Harbour Works

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 155, 19 July 1937, Page 9

Harbour Works

RATEPAYER

Sir, — To-day, the 19th day of July, is the third anniversary of the famous Harbour Board Loan Poll, when the ratepayers of the district endorsed the proposals put before them immediately. to prosecute the building of overseas wharves to deal effectively with tho shipment of the highly valuable produce of this wonderful province. The "hullabaloo" was well worthy of the best Aihierican "ballyhoo." In. fact, our cousins were never in the same street. With the eiUpty promises of immediate prosecution of the scheme, which. Was to be sUch an iminense benefit to the primary producefs and importers of the district, a glowihe; picture was painted of what would materialise in the very near future. Savings would bo en'ormous and the whole community would benefit ; in fact Hawke's Bay would be a regular para-, dise. Everybody wquld enjoy tlie general .prosperity that would accrue -as the result of the "elimination of lighterage,"- ''increased trade," "enhaiiced priCes,'' "no loss of bloom," and goodness only knows what not. Of course the "job" must be gpt under ivay, it was declared, and contracts must be let for the immediat,e prosecution of this national work. Somd talk was made of giving the whole job over to some of the big English eontractors, etc., etc. All very nice "guff" to be uninitiated. The job was going to absorb some hundreds of unemployed at the' one time, and the stress of unemploymfent relieved locally; It made great reading for the poor unfortunates out of work, who wero gjulled into the belief they would he able to secure a jcib at home and avoid the necessity of going into camps in the country where the effect of keeping two homes going , would place them on a little better footing than "sustenance." Why the Labour Government allows this sort of thing pasSes all understanding. The carrying out of the advanced harbour works, which had been promised were in the liands of people Who perhaps would not like to be designated "Business men,'' but something more capable. Well, what an unholy mess has been made of the whole affair. Extra wharfage charges were imiposed, and. now an imposition of £12,000 annual rate on the gullible ratepayers, The Harbour Board chairman, in a recent apology, blalned the failure oi' the conti'act eystem for the delay. Why was he so cafeful to avoid aUy answer to the pointed questions which were made in the columns of your paper prior to the meeting he addressed? If the board has blundered and squandered the puolie money, why should it he. further entrusted with the prosecution of the Works ? • The generaliy aocepted theory is that if . a man is "caught" niore than once he is a "mutt" and deserves all he gets and finally should be protected against liimself . Hoes this hot also apply to the ratepayers? We ttre now told that the board will carry out the Work itself. ' [ am hot alone in the opinion that if tenders were again calied lor there Would not be one single tender, The ehairdian of ihe board should take the people who are "payiflgj the piper" into his coiifidence and tell theih when the spdcifications for the inajof contracts, which Were let and terminated by the board, were available to intending tenderers, and Were the said specifications available to intehding- tenderers on the date of the originai ddtes Bet doWli fbr closing of tenders? Will he say whether the transferring of th© hoard's office staff to a tin shed at the site of the alleged progress at the Breakwater offset the huge loss of public money involved in the two futile wharf contracts? It appears to be poor ecottdtny to "take it out of the hide" of a staff who for years past have been located in positiVely disj graceful qUUrters. The sanitary conditions of the board' s qUai'ters for years have been nothing more or less than a disgrhce to civilisatioh, ahd it is high time action was taken by the health authorities to teee that the ordinary decencies df life were provided the staff. . The whole position shouid be placecl before the Governnl-ent and thoroughly iiivestigated, and there would be something doing which would sUrely result in the Public Works Departmeht taking over the whole shooting match, and do away With the awful, pitiful exhibitioh of ineonipetent local body niismanagement. Three long years aiitl What a recoi*d 1 What a record of uhfulfilied promises! What a record of ihCoiiipetent bandiing of public affairs! What a record to hand down to posterity ! wh j: a glorious opportiiility for the representatives of the people in Parliament to do thb right thing by the people Of the harbour district and place the interests of the district before the possible local body friendships. — Yours, etc.,

Napier, July 19, 1937.