HARBOUR EXTENSION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 121, 23 May 1903, Page 2

HARBOUR EXTENSION.

A WARM DEB AT K MR MAXWELL TAKEN TO TABK. On Friday last at the meeting of the Harbour Board the tpeoial committee appointed to cocaidor the eraction of harbour extension brought up tfce'r report, a copy <f which eppeared in :he Daily News end Tarataki News of the following day. The Chairman said he had much pi asure in moving the adoption of the report. Some members of the Bmrd hid doubted whether til re was any surplus revenue. Bearing in mind, however, tha previous extraordinary expenditure on such things aB the sand pump there was no that £3OOO a year was available. In the last months tha overdraft hid been reduced by cvjr £2IOO and it might fairly be assumed that if extension works were carried out that £SOO a year at least would be saved in dredging. It was not, said Mr Oonnett, usual to Uk* no'ice at that Boird of what appjared in the newspapers, but unless he replied to the late Chairman's remit kg tt Opunike it might be assumed th it Mr Maxwtli's statements were tnrrect whereas they were gross inaccuracies It appeared that when addressing a meeting at O t 'Un;ke the late chairman (Mr M.axw.l:) sttted that ev<)n with an . xpecditure of £150,000 it would be impossible to pavi lo acc mmodat'.on for Sydney bo\t°, let alore Home liners, and yet two eminent engineers employtd by the Biaid had reported that an expenditure of £143,000 would provide a safe harbour for ocean vessels.

Mr Maxwell said he did cot siy the Sydney boats could not be berthed if the proposed extension was carried out.

Tne Chairman read an extract from the Pre-s report, and pointed out that Mr M.xwell had had ample time to corrrc 1 ; the report if he considered it inaccurate.

Mr Maxwell eulogis:d the report and expressed himself as well p'eased with it.

The Chairman s .id it WjS a remarkable position for the Board to occupy, when cne of its member?, who was an ex-chaiimm, should taka up the unfair attitude Mr ilaxwell had assumed and set up his opinion above that of such an expert as Mr Napier Bell, the highest authority in th) colony. Then, again, »hy could not Mr Mixwe'l have been fiir in bis statements as to the Ba r d's overdraft as he knew very well thxt prior to the time when he became chairman, the Board hal no au hority for an overdraft, and had it not been for tha action of Mr King and himself (Mr Connett), with others, in raising .£IOOO to put the breakwater in order it would have been washed away. Why, again, was not Mr Max mil fair and open enough to till the ratepayers that when the "country" B.'ard o me into office they had 6ix or sev<>n thou sand pounds of overdraft to play wi hj, and they utilise! thoir power to the tune of £3500 in the fir.it year. He twit-tad Mr Maxwell v. Ith having carried the re olution as to carting by his casting vo'e, Mr Maxwell said he had always taken a course which the present Chairman did not adopt, viz., given his casting vote in f.v.ur of existing conditions,

The Chairman then alluded to th" way in which Mr Mix will hid twisted rate matters. He sail Mr Maxwell was not a business maa and never would be, arid that he bad cover allowed a sufficient r»te to bi struck to pay the interest, hence difficulties had at itei necessitating cabling the money to England and keeping the Sinking Fund Commissioners without interest, so that whan Mr Maxwelj'6 tem of office as chairman expired it was t'ouad necessary to riiso thi ra f e. Every member of the Bond kntw this. It had even been necs-sary fcr him (the chairman) to interview the maniger of the bank to Bive a default ia payment of interest, He ce d not siy tint this state of affairs hid provd very expensive, and yet Mr Maxw.ll claimel credit for a low rate. He would not have unde these remark', but for the danger arising from the possibility th it weigh 1 : might ba given to utterances by the late chairman. He bal hopes of being able to get the services of prisoners on the exension works. Mr JCing and himself had interviewed the Premier on the subject, and they had tilso endeavoured to get the Government to agree to a loin at 4 pir cen f ., but it appeared 4| was the minimum. It was a great pity that the prison la our had not been continued, and the Committee hoped to see it in us 3 again, The scheme brought forward give the ratepayers an opportunity of saying yea or nay on its merits. Mr King said tbe Committee had gone fully into the question, and they were sa'i-fied that if prison labour could be obtained there would bo a great saving of expense. He would later on have something to siy as to

the gross inaccuracies in Mr M-ixwdl'a statements, but would, m-auwhile, reserve his defence, and merely, with much pleasure, formtlly second the adoption of the report. Mr McLean said ho had no serious objection to urge agaitis"; prison labour, but he should vote against the sche jia, ! Mr Maxwell movdd, as an amendment, that consideration of the report ibe deferred- until the next nneting. He said he did not baliovj ia beug rash in making stateman's ho could not back up. He wanted to look into the thing, He was not quite so rash us Messrs Oonnett and King had proved themselves over the Sydney business, 1 as to which the Ltter from the Union I Company was the greatest listener the' Board had received. He was qui:e prepared to stand by th? newspipir report of the mietir.g, as he considered it gave an absolutely correct impression ■ of his stateman s. H j ccmtind d that! the Board was chiming as eurp'.m I revenue monfly which belongel to tin ■ ratepayers, and he hopsd this would he rectified this year. He bad never givjn : his casting vote cxc :p" ia I'tvour of things remiiaiug as they were, though in doing so he had frequently ac L ,cd 1 Against his own coavictiojs, YVhethe:' the report was or not, time was required to it. At th) ' same time he iu e lied to ag linit •' tha proposal. 'i ■ The Chairman: Thm I hopayou will be fair. 1 Mr Maxwell: Yes, I'il it fairly, ! m l I am preparei*to livo iu tie dis- ! Srict and stand to my guns. , 1 Mr King: I hop a you will correct 1 the errors in the report of your Opunako 1 ip9ech. 1 1 Mr Maxwell: Tiiere i-i nothiig in • ;be report Co correct o? any importunes, j Mr King: I waut ti kno v ei'hw j ('Pa o? nay whrilif your « f.cr.i.-n- , >as m>id« as i; ». >i.•■■»■■■ i iiueor ui>true. Yuu !;»•• • ih ' tccuracy u»-ctar. !>:'<' >vi or >i;-l v,->u ' lot write to tue paper and deny cue j inniixanir r,f „„„„

Mr Maxwell, after much pressing, aduoi'ted he did Dot take any steps to sat the report light, Mr King : Ah, I thought we thould get at it at last. | The Chairman : You knew that two expert engineers h?d advised tbe Board I'hat certain exp-mditure would wake the harbour avail able fjr ocean vessel?.

Mr Msxwell paid that what he really stated was tha l ' fvon wi'h an expenditure of £170,000 it was questionable wbe'h°r tbe larger Sydney boats would find at the breakwater and he was prepared to stand by tV.at. Mr M< Iran said Mr Be'l did cot pretend to n»y that large vessels could lay there safely.

Tha Chairman: Did Mr Maxwel say tha 1 ; trade had ben driven frou Melbourne to Sydney owing to impro.'etnen's at the former port. Mr Maxwell; Quite light. The Chairman pointed out the un fairness of such statements, and also of those in relation to direct trale wi'h Australia

Mr Kin,», in challenging Mr Maxwell to prove his statements, sail the I late ch lirman lived in blisstal ignorance of fact o , reading possibly a few newspapers, bu"; hiving no knowledge of what was ac'uilly taking place. Mr Dingle favoured a policy of advancement as he did no"; beliive in standing still. He remembered the oi l diya cf tbe surf boats which eetved their purpose for a time. Then came the Inrbitlr which was very good fcr a time, but the increase in the dairy indus'ry was so great 'hit in a year or two it will b3 doubled. The tim* h ;d arrived when something should bs done, and it was for the ratrpiyers to say yea or nay, and not for tha Board to wrangle. He advocated deferring consideration of the echem°, which was certainly a big one, and must ti h>-r ba adopted or rejected. H-i was not quite satisfied as to tbe .£3OOO surplus, and would like to flee it. He wi.uld sec:nd the amendment;. The Chairman said the object was to get the schi me ventilated, and there fore he was willing to defer further consideration of the scheme. Mr Kiog took tha same view. Mr Foreman suggested that probab'y befoie t.'ici next meeting a reply might be r. c ivjl from the Department as to prison labour. The Chairman said theJPremier had promi-ed to hy the request for the services of 50 prisoners be fore the Minister cf J us'ice. It was proposed to ge' picked mn. On the previous occasioo 50 had been employed, and had do»tbe bulk of the woik, and yet it had been siid they did but little work. Mr Maxwell said he had had a little insight into the way in which prisore 'f worked at the Lreikwater [giving an imitition of the ; r movements] and he was peifectly convinced that thair labour was very expensive, as tbe Board bad to keep up astatf of men to supp'ement the prisoners' work. Not only were tbe Board's men frequently kept waiting, but the truck* were often sent down with only one stone for a load. Contract wotk was far cheaper. He did not siy tint prison labour, under proper conditions and management, would not produce good result?, but the qu3stion was whether prison and frc labour could be caried on side by side. After sirae discussion further consideration of the report was postponed till next meeting. Ia rep'y to Mr Dingl», Mr King said the employment of prison labour was in a way an alternative sohema, as if sufficient of that labour could ba obrained there need ba co borrowing. It that labour could not be obtained then they mu3t fall back on a Bill and a po'l for a loan. Mr Maxwell said there would not be the slightest difficulty in getting the lotn if the ratepayer* were satisfied that ooetn boats cculd come to tbe breakwater and be berthed, but he was satisfied tint could not be accomplished.