CORRESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 192, 27 August 1903, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

[Wa no not hold ounoives responsible for opinions expresuad by correspondents.] NSW PLYMOUTH HARBOUR KMFOWEM'iG BILL, TO THE EDITOR, Kill, —I rioticj with regret that soma members of tho Now Plymouth HarI hour Board and writers in the public press are iilamiog the Chairman of the New Plymouth Harbour Board tor [ aking steps to have the Harbour Empowering IBill introduced into Parliament, and for the mode in ohich that Bill is framed, As counsel to the Board I take full responsibility for tfca Chairman's action in the latter respect, The Board appointed a special committee in reap ct of harbour extension, aud that committee presented a report go the Board recommending that the authority of Parliament; be obtained to a further loau of ,£160,000, and referred to the probable rate of interest ns at a rate of "about; four and onehalf per cent," This report was brought before the Board ancl lay before the Board for mora than a month. Taen, on the 17th July, special not'eo i f motion having been given, the following resolution was passed by tho Bo ird :—" That the necessary steps be taken by the Board to have a Billbrought bsfore the House of Represen • tstives giving power to borrow subject to the ratepayers' consent, as per committee's report." Upon such a resolution being passed it became manifestly tha duty of the Chairman—as the highest executive officer of the Board —to give effect to it, and if he had not done so he would have been wanting in his duty, and would have deserved censure by the Board. He did not neglect his duty, but took the necessary steps as directed by tha Board, The first necessary step was to communicate with tho Board's solicitors, Messrs Govett and Quilliam, and to present to them a copy of the committee's report and a copy of the Board's resolution. The consequence of this pioper step was, naturally, that the Board's solicitors communicated with myself, as the Board's standing counsel. Thus it became my duty to S9e that the Bill was as far as possible in accordance with the report and the resolution. The Bill as prepared by myself in conjunction with the Board's solicitors, and as subsequently approved by the Ohairmin and Treasurer and introduced into the House and poperly advertised throughout the district, is a very short ono—consisting practically of only three clauses. The first enables the Bmrd to borrow £ 160,000 in addition to its present luan at a rate of interest not exceeding five per cent; the second provides that before any such loan is raised thß consent of the ratepayers shall be first obcained ; and the third expressly provides that no higher rate shall be levied by the Board than the present rats of three-farthings in the £ leviable in respect of the loan whioh has already been raised—so that in no case can any property be liable in respect of 1 harbour rates to a greater extent than now liable ( hree-farthings in tha £ io •all.) There are certain rules i which have to be adhered to in the framing of such Bills, and I conceived it to be desirable—though it was not prescribed by the Committee's report or the Board's resolution - that , some maximum rate of interest should , be fixed. Ihe Committee's report did not mention any maximum rate of interest whatever, as anticipating " about 4| per cent" cannot possibly be read . as equivalent to directing a limit ot " not exceeding four and a half per cent." Therefore the Committee's report did not direot that there should be any limit placed on the rate of interest to be paid for the loan, Under I these circumstances I, as Counsel, recommended that a limit should be t placed, and that ths»t limit should be 5 i per cent, as probably the fairest pen dering of the anticipation of "about . four and a half percent "—for if some—i what more were not fixed as the maxi 1 mutn, " about" would be changed into 1 " not exceeding," which is a very different thing. As a lawyer I have performad my Counsel duties in this mat- ' ter cpite irrespective of iqq.y own views as respects the expediency of harbour extension; and, as Chairman of tbe Board, Mr Connett had to perform his duties in carrying out the resolution of the Boird, whatever were his own , opinions or views. It is therefore unf just to blame the latter, whilst, so far I is lam concerted I am quite certain i that no Counsel of any considerable experience in Parliamentary law will > question the propriety of framing the - tbe Bill as it is now framed. This ' <j of Harbour Extension seems :to of such yital importance to the j whole of that | venture to , ijsjfyguto kindly insert thi§ in your eqlumnfl. Npt Qnly do I Tsk this in t0 of the Boaid, one who devotes a large portion oi his time to public buswess and has for many years past been one of our most energetic settlers, but ftlßo in order that none of t}je ratepayers uriy b8 influenced by the unfounded charge that anything has bsen dotse > contrary to the resolution of the Board itself, With respect to the policy of such a loan, as one whose only in- ' terests are in Taranaki, who has interests in every part of the district—far more in the country districts than in the town of New Plymouth-and who has for nearly a quarter of a century taken an active part in all matters relating to the welfare of the dis- ; trie*, I do cot, however, hesitate to express my own personal opinion that ! it would be miserably short-sighted policy on the part of any owner of 1 property m whither in town or country—to rtfuiiui fr m endeavour? , ing to improve the harbour at New i P.ymouth merely because it seems that the settlers in soma parts will 'obtain ■ more benefit Ijhan tbose in other p trts, i or because of tho possibility that we may have to pay some am *ll rate on our proparty. A good harbour, fit for large stcamsrs is essential ta the prosperity 1 of such a district as ours, and it is proved beyond doubt by Mr 0. Napiar Bell and Mr Marchant (two of the highest authorities io Australasi >) that, such a harbour cm be obtained for the £160,000 proposed to be raised. I blame no one for holding an opposite opinion to my own, although I confess I do not myself see how an intelligent and fair-minded man can do so.—l am, etc., ' Or/tVEii Samuel. [We.propwo ipublish the full text of ohe Bill in a future iwiiua. --Ed.]

a chalucnot: to mk maxwell. TO THE EDITOU. Sin, —At tho last; mestiog of the Harbour P>oard Mr Maxtv. 11 w«s r.o'cns«d by Mr Connett and myself if making mia-statements at meetings recently held re Harbour matteis at Waitara and Manaia, and he said he was prepared to vouch for all he stated,

It is uauecesHnry, at thin time, to point out all the errors in his several addresses, but I will, in tins letter, confine myself to two, which are both important, and I challenge Mr Maxi W'dl to vouch for the truthfulness of them. At a meeting held under the auspic:s of the D fence League at , \l'iuniii,as reported in the Waimate \ Witness of July 29th, Mr Maxwell snid, " Boats like tho Athemc drew 34 feet of water." I have taken some trouble to ascertain if Mr Maxwell's figures are correct; and for that purpose I, with Mr Oonnett, called on Captain Sealby, of the Oorinthic (one of the three sister boats trading to New Zealand, viz., the Athenic, Oorinthic, and lonic, their tonnage being 12,234), and Captain I Sealby told us that his steamer had never drawn more than 29 feet, her usual draft being 28 feet G inchus. The lonic (one of the three) arrived from London this week, and her draft, oa reaching Wellington, was 29 feet 1 inch The Athenic (the remaining boat), on one occasion only, leaving Wellington, drew 30 feet. Mr Maxwell, relying on his figures, has jumped to the conclusion that ocean liners will not ba able to come to New Plymouth, but I would point out that the largest steamers trading to New Zealand (with the exception of the three before mentioned) now visit Timaru, an artificial harbaur like our own ; their draft, when leaving partially loaded, being 22 feet, the depth of water, according to my correspondent, being in the channel, 22 feet 6 inches, with a rise of tide of 6 feet. As the proposed harbour at New Plymouth will have 25 feet low water springs, with a rise of tide of 11 feet to 12 feet, I do not think anyone can believe that the ocean liners cannot trade to the port, as Timaru works out 28 feet 6 inches and New Plymouth 36 feet to 37 feet. Mr Maxwell, at Manaia, also stated " with the proposed dredging work carried out, the foundations of the Breakwater would be 5 feet above the bottom of the harbour. Under these conditions could they expact the structure to stand?" Mr Maxwell must have known, when he stated this, that he was endeavouring to mislead the ratepayers, as at no point in the plans of Mr Napier Bell does the dredging po within 95 feet of the breakwater, and Mr Maxwell knew this. I trust that I have not trespassed too much on your space, but I have thought it right to expose some of the fallacies of Mr Maxwell. When he has replied to these I will give some more, but these two gross mis-statements of facts should C3nvince every reasonable and fair-minded man that the man who titers them is nor, one on whom they can place any dependence.—l am, etc., Newton King.