FOXTON HARBOUR BILL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 438, 1 October 1908, Page 3

FOXTON HARBOUR BILL.

Bill Referred to the lands Committee.

By Telegraph—Special to Herald

Wellington, Last Night

The Foxton Harbour Bill was dealt with and reported to the House by the Local Bills Committee, after deleting sub-section A of Section 8 of the Bill, and because it dealt with Crown lands it was referred from the House to the Lands Committee, which will in due course report to the House. It should not be long in the hands of the Lands Committee as the Local Bills Committee reported that the Standing Orders had been complied with. [Clause 8, Section A, above referred to reads as follows after the words the Board is hereby endowed with : “All wharfage, berthage, pilotage and port dues in connection with the Foxton wharf and harbour.”

The Foxton Harbour Bill was discussed at considerable length by the local Bills Committee yesterday, and was finally passed to be reported to the House in the evening after deleting the clause endowing the Board with the wharfage dues. From the point of view of the promoters this was the most important clause in the Bill, and its deletion amounts to depriving the Board of the principal part of its revenue, the other sources of revenue being very small. If the Bill becomes law with this clause struck out the position of the Board will be worse than useless, and unless the Government is prepared either to let the clause remain or to grant some other equivalent concession in place of it, the Board might just as well not be in existence. The president of the Chamber of Commerce wired to-day to Mr Stevens to drop the Bill unless one or the other of these alternatives could be secured.