THE PROPOSED HARBOUR BOARD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 437, 19 September 1908, Page 2

THE PROPOSED HARBOUR BOARD.

Mr Stevens’ Letter to the Premier. The following is a copy of a letter forwarded to the Right Hon. the Prime Minister by Mr Stevens, \ M.P., in connection with the Foxton Harbour Board:—

“Wellington, September nth, 1908. Sir, —Reverting to my interview with you this afternoon I have the honour to request that you may be pleased at the earliest convenient time to give your fullest and most favourable consideration to the enclosed telegram which I have received from Mr Hennessy, President of the Foxton Chamber of Commerce, on the subject of the formation of a harbour board to control the port of Manawatu. With respect to the grant of per annum proposed by the Government to be given to the harbour board when formed, this amount would no doubt be of considerable service lor the purpose of improving the channel of the river, but as the grant will only be given contingent upon the Harbour Board taking rating powers, it cannot, I fear, be accepted on the terms named, as the proposed harbour district comprises only the borough of Foxton, and the Bill having been advertised in accordance with the standing orders limiting the district as stated, no great, r area or larger district can be included without a plan of the proposed amended bouudaries being deposited in the local Courthouse and advertised in the usual way, and as the period of the session has now passed in which this may be done, it is therefore impracticable; besides which I am confident that the ratepayers would not for one moment submit to rating proposals of any kind while the whole of the wharfage dues are being collected by the Railway Department (it having assumed the functions of a harbour board, with this important exception, that none of the wharfage dues are being devoted to the proper and legitimate purposes for which they are collected, viz., that of properlylighting and dredging the channel of the river), and are used as part of and paid into the account of the railway receipts of the Dominion, in contravention of the existing law. Section 111 of the Consolidated Harbour Boards Act, 1908, states that: (r.) No Board shall levy any dues unless the dues are applied to some shipping purpose, the benefit whereof is enjoyed by the ships or goods on which such dues are levied. (2.) In this section the term ‘ shipping purpose ’ includes : (a) The erecting or making of any harbour work, or constructing or doing of any work or thing that conduces to the safety or convenience of ships, or that facilitates to the shipping or unshipping of goods or passeugeis, or is intended to do so; and also (b) the payment of interest and sinking fund upon moneys borrowed for the purpose of any such work, and the management and superintending of any such work ; and also (c) the maintenance of lights, buoys, beacons, pilot establishments, and signal-stations, and the maintenance of any life boat, or other means of preserving life in case of shipwreck. The moneys expended by the Railway Department for the purposes above mentioned are, of course, properly chargeable against wharfage dues to the extent limited by Statute, but as the wharfage dues amount to at least four times as much as that expended on harbour works, and the cost of the original construction of the wharf, and its improvements or repairs, have been paid for four-fold by wharfage receipts, it cannot therefore be contended that there is any justification for allowing the port of Foxton to remain in the present unsatisfactory and practically unnavigable state. As the proposed Harbour Board does not contemplate by the Bill to borrow money, as in the case of Opunake Harbour Board, the relative positions of Foxton and Opunake Harbour Boards are not analogous, and therefore the taking of rating powers by the Foxton Harbour Board Bill appears unnecessary. The question of river harbours within the Dominion is one of such great importance as to require a comprehensive and satisfactory means of providing the necessary financial arrangements with which to maintain and improve such shipping ports, and where the volume of the shipping trade is sufficient, as in the case of Foxton, to provide the necessary funds, which accrue from port dues and wharfages, for the purpose of pro- : perly equipping and maintaining the harbour, it cannot be justly contended that there should be any rating district constituted. Waitara, Patea, and Wangauni harbours are satisfactorily financed without rating districts, but depend solely upon revenue derived from the shipping trade, which revenue in these three cases is properly devoted to its legitimate purpose —that of the improvement and maintenance of the harbours in question. The Foxton Chamber of Commerce, which represents the views of practically the whole of the Manawatu district,- is justly anxious that by whatever means other than that of imposing the penalty of rates upon land and property, there shall be some satisfactory method devised for the proper equippage and future maintenance of the Manawatu river harbour. I therefore trust that you may give this important question your fullest and most favour*

able consideration with a view to preventing the further silting up of the river channel, and thus encouraging the large trade, especially that in coal both for Government and private enterprise, which at present obtains, and must greatly increase in the very near future, instead of allowing the unsatisfactory conditions to obtain whereby consumers of coal shipped to Foxton pay one shilling per ton in excess of that which is paid at Wanganui, which is paid at Wanganui, while the distance it is carried to Foxton is considerably less than that to Wanganui. In conclusion, I desire to thank you, the Hon. the Minister for Railways, and the Hon. the Minister of Marine, for the attention already devoted to this matter, and feel sure that the great importance of it will amply justify every point of detail being tally considered and equitably determined.”