FOXTON’S WHARF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1222, 19 March 1914, Page 3

FOXTON’S WHARF.

Says the Palmerston Standard : —“lt is a great pity that the position of the Foxton wharf and harbour remains such an unsatisfactory one, because a very wide district is being detrimentally affected thereby. So long as the Harbour Board is deprived of the control of the wharf there is no possibility of the river being made navigable, and incidents such as happened last week, when a steamer was detained in the river for two or three days, will continue to interfere with trade. Unfortunately such happenings are common enough, and if this stale of things is allowed to continue it will be simply a matter of time when there will be no shipping at Foxton at all. Palmerston North is vitally interested in this question, Most of our goods come through Foxton owing to sea carriage being cheaper than railway, and Palmerston’s interest demand that the port should be improved at the earliest possible date. The only effective means to this end are that the Harbour Board should control the vvhaif, but, unfortunately, little satisfaction has been obtained from the Government in the matter, Hon. W. H. Herries seems determined to persist in the demand for the exorbitant amount from the Board which his predecessor in office stipulated. If the Board is compelled to pay so heavy a price only one way remains open, and that is to raise money by loan and make the special rating area responsible. It is of little use for the Board to waste any more time negotiating with the Minister, and the sooner a move is made to raise the money the better. There may be some trouble also over the special rating area, for Feilding has already expressed its intention of objecting to inclusion. Palmerston has not expressed any decided view on the matter, and it is hard to say what would be the result of a poll taken here to raise a loan. While the business men of the town are practically unanimous in their demand that the port should be improved, there will probably be opposition to anything which may entail increased rating. There would have been no need for a loan at all had the Government treated the Board in a fair manner and handed over the wharf on the formation ot a governing body at the port. But that, unfortunately, has not been done and it is to be hoped that some finality will now be attempted in this important matter. The chairman of the Board (Mr Hennessy) has been energetic in the past, but it is time now for the adoption of more active measures.”