Harbor Finances.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 27, 1 February 1901, Page 4

Harbor Finances.

ACCUMULATED DEFICITS CONVERTED INTO A SURPLUS. IMPORTANT STATEMENT BY MR COOPER. The following financial statement was submitted to the Board'yesterday afternoon by the special auditor, Mr John Coleman: — “Adverting to my letter of the 27th November, 1897, in which I directed your attention to the need that then existed for increasing your revenue to an extent sufficient to provide for your expenditure, I now beg to submit for your consideration a comparative statement of your ordinary revenue and expenditure for the four years ended December 31st, 1900. The annual deficits which had been accumulating up to 1897 have now been extinguished, and the general account, which at December 31,1897, was in debit £3169 11s 6d, now shows a credit balance of £3453 3s sd. This sum of £3453 3s 6d, together with the unexpended balance of £20,000 of loan funds released, will be absorbed by the Harbor improvements undertaken by you, the statement of which as a whole stands thus: McGaffin’s contract for wharf extension, £1618; Anderson’s contract for dredge, £8098; groyne extension, estimated at £13,500; total, £23,216. Loan funds released, £20,000; general account, credit balance, £3453 3s 6d; total, £23,453 3s 6d. But as, on completion of these works, unless you put in hand other improvements to be paid for out of ordinary revenue, it may not be necessary for you to continue to raise so large a revenue as that which you have had during the past three years, I now lay this statement before you, and in doing so beg to make the following remarks regarding some of the items appearing in it. Wharfages for 1900, £7287 15s lOd. This is an increase of £940 11s 5d on the amount received in 1899, but part of the increase is attributable to the lateness of the dates of last season’s wool shipments as compared with previous years. This increased the receipts for 1900 at the expense of those for 1899. And part of the increase is consequent on the wharfages at the end of 1900 being brought much closer up-to-date than those of former years. Under the conditions formerly obtaining, the wharfages for 1899 would have amounted to, say, £6700, and those for 1900 to, say, £6900. I draw your attention to this, as without explanation of the increase you might perhaps estimate your wharfage revenue for the current year at a larger sum than the actual facts warrant. Net interest received from Publio Trustee: The receipts on this account have been diminishing year by year since 1894. Last year they amounted to £1368 12s 7d. Consequent on the release of loan funds for harbor improvements, and the lowering of the rates of interest on investments, still further diminution of receipts from this source must be looked for. Sinking fund : Two payments on account of this are shown in the statement of expenditure, viz., £7OO Is 3d in 1897 and £1865 Us 7d in 1899. But no further payments will be required. New dredge : In your estimates of future expenditure it will be necessary to provide for the expenses of working the new dredge, which will, I presume, be paid out of ordinary revenue.” , The following comparative statement or ordinary revenue and expenditure for the period of four years ended December 31st, 1900, was also lead:—

40,826 18 4 2565 12 10 48,758 5 7 A summary was given showing that from 1897 to 1900 the' revenue was £55,081 18s lid, expenditure £48,758, the deficiency in 1897 being £1284 15s 7d, and the net surplus in 1900 £6323 13s 4d. The Chairman said that the report was a very pleasing one. Four years ago, when they were going behind, the members were getting very nervous about the position, 'but he held that matters would right themselves in due course, and now they found that without any increase of rates or wharfage the deficits had been cleared off and a surplus was shown. The auditor showed that the surplus was required to meet engagements, and attention was drawn to the fact that the interest earned would be reduced, leaving so much more to be provided for. However, the statement'was one'ivith which they could feci well satisfied. The revenue from wharfages had increased, and even taking the view adopted by Mr Coleman, there was last year from £2OO to £3OO over the revenue of the previous year. In order to keep themselves in funds he did not see any possibility at present of reducing charges—their best plan was to wait and see what effect the new dredge would have. The improvement had been brought about by the increase in the volume of trade of the district. He was quite confident that after they had the new dredge at work they would soon be able to accommodate such steamers as the Moura and Omapere—they would surely do that if they progressed. It would make a great difference to the revenue, for then they would get a considerable revenue from moorage charges, and in that way he was quite sure they would soon be in a position to reduce rates and wharfages. The Board might well feel satisfied with the work of the past few years. Mr Sievwright said he did not think it was necessary to take any action at that stage in regard to the report. Mr Clark said it did not give them much information they did not already possess. They knew that during the last three or four years there had been a large increase of settlement and of exports. The Board as a matter of fact had very little to do with the improvement, and he did not think they had done anything for which they need pat themselves on the back, for the charges were the same. The increase of trade was very satisfactory, and they all hoped it would continue ; he saw nothing to hinder it doing so. Mr Cooper said that to whatever cause they might attribute the increase, the position was nevertheless very satisfactory. " It is," he continued, “ very pleasing to

know that our little port is progressing as it has been doing. There is no harbor of this class in New Zealand that can show the same amount of work for a proportionate expenditure. No, not one. I know that from my travels around, I visited Greymouth, Westport, New Plymouth and Wanganui, and have in my possession information that will bear out what I say, and show that it has cost them more' than it has cost us for the work done. I only wash that we had the supply of stone they have at Greymouth and Westport; for if we had I am positive that we could do an equal amount of work to w-hat they are doing for a third less money.” Mr Sievwright said he thought that they might as a Board, on the same lines as the Government, claim some credit for the prosperity. However, they could let the matter stand over until after the election. He would like to reserve anything he might have to say. The report was allowed to stand over:

Revenue. Year Wharfage Port Ch’ges Pilotage £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. a. 1897 4,844 11 9 582 10 10 71 2 0 1898 6,173 17 5 840 1 3 105 2 4 1899 6.347 4 5 928 12 11 88 0 9 1900 7,287 15 10 843 16 0 105 2 0 £24,653 9 5 3195 1 0 359 7 5 Water and Weighbridge Storage Licenses £ s. d. £ s. cl. £ s. a. 1897 22 7 6 38 18 11 34 17 6 1898 20 0 6 28 14 1 49 17 6 1899 17 19 0 19 15 0 47 2 5 1900 47 2 6 28 2 4 66 7 6 £97 18 6 115 11 4 198 5 0 Public Kent Rates Trustee £ s d £ s a £ s 1897 692 1 7 2,770 17 9 1740 18 10 1898 626 18 3 4,835 15 3 1645 7 8 1899 656 1 7 4,851 16 0 1592 6 7 1900 656 1 7 5,015 8 6 1368 12 7 2631 3 0 17,473 17 6 6347 5 8 TOTALS. £ s d 1897 .. 10,798 7 1 1898 . .. 14,325 14 3 1899 .. 14,548 19 9 1900 .. .. 15,408 17 10 £55,081 18 11 Expenditure. Year Salaries. Expenses. Mainten’ce. £ s d £ a a £ s a 1897 530 0 0 156 0 1 454 11 0 1898 502 12 0 219 12 0 306 0 i 1899 480 2 0 875 6 10 684 10 5 1900 525 12 0 203 11 11 427 16 1 2038 6 0 1454 10 10 1872 17 7 Interest. Sinking Funds. Total. £ s d £ s d £ s d 10,242 10 4 700 1 3 12,083 2 8 10,200 5 8 11,228 9 9 10,206 16 8 1865 11 7 14,112 7 6 10,177 5 8 11,334 5 8