CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 380, 2 May 1908, Page 3

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

The last meeting of the present Council of the Chamber of Commerce was held in the Secretary’s office last night. Present: Messrs Hennessy (President), Frankland, Ross, Hornblow, Perreau, Walker, and the Secretary (Mr P. H. RaeHovvard). After the minutes of the last meeting had been read and confirmed, the following new members were elected : Messrs Rev. G. K. Aitken, W. Barnard, W. J. White, Petrie, Page, Gardner, and Phillips.

ANNUAL MEETING. I The annual meeting of the 1 Chamber was held at 8 p. m., when about 20 members were present. Apologies were received for the absence of several members. The annual report was read by the President (Mr Hennessy) as follows-The Railway Department were approached with the object of having a train run from Palmerston North on Wednesday and Fiiday alp a.m.,, similar to Monday ; also to erect a verandah at the railway station at Foxtou. An endeavour was made to have maram grass a 11.1 lupins planted at the Heads on A'bor Day. The Minister of Customs was approached with a view of having a Custom House established at Foxton. I regret to report that the Council was not successful in any of the above matters. A deputation waited on the Minister for Marine in reference to the encroachment of the river at Duncan’s Bend, and a promise was obtained for a subsidy of two pounds for every one pound collected by those interested. The Lands Department was communicated with in regard to a grant of ,£2OO for planting trees at the Sanatorium and a reply was received to the effect that the Department would subsidise £ for £ up to the sum of ,£IOO. A promise was obtained from the Railway Traffic Manager that all trains would stop off the bridge at Orona Bridge station. The Council was also successful in having Montoa connected with Foxton by telephone. The chief business that has occupied the attention of the Chamber is the formation of a Harbour Board for Foxton. You have already had the report ot the meeting held on the 4th February last, published in the Manawatu Herald. Since then we have been busy trying to surmount many difficulties that have come in our way, the principal of which being the matter of land endowments. The reason of this difficulty is the delay in receiving the decision of Cabinet, which has not yet come to hand, but we have good reason to believe that the Government will give every assistance. As the time for opening of Parliament is fast approaching, we decided to abandon the matter of land endowments for the present, and proceed with the preparation of the Bill, including only the wharf and river from which we will draw the main portion of our revenue. This is how we stand at present. We, however, again wish to draw the attention of the Chamber to this all-important matter, as should we be successful in getting our Bill through Parliament, we will have the means at our disposal to obtain expert opinion on what should be done to improve our port out of our surplus revenue. We are more than satisfied that there is a great future before Foxtou as a port, for the very important towns of Palmerston and Feildiug, and all the district as far North as Bulls and Greatford, and South to Levin. At present shipping is begging to enter our port, but cannot do so on account of the erratic nature of the bar. I am sure that the Chamber will pass a vote of thanks to our Member, Mr John Stevens, who has all through given us every assistance, often at great inconvenience and personal expense. Our solicitors, Messrs Moore and Barnard, also require the thanks of the Chamber for the considerable trouble they have been put to in the matter. The balance - sheet disclosed a credit of £8 7s 6d, ,£5 of which is ear-marked for technical school purposes. The principal items of receipts were ,£l4 members’ subscriptions, and a credit balance of £6 is carried forward from last year. The Chairman referred to the necessity of something being done at once by the Chamber in order to ensure the passage of the Harbour Board Bill at the next session of Parliament, and it was suggested that a deputation proceed to Wellington to interview the Minister for Marine in reference to certain important details. The report and balance-sheet were adopted. The following gentlemen were appointed a deputation to proceed to Wellington in order to interview the Minister of Marine;—Messrs Hennessy, Frankland, Moore, G. H. Stiles, Hornblow, Walker, W. J. White, Perreau and the Secretary.

It was resolved to get into communication with Mr John Stevens in reference to ascertaining a suitable date for the interview. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year ; President, Mr P. Hennessy (re-elect-ed) ; vice-President, Mr. G. H. Stiles; Council, Messrs F. E.. Jenks, Phillips, W. J. White, M. H. Walker, Alex. Ross, and M. E. Perreau ; .auditors, Messrs Morgan and Phillips. In referring to Harbour Board matters, Mr Hennessy again pointed out that in order to get the Bill passed during the coming session it "would be necessary to leave out certain of the proposed endowments and have the wharf and river only included in the Bill. The revenue accruing from this source, if the Board was con-

stituted, would enable the Board to secure the services of a thoroughly capable engineer to report on the improvements required to facilitate and encourage shipping. The present state of affairs in regard to the port were very unsatisfactory, and only recently, owing to the state of the bar, shipping had to be turned away. The river channel would enable a boat drawing 12 or 13ft to come up, but the bar was erratic. He impressed upon the Chamber the necessity for action, and hoped that each member of the deputation, even at a sacrifice, would proceed to Wellington to urge the necessity of the formation of the Board upon the Minister. He referred to the assistance rendered to the project by Mr John Stevens, M.P., and fellow members of the Council. He hoped that this time next year the services of an engineer would be obtained. The Secretary was instructed to communicate with Mr Stevens in reference to making the necessary arrangements with the Minister for receiving the deputation. The Secretary was voted a bonus of five pounds. After other formal business had been discussed the meeting rose.