TO THE EDITOR.

Patea Mail, 1 February 1881, Page 3

TO THE EDITOR.

[Correspondents are invited to discuss matters of public interest with fairness and brevity ; this journal being an impartial medium of discussion and advocacy for all affairs relating to the County of Patea.] WHARF CHARGES, Sib, —Considerable dissatisfaction has for some time been expressed at alleged excessive charges for wharfage by the present lessee of the wharves—Mr W. Dale. As this system, if continued, must militate against the interests of the port, I deem it ray duty to draw attention to it. As a proof that the illegal charges are not altogether visionary, I will cite the following case, and leave the public to judge. On Friday last Mr Odgers, proprietor of the Australasian Hotel, waited upon me as Chairman of the Harbor Board, and made the following complaint: He had received two quarter-casks of porter, upon which the legal wharf charge would be sixpence, being one-third of a ton. The wharfinger demanded one shilling and sixpence, which Mr Odgers properly refused to pay —whereupon the porter was carted away and stored “at Mr Odgers’ risk and expense.” On the following day Mr Odgers, acting under legal advice, waited upon the wharfinger’s agent, and tendered the sixpence, when the agent said Mr Dale had instructed him not to take more than the sixpence, and to deliver the porter at once. Now, sir, this may appear a very trivial matter, but if it is a part of a system it is one that ought to be stopped. The remedy is clearly in the hands of the consignees, and if they will consult the bye-laws of the Board—under which the wharfinger is supposed to act—they will find that they are protected against excessive or illegal charges, and that they have a remedy against illegal actions by the wharfinger. —I am, &c., G. F. Sherwood. Patea, 31st Jan.