AN OPEN LETTER.

Hokitika Guardian, 12 July 1920, Page 4

AN OPEN LETTER.

To the Chairman and Mcmbqrs of the Westland Comity Council and ail others interested.

I G jen tie men.—ln replying to your several comments and statements re spccting the administration of the ! Greymouth Harbour Board, the state of its finances and the proposals before the Government at the present j time, I may say that I am pleased ; that these matters are being criticised. ! Evidently the writer or tho inspirer of the articles is a person intimately acquainted with the Board’s affairs. However, in matters affecting public affairs, and in tile general interests, it ' is at all times advisable that the actual facts should be stated otherwise the veracity of the writer may t>e questioned and the articles may create an impression different from that intended.

T will pass over the early part of the County Chairman’s report appearing in the issue of the Guardian ol the 6tli. inst..'to the point where ho refers to tho administration of this Board up to the year 1913. This evidently should read 1915. Here it is stated that out Of revenue the Board was enabled to proceed with many constructive works, Bucli as purchasing a dredge at a cost of £40,000. The dredge was purchased in 1909 and out of loan money, not revenue; so you will see this statement is misleading. The blame for the State Coal Mine reserves being taken from the Boaid and none given in return, is not on the present Board’s shoulders as that was a transaction of some eighteen years back, and the royalty mentioned is still paid to the Board. The statement that royalty has . 'been paid on only. 365,000 tons out of a total of 2,500,000 tons won from tho Point Elizabeth State Mine is as unreliable as the previous statement re the purchase of the dredge. The greater proportion of this coal was won from land not at any time a Harbour Board reserve. In fact, T may say the proportion would be almost 2 of the whole. In any case these operations have extended over a period of upwards of 18 years. The present Board has been in office less than five years; and as tile founer Boards accepted tho Government figures as regards quantities, this Board lias done likewise. In fact, it would be impossible to check the figures, and we have no reason to believe the Government has acted dishonestly in tile matter. The next statement that a- previous governmest gave the Board certain t.n • dowment, and which the Board in a masterful policy up to the year 1.913. maintained, and the statement that the - present Board in 1917 made proposals and after sat still, are answered hv flip, following section (109) of the Finance Act 1915 which reads as follows: “Notwithstanding anything in seftion seven of the Greymouth Harbour Board Act, 1884, the profitand payments to the Greymouth Harbour Board, and the Westport Harbour Board, respectively, shall not include any portion of the increase in railway fares and freights, or in tonnage and wharf rates, paid pursuant to. an order of the Minister of Railways dated the third day of September, 1915, and published in the Gazette on "'the sixteenth day of tho same month, or pursuant to an y subsequent order of the said Minister whereby railway fares and freights or tonnage and wharf rates, are increased beyond those in force on the nineteenth day of September, 1915.’’ i This is the Act that has done all the damage and was made effective a« from the 15th. September 1915. The hill was never submitted to the old Board, nor to the present one, until it became law when we at once protested and wrote the Westport Board for support in our protest. That the Board did not remain inactive but continued to protest against the operations of ■ the above clause right up to the present can be verified from the files at the office and in the press reports from time to time. That some relief was given can be seen from the following oepy of a letter received from Mr Blow ' Under Secretary of Mines: i Mines Department, Wellington stli. I November, 1917,—Sir,— Greymouth Harbour Board Revenue. —Your letters of the 11th. and 25th. September have j received the careful consideration of J the Minister, who directs me to reply that he is unable to see his way to entertain the first of your proposals, viz. that the special rate of 3d. per ton on coal shipped should be paid ou all State Coal passed over your wharves, j hut he has been successful hi obtain j ing the approval of his colleagues nnl ; of Parliament to a. proposal to susi pend, during the currency of the war,, your Board’s liability to pay to the Crown any proportion of the said rate Provision to this effect is made in section 31 of “Tlie Appropriation Act, 1917.”

I have the honour to be, Sir, Your Obedient Servant—i(Sgd.) H. .T. H. Blow, Under Secretary. In reference to the statement regarding the threatened resignation ot the Board. I admit thfrt tho situation was intolerable. The members however held on for the one reason, and against their personal desires, in order to prevent the affairs of the Board being controlled tltogether by the Railway Department, ns they believed that local representation was desirable, and in the best interests of the people as a whole. I can pass over the various inuendos and suggestions as to the administrative capacity of the members of the Board but I will point to one fact that in the Consolidation Act of 1910 the Board was authorised to borrow up to £4OO- - £200.000 being for consolidating existing short dated debentures and £200,000 for works. Including the loan borrowed in the first years of the [Board, the actual loan indebtedness at that time was £300,000. Since that time, a year after payment was made for tho dredge, tho sum of £BO,OOO was borrowed. This made the debt at the date the present Board took office £360,000 with additional committments of £IO,OOO. Tho present Board however, refrained from further borrowing, realising that with decreasing revenue such a policy was not advisable.

The Board realised over three years ago that the Gfinpyßrunner trailway, which up to that was tho chief source of revenue, was out growing its useful'

ness so itu: as the Board’s revenue was concerned, owing to extensions and the further prospect of being linked up with a- more complicated system when tho Otira Tunnel would ho completed. With the extension to Christchurch and further, the Board would only get a very small proportion of revenue from the through, traffic —about 7 miles out o i over 200 This would make the Board’s share practically useless for revenue purposes. For this reason we ask’d the Government for an annual subsidy of £IB,OOO in exchange for the Board's line to Brunner.

In 1017 certain proposals were put ’before the Government, and practically tho same proposals are now being submitted to the Board having been adopted by -Cabinet. * Personally I consider the matter good business, the Government practically taking over the whole of our interest and sinking fund and giving the Board the power to make its own charges at the port. Aye are not requiring any loans'for male ing a port. AVe have a port to-dny as good and better than at any time in its history. AA r e have no overdraft, a credit balance at tho bank, and there is not tho slightest likelihood of ever a rate being required. The charges on imports and exports shipping etc., without collecting any rate, will he sufficient to meet all expense and leave a credit balance to build up a reserve fund for future extension if required. The rating area is simply a safeguard to the government in handing over to the people a. property worth to-day at least £5#0,000. It must be distinctly borne in mind that no loan can he raised without first submitting tho proposal to the electors in the rating district. It goes without sayng that the Board will be elective and the people in the rating district will have charge of its affairs. Under present arrangements, immediately any extension of wharf is completed, it is. taken charge of by the Railway Department and the Board ceases ownership. This was plainly stated by the Hon. Air AVilford. There are several other points in the Chairman’s report which invite com-, meat but space forbids. I would ask, however, who gavb the wharf, wharf equipment and reclaimed lands to the Railway Department? AVlio gave rolling stock, replaced the light fails with heavy ones on the Brunner line. Not the present Board; In regafd to this very matter the Board has an interesting document embodying the opinion of Air Skerrett K.C., which can ho perused by anyone interested. • It matters not to the Board how small or how large the rating district is to be. If the residents of any part of the suggested area can show that they are deriving no lienefit from the Greymouth Harbour, then there is no likelihood that they will be included in the district. ■ In conclusion, I may say that T would lie only too pleased to meet the County Council, and in fact all the local bodies, and discuss the matter with them. There is no occasion for throwing bricks, uttering hard words, or straining friendships over the matter. To my mind it is simply a. good business proposition and the offer of a splendid heritage to the people of the district.-—I am etc., J. STEER, Chairman, Greymouth Harbour Board. Greymouth, 10th. July.