Harbor Mysteries.

Patea Mail, 4 January 1882, Page 3

Harbor Mysteries.

The Chairman of the Harbor Board has had the misfortune to publish a letter. He should not be held responsible for its composition (the spelling being an open question); but he .is clearly accountable for the taste and the sentiments which run through it. We do not like his harbor policy. He seems to be aiming at increased taxation of local trade, with the concealed object of making a revenue to provide a sinking fund for the ten thousand pounds. If this is the object aimed at, it should be openly avowed, and should be advocated on its merits. If it is not the object aimed at, his proposal to increase the tax on local trade is contrary to common sense; for the revenue of the Board being at present greater than the current expenditure, and there being a prospect of more revenue, and the bank being content to let the overdraft be paid off gradually, there is no necessity to increase the tax on trade. The chairman’s age entitles him to respect, and we have no desire to respond to his sneers. Public matters should be discussed with courtesy and conciliation, and so far as this journal is concerned, that course shall be adhered to. It is deplorable that so many persons will import personalities into public controversy.

The chairman threatens an investigation as to who supplied this journal with a report of the Harbor Board’s last meeting. We will tell him all about it. The report was got by conversation with four members at different hours, assisted by reference at the office to the written resolutions and documents which had been before the Board. To pretend that this is a mystery, or that a journal is not entitled to let the public know what is done at the Harbor Board’s meeting, is childish nonsense.