OPUNAKE AND NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOR BILLS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 126, 19 May 1908, Page 2

OPUNAKE AND NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOR BILLS.

The deputation from the Opunake <' tlift wliieli waited 011 the Xew Plymouth Harbor H«a«l on i"> sen "I uiie very useful purpose, in that it afforded opportunity to expound some of the most salient features iu support of the New l'lvmoutli Bill, the value 01 which had hitherto not been emphasised to the fullest extent. Although unsuccessful in attaining tlteir immediate object, the deputation secured from the Board some very important concessions regarding future policy. At the outset the Board affirmed its desire to see the Opunake harbor improved, every ineniIkt expressing himself ill sympatny with a reasonable Opunake harbor district, although, for obvious reasons, the Board was unable to assent to the wishes of tile members of the deputation. That fact, notwithstanding, it seems tu us that the outer district secured f tile Board recognition ot a principle for which it has long striven, and the full worth of which, to the district concerned, may not yet have been generally recognised. The deputation, which u.sked that au area of a capital value of approximately two million pounds, should he exempted from Hie provisions of the new loan proposal, in the interests of the Opunake harbor, reeeived the following answer: "Timt. the

Hoard cannot sec its way to make any alteration in the present Bill, but prepared to asyst the passage of any Opunake Harbor Hill through the j louse, the object of which is to exempt a district from the northern boundary of the ligmont County southward to the Waingogoro river, from another further rate, beyond tliat provided hv the Bill now being introduced by the Board.'' As one of the chief objections raised to the loan proposals in the, southern country district has been the fact that no guarantee was given that further loans would not be raised, the absolute security of the district from any future liability for the harbor is now coiKvded, although we do not think that, in our time, at least, any further money will be required to keep the harbor abreast <jt' trade requirement*. .Th< l ie is, moreover, a greater advantage to Opunake under the Board's exemption resolution that there would be uniler the granting of immedi-

ate exemption as ,e(|iies!ecl In- (li,. putatiun. Were exemption grained Opunake from lln- present loan proposal. the district would still lie lialile for a maximum rule iif three lartliin;>s under tilt* old l«an. one farthing ol' wiikii M'fJiilil, as at present. In' eullel'teii. ( iider the new loan proposal, however. 1 lie maximum liiiltilily of Hie <)|iim;ilce dis. i" i;ir<lu'ti.u. 11n juiri 111 wlim-Ii will lie cullednl. Thi» a i-

unanswerable, if raiepayers will bill weigh I lie whole ijiiotioji from its tinaneial and distinct from its sentimental <«spect. Under the now Bill, as indeed under the terms of the expiring loan also, the annual liability uf the whole district i' absolutely limited, only under the new proposals the liability is considerably less. .Mr. Maxwell's eon teution. therefore, that the annual charge only is what lias to be consider- j «*d, not tiie capital liability, provided the land may not be ealb'd upon lo ' pay the principle, suggests one of the moat cogent arguments we have yet'

heard in tavor of the proposal. Although the loan capital would bo increased, the "mortgage" on the land would not be correspondingly increased, but decreased according to the decrease in the proposed annual rate. The new loan proposal means, in that tho profit from every farm in the harbor rating area has been annually increased I j\y the amount of rale hitherto levied. | The so-called harbor mortgage on the I laud is. therefore, to he actually icmm<*d. So far a* Opunake's ambitions ;ir

euucerm'il, wo have <jverv sympathy with them. m-cgniain}?, duo* the \cw Plymouth Board, (hat improvements at Opunake would ju'ojioi'iinnatcU' increase tlK' shipping trade at Muluroii. Thenis no antagonism to the Opimake harbor in New Plymouth; indeed, had it not liecn for the jon n f country members, New piviiKuitfi w"uld hnve placed the sum of iMu.Oiii) ;i ( |h" disposal of the Opuimkr IS<mn| j'yr |lnimprovement of Ifn* liarlmr. ,\|:itrri:il assistance is not yet Ihvoji.l Hie i.him,. of possibility, and we arc per«tn;>ded that the two Imi;irds, wmljik; ni harmonv. may vet living '"Mtt tin- mn , Snnmtat''>n that imclj disjillrf. t'»o.j without plariwr any e\tr;i liiirdt-r: <>n tlirj ralepiiyrrs. lint, mi the ci'nl 'arv. d''i re;i-iiij: it. i