The Daily News. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1903. SLAUGHTERING THE HARBOUR BILL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 210, 1 October 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1903. SLAUGHTERING THE HARBOUR BILL.

t doubt Mr Maxwell and his servlh following will congratulate t hers selves ■ On having, for the time being, disposed Of the Harbour Improvement Bill, Mi Maxwell has not much to be proud of •. after all because his success has largely * bae'o a matter of luck. But for tbe extraordinary action of the Governb ment in, at a moss criticil period of the i history of the Board, placing a strong 1 opponent of the harbour on the Board. ® Mr Maxwell's efforts to Btop the Bill would have been fruitless. It must be , Very galling to Mr Maxwtll nfter all his bitt6r opposition to the Government to know that for the little measure of success which has attended his efforts c be has to thank the Govercmt-n . * After all, thanks to Mr timel) amendment, no great hirm has been done. The Bill, even had it gone to its second reading, had no great chance of baing carried this Session, ai.d it is far better to wait a year than have the miserably mangled mea- . sure Mr Maxwell was prepared to , support. No doubt the people of th» ■ area he proposed to include in the Bill will be extremely grateful to Mr Max- • well for trying to get a harbour for the whole of Taranaki at their expense, «nd will recognise the " public spirit" and ab3ence of " selfishness" he has shown. If he has his way, Taranaki, instead of having a direct port and becoming a large farming and commeri cial centre, will become simply a feeder to Wellington. Mr Maxwell hag, howevtsr, done all the harm he can for the present, and can now be left to tsk<the consequences. In tbe meantime the Harbour Leaguo should wake up and prepare for next yoai's campaign. Facts and figures should be collected and tabulated, and circulated amongs" the ratepayers. There is no reasot, either why a st»rt should not bB made with the work of extending the break water out of ruveruo. Mr Maxwell, who is now so considerate of the rate payers interests, when be wasclmiimu. managed to Fpsnd several thousand pounds on tbe sand pump, money which was wickedly wasted because the ratepayers never benefitted one penny piece by the expenditure. The same amount spent in extension will go a long way to educate public opinion on tbe benefit of and the cost of tht; work, On the whole, we are inclined to look with satisfaction on the result of Wednesday's meeting with com placency. There are some victories which are wor?e than a defeat, and Mr Maxwell will find this a very hollow ■ one. With all his cunning he allowed himself to be out gsneralle.), and the fruits of victory snatched from him a t . the last moment. Whilo the vindicii tive and unscrupulous character of the proposals brought down will open tbe ey<s of the peoplo to the true nature of • his opposition. The welfare of the t district and its psoplo were to bo rificed on his blind and unreasonable hostility to the harb-ur,