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Evening Star, Issue 3677, 4 December 1874, Page 2

VJ uu. THE HARBOR BOARD AND THE PROVINDIAL GOVERNMENT. A deputation from the Harbor Board, confi;a f iug of Messrs Beeves, W'.Oermid, Tewslev, M'Neill, Cargill, M‘Ki*inon, Hatnsay Mercer, and J (Lillies (secretary), w dte I upon the uperintendentt ais morning and urged upon him the “necessity of tin sf erring to ihe -iar or Board in the necessary and legal manner and without delay, all the powers delegated to him by the (*overnor under the Marine Act of ISO 7 and the Harbor Board Act. 1570.”

Mr Beeves explained ihat the object of the deputation was to endeavor 10 set matters clear, so that the Board could go en \'hh its work. People outside, and the public at large, were under the id. a th it the Board individually were not doing their w rk, and imputations had been freely cast that hj s Honor was in no way inclined to forward the Board s views. It would be a fair ppcr(.unity for his ’loner to be able to disabuse the public mind of to at idea, and the Harbor Board individually and collectively would be enabled to show clearly that it was no fault of theirs that they were not ab eto get along. With reference to the powers the Board wished to have transferred, ar. a meeting hj Id on 'eptember 25 between the Provincial Executive and the Finance Committee of the Board, the follow.ng understanding was come to : The Superintendent and Executive are willing to give all the delegated powers held by the Mipermtendent, and to transfer to the Board all jetty and other dues, and also to place at their disposal the bidance unexpended of the vote for dredging as far as the Government can legally do so, provided the Board undertakes to keep the jetties and approaches at Port Chalmers aud Dunedin in repair and properly dredged for the purpose of the traffic of the port It being understood that the monies received from each vote of the Council be spent by the Board on the pur pose for which the money was voted. The Executive also agreed to introduce at the next sitting of the Provincial Council such reasonable amendments of the Ordinance as the Board may suggest. The Marine Committee expressed themselves satisfied with this arrangement, and it was agreed that if the Board concur, the Provincial Solicitor, who is also solicitor to the Board, be requested to suggest the necessary course for giving effect to tho proposal.

•’ll -t minut.- was afte-w.rds endowed by t't do ir I Mr Tewsley, cua'rmau of tb inmoeCommittee, ucmkl ■ x.ilam the matter more fully, as lie was better up in the fin m -md arrangements that had been entered bit with one of tire banks here. The \vho'< quesaon appeared to turn upon the delega urn of the powers, which if not delegated 1 1 the Boa d. their securities we.e not con sidered sufficient, as in th"> mortgage bonds which the Corporation of the Board was empowered to issue, it was provided that the laud should be security, and also rates, jetty dues, &c , and unless these were vested in the Board they were no security whatever. On this being pointed out. the opinion of the Board’s solicitors, v! o ers >'eiv^right and Stour, was takeu on the follovpin g point: “I, ihe gazetting of a proclamation del gating the powers of the ■uperiotendent to the Ha'bor Board in the ‘ Provincial Government Gazette ’ sufficient authority for the Board to exarciso the powers { the >upeiintendeiit?” The soli.iters’ op nion wa ‘that. tin publication of the delegation in the ‘ Provincial G- .zatto ’ wa-> not sufficient. and that tin pubiicnion mu t be in the • New Zealand Qazo to ’ He oid not think it necessary to say anything more. Ihere wic a hitch just now, and the B iard hope i that the resg c of the interview wotPd oo to smooth it over, apd the Board be enabled to carry out the work for which they were appo nted. For his own part, ho beieve i fully bis Honor would s_ive ad the assistance he could, notwithstanding tne imputations that may have been cast out of doors and hat the> would be able to come to such a satisfactory arrangement as would enable the Boar i to go on smoothly. His Honor remarked that from what Mr had suited from.tbp peporc of the proceedings of the last meeting 61 tbe Board,

and aDo from observations of a portion of the Dune lin tress, it would appear chat a good ileal of virtuous iudigu vtiou bad been ex reused at the actio i of th i fborincial Executive—or rather at the action of him i-elf. Ke w s gad of having the ypp rtunity of puhlic’y stiting toe actual position of the case, and hoped the reporters present would do him the favor to take an accurate account of his statement. As the deputation was aware, the Provincial Council at its last session, and on his recommendation, resolved that the harbor channel should be '•'eepenel—an operation which involved a •arge expenditure of money—money which could onlv be acquired by in aus of a lo.«n, which the Province had no power to raise. It was a singular fe iture m our poli ical organisation that wliile the w rovincid Council itself was deharred f.om rating a loan it had power to authorise a loan’s Wing raised. Accordingly an <'rdinanee wis pas-ed, constituting the ; arbor B *ards coui'err ng upon it power to borrow to the extent of L.250 000, and authorising the .Superintendent to voave;y t) the Boird one hundred acres of wha will prove to be the must variable land in Dunedin. And he might say ha bad in front of him the conveyance of this laud ready for his signature, fie had not had time to read it over; but he supposed it was all right, and it would be executed at once. The Ordinance was reserved for the Governor's assent, which in due time was affixed to it. For the information of the c untry pa er*, which were continually assarting that Dunedin Haroor was to be deepened at the expense of and to the detriment of the rest of the Province he thought it w. 11 to observe tha ■ Provincial revenue was in no way responsible for the fJarhorloan, nom>re than it was responsible for the loans of the Coroorations of Queenstown, Invercargill, Clyde, Dunedin, and Port halmers. Mr Tkw.si.et ; And Mount Ida.

Hss Honor : Yea, and Mount Ida. In po nt of fact, the expenditure on Dunedin Harbor had hitherto exceeded ihe revenue, and the doticien :y had to be met by the Province. Now it was propo- ed that the Province should be relieved from that charge, and the Harbor Board would have to find the funds. So much for the question of Dunedin beng pvmpered at the expense o' the rest of the Province. As to the delegation i t>e Superintendent’s powers, as Mr Peeve* stated, some tim • ago a oroc amation was is tied delegating to the Boo'd a'l the powers the Superintendent poses-ed, which he could hj gaily d : vest himself of. By some mistake that,proCiarns.tion got inserted in the ‘Gazette* without iti being signed hy him, and on perceiving it he found it gave power to 'he Board to dip their bands very deep’y into the treasury of tie Province. Practically under that proclamation the Board might have levii d dues on the whole of the goods traffic of the Dune lin and Port Cham-rs railway. H e had had legal opinion io 'ha effect before he himself arrived at that conclusion. A fresh proclamation had since been prepared which gave to the Board all the powers possessed by the Superintendent, except p -wer to levy dees on railway piers. 'J his t reclamation had bten signed by him a d forwarded to Wei ington ( r inset on in the (Jo onial ■ Giz-t : e,’ without which, as had beeu remarked it woul i nor have the force of law. In addition to the powers which lie had already de egated tn* rc were certain other powe'B which he held under delegation from the overnor. These, which he had no powi-r to de ega'e, were as follows : I o erect, superintend, and raaintain’harbor mark-', buoys, lights, and beacons, now or hereafter to be place 1 within the limits of any p-wt or the approaches thereto.” The oe egation also contained power to appoint pi ots He did not know how that power had beeu overlooked, but practically all pilots had been appointed by the Governor. He hj id ap ointed no pilots, and practically the only power delegated to him by the Governor was to expend moneys voted by the Provincial Council on Harb >r marks, lights, and beacons, from Martin’s B >y on the west to Oamarn on the northern coa-t. > d course the i >eueral Government might, if they p eased, rev. ke this delegation, and confer it upon the Harbor Board of unedin j but it would, however, be manifest that he would fail in his duty to the rest of the Province w*-re he to he a party to any such action. If the General Government chose to canc-1 the delegation, as far as the harbor of Dunedin wis concerned, he had not he slightest oh jec'ion. lu such case the Provincial Council will not be asked to appropriate further moneys for harbor marks, beacons, *c., within the harbor j and, so far as he was concerned, these powers could n d be exercised by him, except at the request of the rtarhor Bard, which would find the funds. He had only to say further, in reference to the statement that the Government, and particularly himself, had been throwing cold waWon, and had not their hearts in it, that so far as the Executive were concerned, so far fr.nn having placed obstacles in the way of the Board as had been alleged, they had gone outside the provisions of the Ordinance in divestin . themselves of the p’ant and administration of the Harbor Department low far this may have been a wise step remained to be seen ; he only hoped it •vould lead to greater efficiency and economy of administration.

Considerable discussion ensued, and eventual y his Honor promised immediately o communicite with the General Governnimt exp'- s-sing his willingness to transfer o the Harbor Board, so far as Dunedin lariior was concerned, all the delegated 'owers he could legally dispossess himseli of.