The Daily News FRIDAY, JUNE 5. THE HARBOR BILL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 141, 5 June 1908, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, JUNE 5. THE HARBOR BILL.

Interest in harbor louii matters in being kept alive l iv the member [or the 11awcra riding. Mr. .Marx, who is pursuing a pilgrimage through iiis dish-id, with I lie two-fold object of explaining the Hill iiml tin,ling nir, whether or lint lie is a s„pp,„i<.,- or ,iu opponent of it. Personally. Mr Marx needs no direction: bis hostiihv is unquestioned: but be is animated liy 11 d'-ire to leiirii the ni-ho- of hi- constituents liefnre hnnlly deciding whether hi-. ii|iiiusilion to me hiirbur shall be jussive or active. While his intentions arc undoubtedly-Sincere, his knowledge of the position, if we jihl-e rightlv from press reports of his meetings, is woefully defective, mid bis ! statements conSec|llel)tly misleading, liy ii proee-s of arithmetic", which .Mr .Marx has not diwilgcd. he hits arrived :i! the a-totiuding <-oiH-lusiun that the sum of t.Viil4)oll tins been expended on harbor winks. Although this only represents ;l miscalculation of about 't; bill ,01 HI, we think that even Mr. Marx's sens,, of faiine-s will prompt iiim to acknmvleilge thilt he is carrying his campaign o| misrepresentation over far, mid to a point beyond which a reputation for verticil, v and sound judgment may not be sustained. At his Kapuni meeting hits stated to have shown that under

"his" own proposal, a rate would have to be paid and the loan eoitld eventually be .paid oil', while under the new Bill the district was promised no rate, but a perpetual liability. We are not quite ch-ar. however, what this scheme of .Mr. .Marx's is, but evidently under it a rate will be collected, and lie is generous enough not to question the I'oard's promise that no rate will be required under the new Kill. Wlnit farmer, we ask. prefers paying a rate to escaping this liability? We do not know how .Mr. .Marx showed that. Hie loan -would eventunllv be paid oil' under his scheme, but we do know Unit lie Kpoke what, he could not have believed when he t<Hd his auilieni-e that the new Hill meant a I perpetual liability. For what purpose, will .Air. -Marx tell us, were the. sinking fund chines inserted in the Bill'.' Why

were tile Hoard's main sources of revenue mandatorily ear-marked for liespecific purpose of repaying the proposed loan'/ Was it that, as .Mr. .Marx alleges, the liability should be perpetual? We can only assume that Mr. Marx is laboring with a subject he does not vet understand. With the Bill expounded on Marzonian lines, it is only to he expected that such a resolution as that carried at Kapuni and Manaia should be recorded:—"That the meeting is opposed to the 'principles' of the Bill." As every new '■principle" in the Bill must be, from the ratciiayers' point of view, an improvement on the rating conditions of the present loan, it can only be assumed (hat- opposition is expressed to some of the --principles" laid down bv Jlr. Marx —his probable tTOO.IKIO expenditure on the harbor, perpetual liability, ele. The latest proposal in opposition to the Hill, however, is the product of that newfound champion of the conntrv party— Mr. Dan Hughes—and it is Gil'hertiau ,n its originality. Mr. Hughes recently displayed much concern for the Opunake harbor, till asked to show his sympathy! in tangible form by allowing 'his lanii 1 to be included in the proposed Opunake district, when his support vanished, lie now propose,, that a harbo,- he formed s-Oinewliere near Manaia, "anil then mil of payin:: rate- similar l„ Wailara "' It is dilliciill („ know how to treat the oppo-ition „f such a biassed partis,,,, as -Mr. Hughes, impervious, as he is '» logic and reason. We think! however, that as no sounder reasons exist for opposing the |',i|l ||,a„ i,,, V( . been voiced by Mr. Marx or Mr. Hughes. l)lt . antagonism u ||| |m , V( . ~ ~,.„.., ]( ( , ;i]| snlerable quantity than some would have ns believp.