Manamatu Herald. THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1891. The Pilot Service.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 16 April 1891, Page 2

Manamatu Herald. THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1891. The Pilot Service.

The present Government are fond of indulging in, what their papers call " radical " changes. It is known that they effected a radical change in our pilot service, for which there was not the slightest justification, except, which probably was all sufficient, that this district elected a member opposed to them. The inconvenience of this act of parsimony has yet to be felt, but it will soon tell most expensively on the shipping interests, and the mercantile community. It sounds a little matter, the retrenchment of a boatman, but when that man is the only one there is, it is much more important. We have objected to the act as unwarrantable, as the trade of the port demands attention. Our member has properly protested, but met, as might have been expected, with scant courtesy. Our Mayor and Borough Council have objected, but has not as yet received the stereotyped reply. We own we expect little from the present Government, we know that to retain their salaries they will have to pay, in the colony's coin, very heavily, in making grants to those who have rubbed their backs the right way. We know that every reduction that can be made, so that their supporters are not inconvenienced, will be carried out by the Government, to justify the application they will make to Parliament for an addition to their salaries. We know all this and would quietly accept an honest acknowledgement of their intentions, but we strongly object, as being contrary to facts, the reason they have given for the step they have taken. Writing to Mr J. G. Wilson, the Socretary of the Marine Department says " I am to inform you that the Harbour Master at that port has been authorised to engage a man to sound the bar, shift beacons, &c, whenever it is necessary, us it wa.s found that similar assistance was (|iiile snttioieni for v .space of uvo years on a former occasion when the trade of the port had decreased to

its present dimensions. ' ' This statement enables us to see in what a slap-dash style this Minister makes reductions. It is asserted that the trade at the port is only equal to the trade " on a former occasion,*' which We presume is meant for the period .Utst previous to the appointment of this boatman in 1889. If this is so, the Minister has fallen into a great error, presuming that he took the trouble to do more than to order a reduction. The official returns give tlie connate entered, inwards uud outwards, for the. year ending H1.4 Mu rel». 1888, us 12,2513 tons, and the tonnage for the year ending 31st March, 1891, as 24,984 tons! The trade, instead of being the same as a former occasion, is just double, and the Department is thus rebuked out of its own mouth. The trade is not always to be guaged accurately by tonnage of the shipping, as though the boats wese larger the cargoes might be less, but even this is in our favour. The steamers are larger, but simply because they are necessary to carry larger cargoes, and as late as last week the Commissioners had to run two special goods trains to clear the inward cargo! Yet a public department informs the member for the district that the trade has fallen to what it was before the boatman, now retrenched, was appointed. The public has a right to insist on facts in place of fiction being supplied by people they employ.