WESTLAND COUNTY COUNCIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 July 1920, Page 3

WESTLAND COUNTY COUNCIL.

1 (County Chairman’s report regarding j Harbour Amalgamation at Grey* ' mouth.) | It is not the function of one local | body such as the Westland County Council to criticise in a carping spirt another local body such us the Grey. I mouth Harbour Board, nor to reflect on the members of any other body. Criticism Ims been levelled already against a "dummy ” Board, but it is our duty to take into consideration the administration of a body, and take into, consideration‘the fact that the members of a

local body are charged with the care

its business. | Especially at this stage we must view the matter of the Greymouth Harbour Board from a broad standpoint for the movement on the part of the General Government to take steps affects the Westland County Council and all local bodies vitally, from a financial point of view. This Council expects that at the

next valuation, this body will have the administration of a district, tin; rateable valuci of which will' not lie locs than > tie million sterling. It would he dereliction of duty on our part wore wo to tamely submit to fresh taxation proposals upon such large property interests, especially when we consider that such would not have been, and should not hr. necessary, if the Grey Hoard had maintained its rights in the past. There is no use complaining unless we can lay down proposals on which even yet the difficulty might he obviated. In 1884 the Groymouth Harbour Hoard was constituted and was endowed with very considerable endowments. At that time the importance of the port was recognised by the authorities and the Government for the time being, and T propose to mention shortly some of the sources of revenue with which the Heard j was endowed. j The administration of the Hoard was in very able hands under the C hairmanship of Air Felix Campbell, of Greymonth, up to the year about 1913. By then the revenue had mounted steadily until it reached the sum of 1131,000, and out of its revenue the Hoard was enabled to proceed with many constructive works, such as purchasing a dredge at a cost of IMOjOOO, equipping the wharves with cranes, a,ml many other works for the impVovcmcut of the port. It must he patent, to anyone that since then a serious drift must have taken pla<,e when we learn that for the past year the revenue of the Hoard has been reduced to a snip that will not pay the interest and sinking fugd, let alone, the expense of up keep pi the wharves, and the necessary cost of dredging the river to avoid shoaling at. the shipping berths. And, ip fact, ff'vim the Howard's own statement, thy,re must ho something radically wrong when lor a period of eight, months without any special expenditure, an actual deficit lias beep shown.

To begin with, in 1884 all rents royalties and fees from the WestlandGrev Coal Reserves were declared an endowment for the Board. Upon the strength of these endowments money was borrowed and up to the time of the opening of the State Coal Mine these moneys were paid to the Board. 1 am aware that the State Coal Mine paid no royalty to the Board in respect of any of 'its coal for some years after being launched, bill/ as a result of constant hammering on the part of the. previous Board the Government was compelled to pay royalty to the Board upon all coal wop from the State Coal Mine anti sold to the public. For this the thanks, are due to the Hon. AJciCownn, the. Minister of Mines in the then Seddon Government, and was at least a measure of justice to the people. But the efforts of the Government should not have stopped at thi>j. Constant and repeated efforts should liavf, fallowed $0 secure the whole royalty. Especially in. view of the fact the. statute bringing into existence the State Coal Mine, stated as follows:

“in order to preserve the interests of the ,Westport Harbor Board and the Grey Harbor Board,, the following provision liliafl apply in every case where land purchased or required under the pqwors on that behalf herein before contained is subject to the "Westland and Nelson Coal Fields Act, 1877. (a) A sum equal to th v > rents, royalties, or other moneys which hut for the operation of this part of the Act would have been payable to either of the said Boards.

When we consider that the total coal won from the Point Elizabeth Mme above amounted to 2,500,000, tops (vide last year’s official statement) out of which royalty has been paid only on 365,000 tons, leaving a bnlaney. of 2,135,000 tons upon which no royalty whatever lias been paid. This is a very serious leakage of revenue apparent at. once. Seeing that the royalty was fixed at 3d per ton it will be seen that la this item alone there has been a grave leakage in the revenue of the Board,

Turning now to the special rate provided f«r by section 12 of the original Act of 1884, it seems clear from the Board’s own figures that a leakage in this has occurred of £lo,f 00, which, should have been payable, by. the Government- to the. Board It is with ip thy knowledge of members of this Council that tie profits of the Grey-Bruiinor railway have been idso. a Harbor Board Endowment. Surely it is common knowledge that within recent years the traffic has increased substantially, and yet it would appear from the monthly statements that the line has shown uw,re than once an actual deficit. Admitting the cost of upkeep has of necessity been increased lately, it is impossible to believe that the Board has received a fair sum from the Government in dealing with the revenue received from the Crown. The only conclusion we can come to is that some one has filched the honest revenue of the Board and the Board has tamely submitted to the process,

Another endowment which a previous Government in its wisdom gave the Board and which the Board in a masterful policy up to the year 1913 maintained, was the wharfage tonnage rates at the Port of Greymotitli, including •ill charges on coal brought- for shin, less the actual cost of collecting same. The present Board in 1917 made proposals to meet the exigencies of the circumstances to increase the wharfages but after disclosing the policy to I the Government they sat still until the

utter increased their railway charges

from 3/6 per ton to 8/1 per ton. Not one penny of the large addition was an increase to the Board. A most inequitable and grossly unfair act, true,especially seeing that the Railway Department used the wharfages and GreyBrtinner railway to earn this money, and thereby increased the working expenses of the Board’s endowments, namely the Brunner railway. Surely the Board could have found some remedy for such an appalling administrative injustice. Others matters such as the reclaimed lands of the Board, wharf equipment, etc. ,and the commandeering of those by the. Railway Department should long ago have claimed the most vigorous protest if the members of the Board had been active to the imminent linancial disaster which must as a consequence have resulted from the inaction.

It seeins doubtful if the Board had been getting a fair deal, in connection with the use of the rolling stock, and from a perusal of the reports it would seem that the Government has been doing exactly what. it liked with the whole of the Board’s assets. It is true that the Board members are all nominees of the Government and are dependent for their term of office on the precious favour of the Minister of Marine for the time being, but it seems clear that a body of men with any political back-bone would long ago have been up in arms against such drastic treatment. The policy seems to have been “wail and sco,” and now when the result of this policy seems to he additional taxation upon the ratepayers of this County, it is certainly time we should be up and doing to prevent it. We have from time to time heard threats that the members of the Board would resign -.heir positions. But this is not enough. Acts and not words are required. If the present members of the Board do not see their way to press for justice from the Government, they should make way for men who will. In my opinion the Government should lie challenged to allow a most searching investigation into the position and as between the Government and the Board, and let right and equity be done. Since the Grev-Brunner line was first constructed the whole of the light fails of the iine have been, lifted, a,qd heavyrails have been substituted and paid for out of the funds declared to be the funds of the Board;. '"Who owns the rails? Does the Board, knqw? Have they done nil in their power in find out? Why should qot the Beard do what this. Council did some years ago when they found the Government was withholding j their legitimate revenue ? They persisted j in their demands till they got some j measure of redress. Why should n.ov the Grey Board proceed to do likewise, j and retain their just revenue, and re- | trieve their position-. This matter, gentlemen, is of the greatest importance to the County ratepayers, and there is a motion before j you to-day on the subject, k- ask yon to j carry that motion unanimously and ftive j authority for the strongest protest to he entered on India if of Westland Conn- j ty against any inclusion in the proposed new harbour district of Grevmouth. j