HARBOUR BOARD AND LAND REVENUE.
A SURCHARGE OF .£II,OOO. WAIVED BY GOVERNMENT. Considerable discussion took place at yesterday's meeting of the Harbor Board relative to the details of the claim made by the Government on the Board in respect of land revenue over paid to the Board by the Lands Department amounting to over £II,OOO, which the Board had been called upon to refund, but which claim had recently been waived by the Government. At times, tin! discussion took a strong political turn, in which Government and Opposition supporters took advantage of the opportunity to endeavour lo make political capital out of the matter, but the acting-chairman, as far as he could, endeavoured to keep politic:* out of the question, though circumstanced proved too strong at times for the achievement of that worthy intention. There were occasional exhibitions of excitement when several members were talking at the same time, but finality was eventually reached, and '.':e political hatclict buried. ' ■ , :
The position of the matter is that the Harbor Board was entitled to receive one-fourth of the gross revenue from land sales in T.i.;.:>aki, and that amount lias been,, until recently, paid to the Board. During the Seddou administration it appears that a short Act was passed, consisting of only a few sentences, but it has been discovered by some departmental officer that under this Act the Board is only entitled to one-fourth of the net land sale proceeds after all expenses with which the land has been loaded are allowed for. It is claimed that the Act was never intended to apply to the New Plymouth Harbor Board, but was passed to meet a special case elsewhere, and this contention is supported by the fact that the Lands Department continued to pay the onefourth of the gross revenue for several years. Then the Department discovered that tin? short Act, referred to above, could be applied to the New Plymouth Board, and a claim was made on the Board for the re-pavment of over .CI 1,000, which it Was alleged had been : overpaid in error. There is no question ! that had there been the slightest suspicion that the short Act in anyway included the New Plymouth Harbor Board steps would have been taken to have prevented the gross injustice being perpetrated, or the matter set right, but no one ever thought that this was the case. However, when the demand for a refund was made by the. Department it was accompanied by an intimation that the accruing revenue would be utilised to make up the over-payment until the full amount was discharged. The Board naturally protested against such a course as not only a great injustice to the ratepayers, and a severe blow to the Board's linances, which had already been allocated so as to meet expenditure without calling on the ratepayers, but the great point was that the harbor loan had ben raised on the faith of the correctness of the figures as to the Board's land revenue, as certified by the Under-Secretary for Lands, and taken as part security.for the loan, and the cerilicate itself being .'held in London. Under these circumstances, the Board laid the facts of the case before the Minister, together with a strong request for the waiver of the claim. Messrs Maxwell and Wilkinson also waited on the Minister, and fully explained the Board's position in the matter, pressing the claim strenuously. After the interview, the deputation submitted a written statement, setting out the grounds on which the Board relied as justification for the withdrawal of the claim for repayment of the amount demanded by the Department.
At tho meeting of the Board yesterday, the acting-chairman, Mr King, said he was pleased to be able to announce that the Government had acceded to the Board's request to cancel the claim, and that an item for the amount in disputa, over til,ooo, had been included in the W ashmg-up Bill. -Mr Bcllringer emphasised the necessity for making it clear that the fault was with the Department, and that the Government was onlv rectifying the departmental error. At the same time it was an open question whether the Board was liable for the amount claimed to have been over-paid. The rectification of the error was a mere question of bookkeeping, the amount being written oil.
Mr Hughes inquired if the Government had passed an Act to indemnify the Board against errors of that kind in the future.
Mr Wilkinson considered the Board ought to he thankful to the Government for its liberal treatment. He gave Mr Maxwell the greater part of the credit lor placing the matte before the Minister, ami said that the member for Taranaki was also of great service. The refund, he added, had practically been given conditionally on the Board not pressing for tho full revenue in the future.
™ r . Mixwoll said that Messrs King, Wilkinson, and himself had been appointed to interview the Minister, and Mr lung was entitled to credit for his share of the work. He agreed with Mr Wilkinson that no further claim should be made on the Government. The certificate given by the Under-Secretary far Lands was not wrongfully given, but unintentionally.
Mr King fully explained the whole "latter. t lc considered that the thanks or the community were due to those who had brought the matter before the Government, and that the Government had done the right thing in making a concession. Payments in future would go on the same as for the last six months He confessed that as treasurer, he was glad to be relieved of such a large claim hanging over him. After some further explanatory remarks by Mr Maxwell, who said he was sure that if the Board had continued its demand for land revenue on the old basis, the concession would not have been made, a vote of thanks was accorded to Alssrs Okcy and Wilkinson, also to the Government. A similar vote was accorded to the members of tho Board who had helped - in the matter. Mr King announced that the Lands Department notified that the sum of £2411 lis Id for land revenue had beenremitted, less deductions for loading amounting to £l3B 10s (id. This amount, he pointed out, was the largest the Board had received for the last 19 years. I
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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 151, 21 November 1914, Page 4
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1,052HARBOUR BOARD AND LAND REVENUE. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 151, 21 November 1914, Page 4
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