THE HARBOR CHARGES.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8168, 27 April 1895, Page 3

THE HARBOR CHARGES.

At a meeting of the Harbor Board yesterday the following report on the above subject fiom the Standing Committee was considered : Grain and produce, lOd per ton, coal lOd, timber lOd, wool 6d per bale or 2s per ton, mutton 3s per ton, tallow 2s per ton, stone lOd per tun, cattle and horse* Is per ton or 2j each, live sheep Is 8d per ton or Jd each. That the rate on general merchandise be Is per ton. That inward transhipments be charged half rates on all o'asses of c»rgo. That the chargea for warps additional to the foregoing chargen be on registered tonnage as follow* : For vessels under 300 tons, hi per d*y j for vessels under 800 tons, per day j for vessels under 1000 tons, $d per day j half rates to be charged after atven days ; for vesiels under 2000 torn, id per day j tnd for vMseli over 2000 ton«, Jd p«r day } h«lf r*t«i after tbrtn dayt. Ther> win pr»iepb at tht mt>ting t

which was held in the tftsrnoon : Messrs Holmes (chairman), Milne, Allan, Rose, Maopherson, Dennison, Meolr, and Darling, i Mr Milne moved that tho recommendations of ihe SpooUl Committee bo adopted, nnd that a special meeting be c tiled for the purposn of confirming the tumo Tho charges of tho Bonrd h»d hitherto caused a go >d deal of discussion, and \b «r>ia only tho other day that tho Botrd took the matter up. A special commi'teo was appointed for tho purpose, he had no idea at tho timo that the and anomalies in tho chargoi wero co great as thuy were. Th°y h»d ttken out the shipmou's for 1891, a«l had t\ken out tho rates por ton on tho oirgo carried, which whs by fur tho fairest way, and had bßsed their calculation on (hum. The total quantity of o-trgo shipped at tho port during 1894 was 36,218 tons, the t< tal dues being L 2413, or Is 4d per ton. Of this quantity 27.046 tons were shipped uitercolooially and cotftt<vUe, tho dues upon which were L 1203 15s, or 10|d per ton. Ihe quantity shipped to the Uuitf d Kingdom by sailing vessels was 52J1 to'ifl, the rate per ton upon wh'oh vms Is 10^,1 ; while 3901 tons were shipped by steamer, at an avorage cost per t hi of 3s B£d, To show (he Htiomalios ho might mention (hat tho Wuika'o earned 361 tons at an averago cost of 7a 2d por ton, while tho Fife3hire on her l*st trip carried 310 tons ab an averago coat of 7* lid. Wh.n it is considered that tho average cost of shipments by the Herald was 7£d per to'i and tho Brunner 9jd, the disparity is very apparent. To o viato such anomalies it ia now recommended by the Sbwiding 0 mmittoe that a cons >lidated r.tio «t per tun on the outgo c-irriid be substituted in liou of port dues, pilot tgo, war pa at d borthHg'i charges as formerly. Taking chaigosat per ton on tho steamers desp itched trom the port during lust your we find tho Nairnshlro, wiih 1001 tons, co3t 2s 41 por ton; Fiftahiro, 301 ton*, 7s lid per ton; MaUtu>, 735 tons, 2s 7^J por ton ; Muray-hi.o, 357 torn, sa4d per tun ; Mamari, 804 tons, 2s B|d pjr ton ; W* kato, 361 tons, 7s 2d per to i ; Mitatua, 333 ton?, 3a per ton Taking the tverages of tho steamers belonging to the Viriom companies wo find the Shire steamers iveraged 4s p^r ton ; New Zealand Shipping Comp-iny, 7s 21; nnd Shaw, Swill and A bion Oompiny, 2a 9 I. The averago for bailing ships was : Pleiades, Is 10|J per ton ; 2s OH per ton; Pleiades, Is 9|d ; Waipi, 2« IJd. Tho average by tho New Z?a'an 1 Shipping Company's vessolsbeing 2s Id por ton as ngainst Is lOd for the Shaw, Stvill. They jiad been lamenting the small number of ships coming to the porb, and tho wonder was that any ships came at all. The sole and only reason was the iniquitous rates charged, and he was surprised that they had boon allowed to exist so long The circumstances in connection with the trade of tho port hid altered so much now that it was necessary thoy should act up to them. Thoy, of courso, m JSt calculate tho scale of charges so as not to lose revenue, and he believed tho scale presented would meet the we. Mr Milne wont fully into a comparison of tho charges under tho old and tho proposed scale, and said if the proposals of the special committee were carried they would havo a far fairer scale of charges, and tho alterations would encourage vessels to come to the port. Tho difference in revenue calculated on tho new and tho old scales would be a mere trifle, but tho chargea would be more equitable. Ho might mention that last year 77,000 frozen sheep had been shipped at the port, and 51,000 had been railed to other po ts. They had tho opportunity of altering this state of affairs by passing the recommendations of the special committee. Mr Hadden Dennison seconded tho motion. Mr Rose said he had no doubt tho matter had received caroful consideration from the members of the committeo, but he did not think tho revenue Mr Milne h»d suggested would como in. For instance, four wool vessels had le,fc the port last year, which was not likely to occur again, and two of these vessels had not taken full cargoes of wool; and, furhormore, somo of tho wojl was brought coastwise to them. It Ind been said that objections had been raised on behalf of largo steamers, owing to tho high charges, but the Morayshira had called for 300 odd tona, and thera vrna no frozen meat in that curgo. Tho fact was that thoy had not sufficient cargo to offer to tnduoo thorn to come hore. With regard to the railage of froz n meat from Oaruaru, he might mention that nfc Timaru, where tho charges were said to bo (lower than at Oarraru, 75,000 sheep had been frozen, and 38,000 odd had boen railed away, leaving 30,000 odd to bo shipped direct. Tho shipment of frozen meat did nob depond on the charges, but on other circumstances ultogether apart from charges. To bring in four wool ships into tho calculation for one year was qnsafe, bpcause that would not be likely to occur again> The scale drawn up would nob act fairly in every instance, even in the ciso of Bailing { veo9elß. He would refer to the Union Company, from which company they dorived something more than half their rovenue. If they raised tho rates to tho Union Company, that Company would increase their charges, and the ihippera would have to pay tho increase. To give a oomprison : was it fair that a vessel that had a 5s rate of freight should pay th,p samp a» a vessel tint hu{ a muph Signer rate of freight ? It was timo enough to alter their duos when the trade of tho port fell off because vessels would nob come. In the mean* lime the only thing that kopt vessels away was the want of cargo. MrDirhng said If they took tho two wool vessels out which Mr Rone had objected to even then the compaiison oould be made. Mr Roso could not soo thic, because they wero calculating on a source of revenus that wou,\d n.ob opcur no*t year. They oould nab pub the two vessels into two different years, Mr Darling, continuing, said the increase in rates would be very slight. But apart from that was it not fairer that vessels should pay od the cargo thoy took away? The trade of the port, so far as the Union Company was concerned, was carried on by three of their steamers, and these steamers woie exempt from some of tho charges. Mr Rose remarked, tjiat If Mr M. ilne said the reason why frozen meat was railed away was because of the charges, ho had fact;) in his possession to ah on that that nas not the oase. The vessels the meat was intended for were too large to come here, and would nob come. Mr Milne s«id he had only atalcd tho fact. Mr Meek eaid at Brat he was induced to agree with tho proposal, but since thinking over the matter ho had changed his viowo 6omewh*t. Ho would bo inclined to ngreo with a proposal to treat the Home steamers in the 'same, way as they treated the intercolonial. The Home steamers earned a high freight, while the intercolonial charged but 6i a ten, and the first were therefore in a positjon to, pay more, He thought if h»U the pilot, •go were atruok off for Home veiaela, and the porb duet ai well, that would meet the oaie. He «u MbUfted that if they raised the ohftrgw IntcMoloni&lly their freights would be ral-ed, and they would, ba unablt tQ QOfia with tradfri it) othtr pltowi,

Mr Wad dell said he had now got more informal ion on the auMocb than he had before. Mr Milno had said the trade was driven away by the high freight*, and Mr Rose had shovrn thai: that was not the ops* — ihut tha vessels did not come here for the re<son that there was no oargo for thorn. He was against disturbing the charged without having good grounds for doing so, and be v»ns t-ntisßed that tho argument was against Mr Milno's motion. Mr Denniaon said tho reason of the i ritiling of sheep from Tinmu was beoause tho vessels omild not stay in that port owing to rough weather. Mr Rose moved, as an amendment, That tho port dues on Homo stoamers be fixed simi'arly to those of intorolonixl steamote, namely, 6d per ton on cargo shipped until 41 per registered ton id reached in any Bix months' period, othernlso tho duos remain unaUered. This was stconded by Mr Meek. Mr Mlor, in rep'y, said his reason for moving was to do justice to nil. He did not wi<h to penalise sailing ships, bub Home steamers had in the pnst been 1 p'nalietd for the benefit of the sailing ships. His suhame was a fair one. Mr Rose's mjli n cur ainly relieved tho Home steamers, but it did not make any provision for reouuping the revenue. Mr Roso said ho no\er uttered a word about penalising the sailing shlpsi The sailing ships wore regular traders, and were yearly expeoted ; but he wai prepared to loae a lutle revenue if if; would assist tho cargo s earners. Tho O mirmuj Baid the carrying of Mr Rosh's amendment would mean a loss of L 157 a year to the revenue. Mr Rosa *aid the lo^s would only amount to LSI. The first estimate was a misciloulAMun. Mr Roso's nmendmenb was carried on tho otsiing voto of the ohairman, Messrs Milne, Doling, Donnison, »nd Allan voting for i l>o m iiion, »ud Messrs Rose, Meek, Mxcphorsoii, mi-J VVaddoll for the amoodment. The Chairman explained that he gave his easting vote for Mr Rose's nnu-nd-mont because he was nob p>Uit<ried tha carrying of the motion would be for tho benefit (.f the port. Mr Roso's amendment then bcoamo the subs atihvo motion, and was put against the proiont tariff and lost. Tho tarift therefore ronnini ai af p'Oient,