The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 1911. THE HARBOR ELECTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 285, 25 April 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 1911. THE HARBOR ELECTION.

To-morrow the electors of the New Plymouth harbor district will be called upon to elect two representatives on the Hoard for the combined district of New Plymouth borough and Fitzroy and St. Aubyn town districts; two representatives for those portions of the Egmont county and the Taranaki county comprised in the harbor district; one member for those portions of the Eltham and 1 Hawera counties contained in the har- ', bor district; and one member for the Waimate West county. The election is interesting as being the first held under the new legislation, and also from the fact that some tried and proved members of the Board seeking re-election to office are opposed by other members of the community who are prompted by a desire to assist in the development of the port at' Motur'oa. Not only this, but members of tl|e old Board are in two of the contests pitted against each otherMessrs Newton King, E. Maxwell and R. Price contesting the two Taranaki and Egmont county seats, and Messrs D. J. Hughes and W. T. Wells being opposed to each other in the election,of one member for the Waimate county. The new Act has altered the suffrage. The property qualification has gone, and now every qualified elector may cast only one vote. The 'franchise is simple—briefly, that a person qualified to vote in the County Council election is entitled to vote in the county districts, and the district electors' lists will be used in the New Plymouth borough and St. Aubyn and Fitzroy. town districts. There is no question of policy connected with the election. The policy has been settledsettled by the vote of the ratepayers when they authorised the borrowing of £275,000 for the purpose of constructing a deep-sea harbor at New Plymouth, this including the purchase and equipment of the fine dredge "Paritutu," which has been doing such excellent work for months past in deepening the harbor. The policy, then, is to provide accommodation for ocean-going steamers with the greatest possible expendition, and toward? this end the retiring Board has made highly satisfactory progress. The election thus resolves itself into a choice by the ratepayers of men whom they consider to be the best qualified for the development of this progressive policy, and this choice is not so easy, either, for the men offering themselves are all men, we feel sure, who would do honor to the position and credit to the ratepayers, and whose sole aim is to see Taranaki's greatest asset—its principal harbormade fit to fully cope with the needs of the district, and continue to play its evcr-increasingly important part in the progress of settlement in Taranaki. That Mr. C. A. Wilkinson, of Eltham, should have been elected unopposed for the combined boroughs of Eltham, Stratford and Inglewood, is a well-earned compliment to him, and may be accepted as an expression of appreciation of his work as a member since his election by the ratepayers. ITe brought with him to the Board's table a commercial shrewdness, an analytical faculty, and a care for detail that very soon earned him respect and enabled him to institute reform in one or two useful directions, and he also had first-hand knowledge of those points in which the harbor could be made to more fully meet the requirements of the business men and the settlers, in inland Taranaki. Coming to the contest in the Taranaki nnd Efnnont counties, we find three of the present members, Messrs Newton King, E. Maxwell and R. Price as candidates. To our mind, it is unfortunate that Mr. Price has announced himself for this sen I. Mr. Price lias been for many years a conscientious and faithful member of (he Board, and has ever supported the progressive policy,

holding in the main to the programme I mapped out by the chairman, Mr. J. B. Connett. But his opponents are certainly two of the strong men of the Board. Mr. King, ns treasurer for a number of years, has an intimate knowledge of the whole of the Board's finances and general business, and as one of the biggest importers in the province, as well as being an exporter, he is closely interested in the harbor. Associated with Mr. Maxwell, he it was who first brought down the loan proposals that were eventually submitted to and adopted by the ratepayers. And in this connection Mr. Maxwell rendered service of first merit to the ratepayers of the whole district. With Mr. Maxwell in opposition, the loan proposals could never have been carried, and the present hopeful and prosperous outlook would have been unknown. In company with Mr. King, lie launched the borrowing scheme, containing the proposals for differential rating —if ever rates were necessary—but in reality abolishing the New Plymouth harbor rate, which was the most unpopular tax levied in the southern part of Taranaki. In heartwhole fashion he set out to explain the j proposals in the hot-bed of opposition,! and so convinced was he himself of the soundness of the proposition and of the ultimate good to result therefrom; so ably did he present the case to the people, that ere long the hitherto uncompromising opposition was changed to support, and the opponents of the Bill i and'of the harbor were won over. This was really the crowning of a very long period of useful service on the Board, during which time he kept a close eye on the finances and did excellent work. To sum up shortly, the electors will be blind to their own interests and most ungrateful if Messrs King and Maxwell are not re-elected. In the combined New Plymouth district Mr. Connett may be said to have a certainty, so well-known are his lengthy and valuable services to the harbor. Much of what was written in the preceding sentences can justly be applied to him, and in addition there is this fact—that he is a man of leisure and therefore able to devote a great deal of time to supervision of matters of detail that could not be expected of men actively engaged in commercial pursuits. Then the real fight lies between Messrs C. E. Bellringer and D. K. Morrison. Both are useful men, and men of the highest integrity. Mr. Bellringer has a fine record of public service. Associated with matters municipal, both as town clerk and borough councillor, he made his mark years ago as a forceful debater and a stickler for progress and economy. He also brings with him the lifetime commercial training which makes him easily competent to carry out the duties of a member of the Board, whilst the fact that he is himself personally engaged in a growing business, and for that reason a personal gainer by every step taken to make this a port of call for ocean liners, . is a guarantee thnft the progressive policy will not be hindered by him. Mr. Morrison, as the head of the actual working of the freezing works at Moturoa, is ( well known to many of the electors as a very successful man in his department, having considerable executive and administrative ability, and, moreover, he is a man who has had considerable experience in matters connected with harbors. But as a public man lie is as yet untried.* That may be nothing to his discredit, for every public man has to make his beginning. It is urged, in some quarters, however, that in his position as a servant of a company in which some probable members of the Board are largely interested, he may he placed in a false position, and the point arises that, in the event of his election, he might find his duties to the ratepayers clashing in some degree with those associated with his position at tfie works; also that he might not have the necessary time "to devote to the Board. In the south, Mr. W. Swadling contests the Eltham and Hawcra counties' seat with Mr. J. Ure Murray. Mr. Swadling has served a useful apprenticeship on the public bodieß of his district, also as a director of a large dairying concern and on the directorate of the Taranaki Producers' Freez- , ing Works Company. Of sterling integrity and undoubted strength of purpose, . 'Mr. Swadling must, if elected, be a useful member. Mr. Urc Murray has also ■ been much in the public eye, though i principally in a quasi-public capacity. but he has undoubted ability to give the ratepayers honest and useful service in . the capacity, of a member of the Board. , Messrs Hughes and Wells are the con- . testants in the Waimate West county, i Some exception is taken to Mr. Wells' , candidature on the ground that he will , be resident in Auckland and thus ,out ■ of touch, in a measure, with the nspira- , tions of Taranaki. In reply, Mr. Wells points out that he retains considerable . interest in the district, and that therefore the absenteeship will be only nom- . inal. Mr. Hughes is one of Taranaki's young and enlightened farmers, a man i given to much cogitation on matters . connected with the welfare of the dis- ' trict, and also addicted to plain speaking i when he deems it desirable —a very usei ful qualification in some cases. He is ; one of those settlers who has been con- [ verted to support of the harbor, as have . many others who, after years of distant [ denunciation, have at length been impel- ; led to see the harbor as it really is. • Both of these gentlemen have the con- ; fidonce of a large section of their fellnw- • electors, and the contest will he keen.