CORRESPONDENCE. WAITARA HARBOR LOAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 268, 22 April 1915, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

WAITARA HARBOR LOAN.

Sir,—ln your otherwise excellent report of the meeting 01 ratepayers held at Waitara on Tuesday evening, there U a slight error, inasmuch as I am reported as saying that the New Plymouth Harbor Board levied excess dues on goods produced or manufactured on or shipped to or from lands outside the New (Plymouth Harbor district. What I really said was that the New Plymouth Board had power to levy such dues, cxeept in respect of graded goods, but that, in my opinion, so long as tho Waitara port was kept in an efficient state, the competition between tho two places would be an effective bar to their being' put into operation. On the other hand, should the port of Waitara, either by neglect or any mischance, fall into disuse, then it was practically certain that these excess fines would be levied. I also ventured the opinion that the New Plymouth Harbor Board would in that case bo quite justified because harborfe could not be made without money, and that if ratepayers in the area served tho port of Waitara were not prepared to •ccept the responsibility of maintaining that port, and providing the necessary accommodation for its increasing trade, then their exclusion from the New Plymouth Harbor rating district was absolutely unjustifiable. •—I am ( ete., JAS. HINE, .Tun. Chairman Waitara Harbor Board.