WHARFAGE DUES AND THE MUNICIPAL COUNCILLORS.

Grey River Argus, Volume VII, Issue 450, 1 December 1868, Page 2

WHARFAGE DUES AND THE MUNICIPAL COUNCILLORS.

(To the Editor of the Grey River Argus. Sir— The only apology I can offer yon for trespassing on your space is tlai in doing so I am commenting on a public matter, which apology will, J trust, te ample. In your issue of Saturday's date,?; you give a schedule of the proposed rates of wharfage, open I presume to public comment, and although only myself a unit, I i hope you will, through the medium of ' your paper, permit me to make a few remarks thereon. In doing so, I must refer back to some few days ago, when a committee was appointed to draw up a schedule of rates for wharfage. The committee appointed was four in number, but as the most active portion of the committee consisted of three, I will, with your permission, exclude the fourth gentleman, designating the others, Brides, Coal, and Timber. To those three articles more particularly would I refer, not that I do not think a considerable revision of the wliole is necessary, as likewise additions thereto, but simply, that the public, who qannot all be expected to have the same knowledge with reference to such matters as others have, may be able to judge for themselves how truly disinterested a few of the Councillors are in anything in any waj appertaining to themselves. Iv the first place, I will, 1 taking for granted your kind permission, comment on Bricks. On this item, a wharfage of 6d per 100 is proposed, or nearly equivalent to 4s per ton. The value of one, ton of bricks is about L 4 10s to L 5, whilst one ton of Adelaide flour is scheduled for wharfage Is per ton, although the value of this article is four times the value of the bricks, and the bulk fully four times as much. The only reason I can assign for Bricks taking the view of this artiole which he apparently has done, is, that he is anxious to encourage local industiy, and fancies wharfage accommodation for bricks will not be necessary as long an clay lasts on Mawhera Hill. In the second place, I will take into consideration Coal, one of the most useful of all minerals, not the less so for its generating gas, but in this, unfortunately, the triumvirate do not appear to coincide with me. A true saying and one universally acknowledged is, "fair opposition is the life of trade," but Coal does notthiuk so, as he would fain be without any opposition. Coal claims to pay no wharfage if dug from the bowels of 'Westland, but condemns his brother on the Nelson side of the river to 6d per ton wharfage ; nay, Coal does not stop here, but claims the river as his own, yes, even unto the shores of the Nelson Province. Coal lifts his mighty voice and says—" Brother on the other side of the river, you must pay 6d per ton wharfage if you land on Richmond or Mawhera Quay, or if you tranship on board any vessel, boat, or barge, within three chains of the wharf or quay." Thus speaks Coal. But to him would I say-^-

--" Goal, in all you do or try to do, you always overstep the mark, for o'er this river you have no control, and were you even to land opposite the Bank of NewSouth Wales, endeavoring to monopolise all you could, you would not, I fancy, enlist public sympathy, but the reverse." Next in rotation cometh Timber, and he likewise says — "I claim to pay no wharfage. No, although my majestic branches adorn the slopes of the Nelson province, yet will I pay no wharfage. I cannot, like Coal, claim a Westland growth, but still I must condemn you my foreign brother to a wharfage of 6d per 100 super, feet. Yes, I must shut you out from this market, for I claim this as my home ;" but alas, Timber, although you were annoyed at the non-passing of your proposed wharfage dues, and walked from the hall, declaring you had expended much of your precious time in mature consideration (which, by-the-bye, it was a great pity for you to do, as you will find in No. 1 of the Government Gazette that you have almost word for word the same items, if different dues), to you I will say that your brother Councillors showed their wisdom in not hastily passing your schedule on which you had expended so much of your precious time in conjunction with Bricks and Coal, for to me your schedule appears more like that of a petty Trade Protection Society, than anything else. I am, &c, D. Girdwood. Greymouth, Nov. 30. : ~' — -