PROPOSED PURCHASE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1014, 6 July 1911, Page 3

PROPOSED PURCHASE.

OF THE FfoxTON WHARF. DISCUSSIOIn by levin BOROUGJh council. — —. At the Levin Borough Council on Monday night thV question of the acquisition of |the Foxton wharf and purchase \ o f a dredge was placed before the meeting by the representative of thdL borough, Mr B. R. Gardener. | The Mayor, in opening speech, said that there hiL} been an agitation ever since tffii- Harbour Board was formed for Jqbe control of the wharf. At tip present time the wharf was run 'oy the Railway Department, amjfthe whole profit that the Boafoi obtained from a of view was only from private funds and the rt ats w hich accumulated from year f,t o year. It was felt that the river \ had been absolutely neglecte.B and the result was that very oft^ n vessels were delayed, the consequence being that goods were alsi detained. A proposition had bees made to the Minister many tim s to allow the Board to take over\he control of the wharf so that thevßoard could obtain control of t% e wharfages. The Minister had' said that the Department was getting a certain income from the wha r f ) but they wanted practically tffie goodwill for it. It was understood that the Government prepared to sell the wharf for £2| 0j0 00. The result was that thej Board had unanimously come jto the decision that it was i n the interests of that pdflft and in the interests of the surrounding districts, to purchase the wltarf at the price. The Board also thougdit that it was necessary to raise ,£7OOOO for a dredge, and to put the vjLhole thing into form they proposed to make a rating district, so Ijhat a sum of £27,000 could be boAj-owed, and the port made a more) ua vigable one than it was. With fa deeper river, and having a drejdge of the proposed magnitude, larger vessels would be able toj>£ruo the wharf, and the results frouM )be that freights would t,e reduced. Speaking of Levin,/the M. 1 \ bsaid that it was well-kjtiowu that fche town received Pr ASxbeneut irofcn the port. A great quantity of| goods came to Foxton for Levin i and by improv-, ing the river they would be able to get still more gbods instead of by the railway, khe charges of which were extremely heavy. As the tradespeople beiijefited, it was natural that the wfcuple community also indirectly benefited. With regard to the financing of the matter, it was proposed to pay interest and sinking fiund out of the revenue derived \ from the income of the wharfagies, pilotage and rents from endowments. The following figures, which were approximate were submitted by the Mayor : Revenue, wharfage in and out, £2500 (less labour; £600) ; pilotage, £350; rents,! £200; ships dues, berthage, etc./, say' on 35,000 tons at 6d, £875 ; total, £3325. Expenditure : 1 Interest on £20,000 at 4 per ceuU, £BOO ; sinking fund, at \ l /i pyr cent., £3OO ; pilots’ department, £250 ; upkeep of wharf, £4°° >\ interest and sinking fund on for dredge, at 5 per cent., £350 ; dredge master, £250; working dredge, say three mouths, (£300; secretary and office expanses, £2OO ; total expenditure, £2897 10s ; surplus, £427 10s. It was, continued the Mayor, proposed to put a Bill through the House for the purpose, and one clause would be that the interest and sinking fund would be paid out of revenue, and also that no other sum beyond £27,000 could be borrowed. Tde proposition was that the Kairanga County should pay £125, Manawatu County £214, Foxton, Borough £l5B, Levin £25, Feilding Borough £7O, Palmerston Borough £213. He was satisfied that if the Council agreed to the scheme the district would uudoubtly benefit by it. The Mayor in reply to Cr Hannon stated that the Wirokiuo riding might be included in the district. The Town Clerk pointed out that he did not think Wirikiuo riding had a representative on the Harbour Board. The Mayor thought the whole question might be looked at from this point of view; Supposing they paid £25. Was it worth £25 in order to get better shipping facilities than they had at the present time ? For the very small sum they were guaranteeing —not collecting—it seemed to him a very good business proposition, and he thought the townspeople would 4 agree that once the port was improved the amount which Levin was called upon to guarantee would be easily saved to the town. He moved that the borough places no obstacle in the way of allowing the Bill to pass the House. Cr Matheson seconded. He said that his firm got a lot of goods through Foxtou, and they found the port was much cheaper than the railway. It larger steamers were going to be brought up the river it would be a very good thing for tradespeople and for the peqpie indirectly. Cr Mackenzie maintained that were a certain number of IpCings in the Mayor’s statement that needed explanation. When , was stated that there might be . ,'proximately a surplus of £427* icy heard nothing about a tug, ... depreciation of the plant to be d tor a dredge, etc. Those were matters that should have Oceu taken into consideration, b knew they would hardly get a :u.Ui.e that would be efficient to the work in hand lor

" , ouo. They would require punts to carry the spoil away from the dredge. He was m iavour of improving the port ol

Foxtou, but he would like a very complete statement brought down beiore voting on the matter. Cr France was very much against the proposal. He thought the council would be doing a very foolish thing by running its head into the noose. Once the council was pledged to support the Harbour Board at Foxton they would have to stick to it, and if the majority of the controlling Board should like to go in for additional plant this council would have to stand by.

The Mayor: That is wrong. The amount is £27,000, and nothing else can be borrowed.

Cr France retorted that once this council came in to the scheme, it would have to stick in'. Why did not Foxton build a wharf of its own if it wanted to be relieved of the railway ? As representing the ratepayers he did not think they would be justified in taking up such a burden. Cr Hannan felt some sympathy for the project, but declared that at the present time the scheme was rather a crude one. He wanted the whole of the matter submitted to actuarial investigation before he could consent to be led into a scheme for the improvement of the harbour. At New Plymouth they found the people wished they had never undertaken the responsibility of a harbour board. The same might be said of Oamaru. Cr Lancaster said that the council should be very careful in a matter of this kind. It seemed only a small matter so far as Levin was concerned, but at the same time if they undertook to take part in the work they admitted they were interested in the harbour. When there were any future requirements for money to be spent there was was no doubt Levin would have to pay for it. Cr Palmer was not against the proposal, but before he took action one way or the other the Council would have to carefully consider what it was doing.

Cr Prouse remarked that £25 was not very much, and the storekeepers would benefit by it. He would have no objection to borrowing the money and getting the wharf, but the trouble began when they started to interfere with the laws of nature. He would not go with his head into a noose for more than the £27,000.

The Mayor, in reply, stated that a competent engineer was appointed to make recommendations on the necessity of having a dredge of the kind alluded to. It was bound to be both necessary and economical. By the dredging of the river the railway in past years had received a revenue from the shingle which was obtained by the dredging, and which was anxiously sought after by the local bodies in that particular locality. The Government was taking a revenue of nearly £2OOO a year and not spending a penny on the river. The total revenue which the present board derived from the port was the paltry sum obtained only by the pilotage and the rent from endowments. Surely the members present should give the members of the Harbour Board credit for obtaining all the necessary expert evidence and opinions upon the work of the description mentioned. Considering the whole of the members of the board were unanimous it was necessary in the interests of their several districts that the purchase should be gone on with, the members of the council should be satisfied with their representatives’ views on the subject, because they were only conserving that which they thought was beneficial to the districts they were representing. If the shopkeepers could get three-quarters of their stuff instead of a quarter by Foxton, what an advantage it would be. With regard to punts, he pointed out that they already had them. After some further discussion, the Mayor suggested that the debate stand adjourned to the next meeting of the Council, so as to give the members an opportunity of (making application for any further information which they might like to obtain. Finally he thought the whole position which the Council had to decide was this guarantee ot £25 ; whether it was going to beneut the town. It was agreed to adjourn the rqatter till the uext meeting of the council. —Chronicle.