promised relaxation of the restrictions when the war ended. He had not kept his. promise, and should be reminded of it. Mr. Macalister moved that a deputation wait on the Minister of Defence. "The public will not interfere with the working of the ships." said Mr. W. I. J. Blyth. “We should ask that the restrictions be ent right out.” Mr W. L. Fitzherbert supported the move on behalf of country people, for whom, he said, the wharves were one of the chief attractions of the city. Mr. J. O. Johnson said he was not tn favour of unrestricted access for the public when ships were working because there was an element of danger which the average person did not understand. Would the board be liable in case of an accident, lie asked. Mr. A. M. Macfarlane said that they were merely asking for the restoration of conditions that had always obtained before the war. Mr. Macalister said that the board had a reserve fund of £20,000 to cover accidents, but in all the years that the public had been on the wharves no one had been injured.