HARBOUR EXTENSION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 43, 18 February 1903, Page 2

HARBOUR EXTENSION.

MK WARD'S MOTION. A COMMIT rEE APPOINTED. At the meeting of the Harbour Board on Tuesday Mr Ward, pursuant to notice, moved that the Board proceed with the extension of the breakwater at the rate of about £3OOO per annum, and that the Enginaer be requested to, report on the matter of extension with- j out deliy. He wished the Board to! no, ion that his rosolution was very wido. He presumed none of the mem- t bers were agiinst extension. It had bean said thit £3OOO was too small, and tha e . it would be batter to put bye thit amount and earmark it fur a larger expenditure. He was not opposed to that., as he wanted wjs extension, and he considered that the lesser was included in the greater. H's object was to mike a start with exfcensun works without delay. The difference between Auckland aud New Plymouth from Sydney was 140 miles, and the difference from Wellington was about 100 miles. If on'y direct boats came here from Sydney he estimated the increased revenue from passenger traffic at £SOO a year, and in aiduioa to this would be added the produca and goods traffic. Oar pickles and sauces, other eatable*, with ironmongery, etc., would also come hee direct, He detailed the items on which there would be saving on the B >ard's expenditure to show how tho £3OOO was arrived at. The increased revenue las', year amounted to nea-ly £IOOO. His figures had been verified by the Biard's Oommittae, who agreed that the £3OOO was available, but from the complete figures for the year thoro appeared to be be'.wean three and four hundred more available. Ha urged that the extension of the wh*rf should not be delayed. He was afraid th-i largar sciseme might require an Act of Parliament, and beside this he was doubtful if another loan could ba raised by second mortgage. By his schema it was not n.'cessiry to go to the ratepayers or any other authority, as the Board's revenue only was de ilo with. A further point was that proceeding in the way he suggested the Board would get an idea of the cost of the larger scheme. Ho was sorry to say that the question was greitly misunderstood in many parts of the district, which was due to th"ir being infected with a harbour mania. It was evident, however, that very great interest was being taken in the question. He bad not, however, heard anyone sty that ths extension was not wanted; the only qu s'ioa was how it was to be effectod. Hs did not at all obj3ct to the Board speodh g £60,000 if they wished, but he deprecated delay. He brought the motion forward in a spirit of public du y and hopsd it would be passed. Mr Price, in seconding the mo'io->, considered that the proposal had beon fairly put before the Boi'd. Tha Biard's revenue was increasing year by year and its expenditure would ba lessened by every additional f job of the extension. He did not think a revalue would ba a legal security for borrowing and therefore he considered it would be wise fqr the Board to advance '.hi work out of its revenue. He hoped che Biard would proceed in a progresaiv i way, They hid all the ma's ial at hand and h-3 hop.id the mjtioa wou'd be carded. Although some pirts of the district miijht ba averse to he <xpanditure he was sure the maj i ity of ratepayers would favoar che ex ension, Mr Foreman said that several people in his district S)em->d to consider that the Bjard had threi or f .ur th)imnd lyiog idle and dii ujtkujw wh\t to do with it, As to the argument that 10i a ton would be saved on butter freight it was very aoubtful whether that would prove correct', nor did he think that New Plymouth would be made a first and last call for Sydney boats, at all events for a coasidaraql i time. He had not gleaned from the mover's remarks what bonefi'; would accrue from tha a lopti m o r h s scheme. Was it wise for the Boird to use its overdraft for extension works ? Ho considered that as soon as the Board had fuads available thy scheme outlined by Mr Okey was oae that commanded itself to tin ratepayers, wh'j were not averse to the exocn-ion, provided they were not taxed for io. H« would oppose the work until the Board had funds available.

i Mr KiDg pointed out that there was no question before the Board of spending .£6OOOO, as Mr Ward's motion was confined to expenditure out of rovenm, i Thure was £3OOO of surplus revenue i available if no extraordinary expenditure incurred. He did not think the ,£3OOO a year put over the wall in siones would avail. He was in favour : of the £3OOO being set a*ide to pay iufcerest on a loan of, say, £20,000, as he considered that, with a proper contract, the Bjard would ob'aia better value for expenditure than by " massing away " small amiua's. Uo hoped Mr Ward wonld hold his motion over for a while, as ho (Vlr King) was sanguine that some scheme could be devised for a lc-rgrr expenditure, to be met; by means of surplus revenue. Mr Dingle said that Mr Ward's scheme would take 40 years to carry out, and he agreed with Mr King than the Biard should go faster. If the Board weat in for spending £3OOO, the work would c;ssthe Bjard £IOO a foot. If the ratepayers could be convinced that the extension onld ba carried ou'. by a ban without imposing any further tax on them, then they would c indent to the loan. He would. like to k iow fully all details of the matter brfora voting on it, and, with that view, he moved tbat a committee be formed, consisting of the Chairman, Messrs Ward, King, Foreman, and the mover, to ii-quire iato the question of hir'oour ex ension and finance, and to report to the B >ard in two mouths. I<; was battar o go thoroughly into the matter than to vjta for the first scheme thit was brought forward, Mr McLean considered that some guarantse should be obtainad from the shipping companies that the direofc boats would call here if the harbour was made available for them, as hi was sure ratepayers would no: vote for extension unless they were satisfied the direct boats would call here. Mr Maxwoll seconded the amendment pro forma. He would have pre-t'-rred that the mo'un should have been djalt with straight out, and the question of expenditure oh extension works out of revenue finally dispjsed of, He was altogether opposed to atfempting to carry out extension works out of revenue, i specially as there was" not likely go be auy surplus available. To try aad gat the ratepayers to believe that there nouUl ba a capital expenditure of £150,000, withoui increasing the late was a wrong line to take, and he should point this out to i the ratepayers. Of the surplus that was said to be available, he claimed that £IOOO belonged to the rafco-j payors, Ho asked Mr Dingle to bring 1

on ais amenumeut later on. Mr Dingle declined to take that course. The Chairman regretted that he should have to oppose Me Ward. He considered that the Engineer's estimate of the complete scheme of extension could be done for the amount stated. He hoped that something would be doae that would enable him to Sao the benefit; during his Ufa and he was sura that with an expenditure of only £3OOO a year the sand would come rouad as fast as at present. Tha extension of tlw wharf was the first mitter to be at-, tended to. Ha was in favour of tli9 j committee proposed by Mr Dingle and j he hoped Mr Ward would withdraw his moti m. If there Wbra fieilitiea fov j the ocean boats to call here they would | come. I Mr Ward declined to withdraw his • motion as he woujd not fall into any such trap. Ha kuew only roo well tha 1 ; the larger schema involved a rate and the B >ard knaw that the r itepayers would not smctioa thit. He wa3 convinced the £3OOO was available) aud the amenduieac only relieved tha Board from saying they did not like to votn for a schema which was suppartsd , by the country ratepayers. Ho did not altogether trust the Board and he would press his motion to a division. The amen ! ment was cirrLd by 6to 2, and carried as a bubstautivo motion without dissent. . ..