The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, July 10, 1909. HARBOUR BOARD MATTERS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 464, 10 July 1909, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, July 10, 1909. HARBOUR BOARD MATTERS.

In referring to'Foxton Harbour Board matters our Devin contemporary asks whether “we would argue, that if the Foxton Harbour Board wanted to raise a loan .the rate to be struck for it would be limited to the Borough of Foxton ? Of course we should not. With 1 the very best intentions —for we know our contemporary as well as Devin’s very worthy Mayor has the welfare of the Harbour Board at heart—but under a misapprehension, the Chronicle started out in its first article on the assumption that there was a harbour district in which Devin was included and that the Board was vested with rating powers. We previously explained that this was not so. Had the promoters attempted to include a district over which a rate could be levied, the Foxton Harbour Board would not now be in existence. It was explained by the promoters that if the Railway Department would forego the wharfages which are most iniquitously collected to swell the revenue of the working railways, instead of being spent on harbour improvements, sufficient revenue would accrue to meet all requirements without recourse to rating. The Board has no rating power, under the Act, and is stultified in its operations until such time as the Government hands over the wharfages.