The Daily News. FRIDAY, MAY 15, 1903. Mr MAXWELL AND THE NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOUR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 117, 15 May 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. FRIDAY, MAY 15, 1903. Mr MAXWELL AND THE NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOUR.

( It would ba extremely interesting to know what Mr Maxwell, a member of the New Plymouth Harbour Board, and for some years its chairman, considers the first duty of a member of the Board. The New Plymou h Harbour Board is constituted by statute, which provides for it doing the following h e ' things: make, construct, er-fct, and maintain harbour works, as defined by the Act. To do this the Board hss se power to provide funds, tho harbour ie fund to consist of harbour duos and pilotage rates, and all other dues which tbe Board may be empowered to levy Mj or receive, harbour improvement ratee, rents and profits cf land vested in the n . Board, proceeds and profits of land set aside- as endowments, and all o'her _ monies received by the Board under this or a special Act, to wit, the loin, The Act also gives the Governor in Council power to step in when a Harbour Board refuses or neglects to make 8 - provision for the use, benefit, or conia venience of the public in the hsrbjur M( under its control. Under tfce terms of thess provisions, we have been under N. the impression that the first duty of a - membsr of the Board is to do all in his power to eaharce th 9 value of the property of which he is a trustee, conserve its interest, and develop i's resources R- in every posnb'e way. Mr Maxwell appears to hold a different opinion, and, IT lea\iog out the question of good taste, appears to think that his duty is not to secure a harbour for tho distric', known as tho New P.ymouth Harbour in District, for which the Board was specially constituted, but to hinder the de- — velopment of the port as much as possible, to under-rate i's capacity in every passible way, and above all prevent the Board securing the necessary funds to carry out the very object for which the Board exists. Mr Mixwell seems to cbink the reduction of the rate and the it- extinction of tbe loan is the be all and re end all of the Board's exis' ence, whereas or ' n . 9 B-'ard is specially enipowertd to be raise a loan and strike rates to create se anddeveloptheharbour. Unfortunately, 'd both in and out of the Board the feJ o spoKsibility placed upon tho Bo»rd of 1W making and maintaining a harbour at Moturoa is tco often lost sight of. We are indued to make these reflections because of an address, which occupies . some 2£ columns of the Opunake paper, B g which Mr Maxwell h-is just delivered lg before the Opunake Farmers' Club, in re the course of which Mr Maxwell shows * b Plymouth harbour, wLich is amazing considering his connection therewith. Mr Maxwell condemns the harbour in toto, notwithstanding tho report of the Board's own engineer,—whose ability Mr Maxwell has on more than ooe occasion defended, —endorssd as it has been by Mr Napier Ball, who is acknowledged as tbe most eminent marine engineer in the Australasian colonics—as to the possibility of masifjg a harbour for the largest class jf vessels. Mr Maxwell ridicules the ' ■ ilea of ever making a safe port at the ! ueakwater, and 6ven has the effrontery no use their plaus—plans procured and , tccepted by him, without protest, while , ibairman of the Board—to show the , absurdity, as he terms it, of attempting i io do so. It ia uo 1 ; necessa'.y to follow!I f .-ill tbe absurd statements Mr Haxwvt j ! ~ makes in the coursa tf his addrees. ' Tho question is a very simple oue:! J Ite we to believs Mr Marchant, sup-L i. ported as be is by Mr Napier Bell, or ( it 50 boliove MrMaxweU? Foroursslves,!; i» *e have too viv:d a recollection of thjji Hand f-;::i'p episode, of which, by the! ■•vay, ivu- Maxwell made no mention at'i Opunake, to place any confidence in (

Mr Maxwell. W© know a large number )f country .settlers are prejudiced igainst the New Plymouth harbour, ind it is Buch wild stateuicn's as those indulged in by Mr Maxwell that are i largely responsible for that feeling, i We have, however, too much resp;ct For the intelligence of the" country ssttler to fear hU not seeing the advantages of direct and intercolonial' steamers trading from the breakwater, and lie is more likely to be guided by engine:rsuf repute than by Mr Maxwell in that matter. Tin opposition to the harbour is, after all, in the casa of most of tha settlers, due to a want of kaow- : ledge, and will melt away as thsy become batter informed on the suhj c\ Settlers may rest assured that nothing will be done without their biing taken into the entire confidence of the Board, ind the whole effect of % aoy scheme dcoided upon laid fully before them. Mr' Maxwil.'a utterances, and his pistac's, ire quite incomprehensible, and Bhovv how unfair he is. Speaking on ths revenue, he said " the New Plymouth people profess there is a £3ooosurp'us shown in revenue account, but in the revenue account the Board was using moneys which morally belonged to tha: ratepayers, that was the income derived from endowment?. If this incohu' was used for paying interest the rate' could be still further reduced, but tha' Board collared this itscoaie and thai increaeed the rate, and talked of having i surplus," Will those Who heard him rof&e thes9 remarks remembar tint M? I Msxwell was responsible for tha expenditure of sojae £SOOO of this same surplus revenue on that monstrous iniquity, the sand pump, which, after' eearly ruining the Board's locomotiv s, I is now lying oa tha Board's hands,' worth little more than old iron, and yet he talks about the Board having " collared this income." We hope, whoa the ratepayers are listening to Mr Maxwell, they will remember therfe are two sides to his story, and sutpand judgment till they have heard both sides.