FOXTON HARBOUR BOARD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 453, 30 March 1909, Page 3

FOXTON HARBOUR BOARD.

A special meeting of the Foxton Harbour Board was held in the Council Chrmbers yesterday afternoon, for the purpose of considering a report submitted by Mr Hennessy, and general. Present. —Messrs B. G. Gower (chairman), J. A. Nash, P. J. Hennessy, J. G. Wilson, B. R. Gardener, W. T. Wood and R. Moore (secretary pro tern.) Mr Edward Newman, M.P., was also in attendance. Mr Wilson explained that the reason he was not present at the last meeting or did not send an apology tor absence was he did not receive notice until after the meeting. Minutes of the first meeting were read and confirmed. Carrespondeuce was read from the Minister of Marine, stating that as the Foxton Board now has control of the Foxton Harbour it should take over the control of the harbour establishment, and that the Department has decided that such control shall be handed over to the Board as from the Ist proximo, and that the revenue derived from pilotage from that date will be payable to the Board, and asking the Board to arrange for the collection of the pilotage from the date mentioned. The following report was then read from Mr Hennessy: When the question of forming a Board to control and develop the Foxton harbour and port was initiated by me, .1 ascertained, by visits to, and enquiries from neighbouring Harbour Boards, that ample funds were earned by the Foxton Harbour Board and wharf to fully develop the port. The statement of these funds was thus set out on the Manawatu Herald of February 6th, 1908 ; APPROXIMATE REVENUE. £ s d Actual revenue obtained by Railway Department last year for wharfage 2272 6 4 Rents received annually by same department rl2 o o Anticipated revenue on 227 trips pilotage, at id 242 5 o Port dues at 3d 75 o o Berthage at 3d 512 10 o Total jC3 21 4 1 4 APPROXIMATE EXPENDITURE. £ s d j Office salary 266 12 o Pilotage . 247 7 3 Miscellaneous 21 10 10 Wharfage expenditure —railway handling 17,000 tons cargo in and outwards, and 24,00 b tons of coal 530 o 0 1065 10 1 Maintenance and repairs 4*3 6 11 Collecting by railway at 2)4 per cent, on ,£2384 6s qd 85 o 0 Total ,£1563 17 0 Balance to credit 1650 4 4 Total 1 4 Upon the basis of this calculation it was decided by the public of Foxton at the instance of the Foxton Chamber of Commerce, to have a bill brought before Parliament which should provide that the proposed Board should have as endowments all the sources of revenue shown in this statement, together with the foreshore, marine reserve, and signal station reserve, including all the reserves conferred upon the old Board by the Foxton Harbour Board Act. of 1876. The Government, however, did not agree to these sources of revenue, except the foreshore and reserves, and ultimately passed a Bill with ' sources of revenue from wharfages, etc., deleted. The Foxton Harbour Board can consequently provide no source of revenue at all, except the foreshore and the reserves, but we have in addition to these the general sources of revenue given to all boards by the (general) Harbours Act 1908 section 165. These are — 1. Harbour dues and pilotage rates. 2. Harbour improvement rates. 3. Rents of the Board’s lands. 4. Proceeds and profits of Board’s endowments. 5. Fines. Of these the only sources open to the Foxton Board at present are the first, third and fourth, that is pilotage rates, rents of board’s lands, and proceeds frqm endowments. Against these the liabilities of the Board at present are: — 1. Payment of pilot’s salary. 2. Stores for pilot’s work. 3. Sounding and bouying the river.

4. Secretary’s salary. 5. Members’ travelling expenses. 6. Petty expenses for stationery, "etc.

V The recommendation which I make for the present is that the revenue from the pilotage rates be made to pay for the first three items of liability, namely, pilot’s salary, stores for pilot’s work, and sounding and buoying the river, and that the revenue from rents of Board’s lands (if any) and from endowments be applied to payment of the last three items of

liability, namely, secretary’s salary, y , members’ travelling expenses, and petty expenses. I wish it to be understood, however, that I believe this to be an improper use of the funds derived from the Board’s land and endowments. These expenses ought to Ire paid out of other sources of revenue which the Government refused to allow the Board to have, but my recommendation is that in the meantime

we have no other alternative but to apply the revenue from the lands and reserves to this purpose on the understanding that as soon as possible this order of things be put right, and the revenue from the lands and reserves be applied tor the improvement of the lauds and reserves from which they are derived.

The present liability in connection with the pilotage of the river is estimated at ,£250 made up of for the pilot’s salary and ,£4O estimated for stores for the pilot's work. In addition to this ,£l5O has been paid to Levin and Co., to sound and buoy the river. I do not recommend, however, that this agreement should be continued at present, because I think the work could be carried out by arrangement with the pilot himself for, say, another ,£SO a year. This would make the total pilotage and souifding expenses ,£3OO a year. The gross receipts from the pilotage for the last 12 mouths were ,£224. This was derived from 27,052 tons carried in by iS ships making 226 trips, at the rate ot id a ton counted both inwards and outwards. The following is the list form which this calculation is made which is supplied to me by Mr Morgan, ot Levin and Co., who kept a record ;

12 mouths ending March 31, 1909 Tonnage Trips r2l Queen of the

South 87 10,727 149 Himitaugi 22 3.278 119 Gertie 33 3.9 2 7 145 Chas Edward 8 1,160 93 Waverly 9 837 131 Kennedy 18 2,358 157 Putiki 4 628 95 Moa 15 1,425 90 Wooton 9 810 117 Defender 3 35 1 197 Torgauten 4 688 80 Kapiti 5 4°° 100 Arapawa 1 150 70 Jane Douglas 3 210 60 Echo 1 60 73 Taimu 1 73 70 Blenheim 1 70 50 Thistle 2 100 226 27052 It will be seen that in order to make the receipts from the pilotage sufficient to. pay the pilotage expenses (assuming that last year’s quantity of shipping will continue), the Board will require to increase the rate to a ton. I accordingly recommend that this be done. This would bring iu ,£336 a year. I understand that the Marine Department made up the deficiency of a year which they incurred after applying all pilotage receipts and rents of reserves for payment of pilotage and sounding and buoying (including ,£l5O for Levin and Co.) out of the Department’s funds, received independently of the Foxton Harbour. We, of course, cannot do this, and 1 think it better to increase the pilotage rates for the purpose than to apply to the Government for a grant. Our object should be, not to approach the Government for anything which they might put forward as a substitute for the wharfage rates, which it should be our object to obtain as soon as possible. If it should happen that the pilotage, sounding and buoying expenses should be more than the amount above estimated, so as to make it necessary to still further increase the pilotage rate, then it will be the duty of the Board to make the necessary increase, I estimate the amount of the liabilities under the last three headings above-mentioned to be as follows :—Secretary’s salary, say £25 a year to commence with ; members travelling expenses, .£4O a year (which is apparently the amount expended on this item at Patea) and petty expenses, ,£io ; total, Against this, thp annual certain source of revenue at present, is that derived from the Marine reserve, ,£4O; and the minimum which can be got for the signal station reserve, £,35 ; total, ,£75. If these reserves should not realise this amount, any deficiency must, I think, be made up out of the small surplus, which, it appears from the foregoing estimate as to pilotage receipts and expenses, we may expect to have from that source. In*regard to the signal station reserve, the Minister for Marine wires that it is not let. I therefore recommend that we at once call for tenders for the yearly tenancy of the land. I have no doubt whatever, that at least ,£35 as above-mentioned will be paid for it, and possibly more.

In connection with these reserves, I should recommend that for the first year, at least, no alteration should be made in the terms upon which they are let, and that they should not be lor more than a year- It is better for the Board to keep them unencumbered lor any long period until we can see more clearly what would be to our best interests in the manner of letting them. We would be in a much better position in a year’s time to decide what would be the best method of dealing with them than we are now, and it would be a mistake to tie ourselves up in regard to them at the present time when our position is not quite certain. The further source of revenue which was mentioned above, namely, rents of the Board’s lands, will require to be further inquired into by the Board. They have hitherto been collected by the Railway Department and the par* ticulars are as follows:

These are for rent of portion of the foreshore, and I think it likely that the Railway Department will claim them as their own funds. I have not been able to inquire personally. The best is plan for the Board to instruct the secretary to enquire from the Department’s head office in Wellington. If the Board can acquiie these funds as well, it will enable them to meet all the last three items of expenditure mentioned, without trouble. It should therefore, I think, be the first duty for the Board toinstruct its secretary to arrange with the agents of the various shipping companies, owning ships calling at this port, to collect x)4d per ton, inwards and outwards for pilotage, and out of this to pay the pilot’s salary at the eud of each month. Arrangements should also be made at once with the pilot as to sounding and buoying the river, and the various owners of sections on the Marine Reserve should be notified to pay their rents to the Board. The secretary should also make the enquiries above-mentioned iu regard to rents of portions of the foreshore and act according to the result of his inquiries. J should slate that the first somce of revenue mentioned in the list at the beginning of this report is “harbour dues and pilotage rales.’’ So far I have spoken only of pilotage rales, and have said nothing about “ harbour dues.” I take it that these include port dues, and we have the right to levy these, but it would be unwise to do so at present until we are in a position to expend the dues so received iu conferring some on shipping. If we ask shipping for further dues it will immediately expect some return for it, and if the Board collects these harbour dues it should only be after it has arranged upon the mode in which it is to be expended. It would not do to collect such dues for any of the expenses which have so far been mentioned iu this report. On the motion of Mr Nash, seconded by Mr Wilson, the report was received. The mover stated that the members were under a debt of gratitude to Mr Heunessy for bringing down such an exhaustive statement, and he was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for same. Several points of the repor t were discussed at length. On the motion of Mr Wilson, seconded by Mr Wood, the chairman was authorised to make enquiries and call tenders in reference to leasing the Omarupapaku reserve.

In reference to the appointment of the pilot, Mr Wood said it would be necessary to ascertain what funds are actually available before a permanent appointment could be made. At present the estimates were only approximate, and the Board was groping iu the dark. He then referred to the necessary works which the Board would be called upon to undertake at some future date, such as improving the river, but they must have something tangible in respect to revenue.

Mr Nash said that according to the statement brought down by Mr Hennessy, after meeting necessary expenditure the Board would have a small surplus. It was no use quibbling. The Board must get to work and make the best of its present position. The Board must take up its responsibilities as from April Ist, and go on for twelve months. In the meantime they would have to fight the Railway Department in order to obtain wharfages. The Board must not take up a pessimistic attitude. Mr Hennessy referring to the question of revenue said it was unworthy of any Government to take wharfages as was being done in reference to the Foxton port. He did not think Sir Joseph Ward understood the position in reference to the revenues. The Board asked to be put on the same footing as other ports along this coast.

After further discussiou Mr Wilson moved and Mr Wood seconded, that the present pilot be re-engaged till next meeting, when he be asked to attend in order to further consider the question. —Carried. It was decided to ask Mr Newman, M.P., to ascertain all particulars in reierence to land leased, including foreshore by the Marine Department. It was decided to notify the Marine Department that it was not the intention of the Harbour Board to continue the services of Messrs Devin and Co., re buoying the river and sounding the bar, as the Board had no funds available for this purpose. When the Board were discussing the endowments, Mr Wood suggested that an effort should be made to get the sanitorium transferred from the Dands Department to the Harbour Board.

Mr Nash suggested that all lessees of land with which the Board is endowed be requested to make payment for same as early as possible. It was decided to open an account with the Bank of New Zealand to be operated upon by the Chairman and Secretary. On the motion of Messrs Nash and Hennessy, it was decided to call applications for the position of secretary, to close on Wednesday, the 7th prox., at a remuneration of per annum. That Messrs Gower, Nash, Wilson and Wood consider same and make an appointment. It was decided to hold the next meeting on April 19th, at ix.3o a.m, Mr Hennessy made application for nine months leave of absence. Mr Gardener in moving that the leave of absence be granted, said that he felt sure that every member would wish Mr Hennessy a happy

time and safe return. He referred to the strenuous efforts Mr Henuessy had made to establish the Board. He hoped the Government would see the justice of handing over the wharfages required by the Board. He was very grateful to Mr Hennessy for the information he had supplied in reference to the port. Mr Wood in seconding the resolution, reiterated what he had said at a previous meeting in reference to Mr Heunessy. He expressed regret that Mr Hennessy should have to go away at such a critical time. He hoped he would return fully restored to health. Referring to the future of the Board he said they required to improve the harbour in order to facilitate shipping, but little or nothing could be done without revenue. If they only had sufficient to pay a secretary and pilot, then the Board was a Board in name only. They required to make the port a real benefit to the surrounding towns and when the Government saw they were in earnest, he had no doubt that the necessary assistance would be forthcoming. Mr Nash wished Mr Hennessy God speed and hoped he would come back fully restored to health. The leave of absence askel for was the smallest compliment the Board could pay Mr Hennessy. The Board had enough revenue to start on. They would have to fight for the wharf dues. He hoped that the Board would not ‘ ‘ throw up the sponge.” Mr Wilson also supported the resolution. In speaking of the financial position, Mr Wilson said the Board’s indigence was the best argument that could be advanced to convince the Government of the necessity for handing over the wharfages.—The resolution was carried unanimously. In acknowledging the complimentary remarks paid him, Mr Hennessy facetiously remarked that the Board could at least do as much as the Government had done iu reference to the port. —Nothing ! (Laughter).

Other matters were discussed principally dealing with Mr Heunessy’s report and the meeting rose.

£ s d Levin and Co., 50 0 0 Shipping Co., 1 0 0 Austin 9 0 0 Hickson and Reeve 5 0 0 McMurray 15 0 0 Levin and Co., 1 0 0 86 0 0