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The Daily News. SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1918. THE HARBOR PROPOSALS.

I A; tiie annua! -.iicelm:: of l!ie V, e.t toast Keiri-.-rating Company at I'atea, en Wednesday. Mr. .1. 11. Corrig'in, cif posed to pro,re .. I.„t !„■ »-;,, dioeejy to ties prc-aml New Plymouth ;arbor prune al.. and eon.-ddeiv.l they -houM not lie allowed to prorocd, under It i- a pity puiilie leader, like Mr. Cornwall could not examine the proposals with unprejudiced mini!-, and with a single regard for the welfare ol Ihe pnnince as a whole. Mr, Corrigan's altitude, in point of fact, is (hat of a reactionary, and is apparently animated more by a desire to conserve the inter- . sis with which he is associated than a desire ;n advance the interests of this great province of ours. It is a shortsighted policy, because if Xaranaki can save the .ei.VOilO it now costs for coastal hamllini: it would be good business to save it. The mailer resolves itself into a simple proposition: Will it pay us to "scrap" our I'atea interests and rail to the ocean liners at New Plymouth? If

if won't pay the companies now using Patca. well and good; if it will, no sentiment or vested interests should be allowed to interfere, because it is a matter that concerns not a few men, but the

producers as a whole, who are entitled to every penny there is in the..industry. Mr. Corrigan will doubtless! reply: "Oh, iliaL's all very well; but is (here any eertainty of the boats calling at New Plymouth after the loan money is expended?" Indeed, at Patea on Wednesday, Mr. Corrigan said he had interviewed the general manager of the Shaw, Sayill line when lie was in London, and was told that his company proposed to concentrate at the four main ports and load from (here. But against this is the fact that the company has been sending its meat vessels to New , Plymouth, and has definitely undertaken with the Harbor Board to scid the larger vessels when the improvements proposed are carried out. There is also Ihe fact that the other shipping companies are doing the same, one veuesl already having lifted a largo supply of dairy produce. So the facts are against Mr. Corrigan's contention. Mr. Corrigan characterised the New 'Plymouth proposals as of the "wild-cat" order. How can he say that in face of the statements made by Mr. Blair-Ttfttaon, the most eminent marine engineer in Australasia? If they were not practicable, would he have submitted them and then convinced the members of the Harbor Board, a shrewd body of men, every one of whom is an enthusiastic supporter of the scheme, and every one of whom, too, has large interests in the proviuco "New Plymouth is jealous of Patea; that is where the whole thing lay," continued Mr. Corrigan. That is another ridiculous assertion, for no one is foolish enough to deny that Patea has saved South Taranaki thousands of pounds in freight charges yearly and proved a great convenience, as, no doubt, it will continue to prove. When the shipping companies cease to pay the coastal freight, produce shipped through Patea to AVellington will cost 27s (id as against 10s 8d railage to New Plymouth. In the case of Kaupokonui the freight would be 29s 2d to Wellington as against lis 3d to New Plymouth. Surely men with any faith in the future of Taranaki, who can visualise the province as it will be in ten or twenty years time, are not going to be satisfied with a coastal port when, without any burden upon themselves, the means for securing direct shipping is within their reach. What was good enough for father will not be good enough for the younger generation, many of whom, we arc pleased to notice, are taking a live interest in the proposals just now in South Taranaki. To their judgment tho scheme can be left, and if they but grasp its essentials there is no doubt as to their decision. The proposals are not put forward by the town oL" New Plymouth. All of the members of the board—which, of course, is representative of the province—are responsible for. the adoption of the scheme. The harbor serves New Plymouth's interests very well at present. The board's idea is to make it capable of serving the needs of the whole of the province, no matter how rapidly they expand. It is unfortunate tho port is called "New Plymonth harbor"; it is essentially a Taranaki harbor, and ought to have had the provincial designation. There is no mind so alert or more far-seeing in New Zealand to-day than that of the Chief Justice, and only this week he said that the whole district, from Waitotara in the south to the furthest point north, needed an ocean-going port, and that New Plymouth was the only place where it could be established. He realises, like other thinking men, that after the war there will be necessity for very much increased production, for more extensive and intensive cultivation, and this will entail heavier imports in the way of fertilisers, etc., and consequently greater exports. Sir Robert Stout spoke as an outsider, and from a national point of view. His disinterested advice and observations are more likely to carry weight and influence than the prejudiced statements of men having their own axes to grind. At the meeting referred to above, the chairman of the Ket-rigerat-;ng Company (Mr. Pease) expressed the opinion that it was problematical whether they could get a port at New Plymouth in twenty or a hundred years. This is on a par with the other wild s'tatemems made by his confrere. That i-oid of thing is not argument; it is not

even ?cnMbk>, for ocean liners have been bertliinf,' in perfect, safety at Motnroa ilurinjr the nasi, eighteen months, and the vessels i l-iidir ■_; to Vow Zen-

land will come as soo:i as' tlie contemplated improvcmculs are carried out. Indeed, il u'f.s with that end in view thai expert oiiicials of the shipping companies suggested some of the improvements. II r. Blair Mason providing the method of acconndi.-iimciit. There, is

no ha'lueiiialion about it: it is a conirete fad. There was another point rii ed by Mr. Coivi-an Cell calk for a replv. He- observed thai the ] resent was no lime !o lo in for a scheme entailing a hit: expenditure There is no intenliuii of -pendiin.; the v. hole of the money it. once. Tlie idea is to obtain authority, and onlv borrow a-, (lie money is needed, from -C-tiUM'M to CotI.CDO a year. The merit f:f the scheme lies in the fact that immediate benefit will accrue from the first, year's expenditure, the benefit incrcaMng as the work proceeds. Surely even 11 r. Cornwall will not contend, it is inadvisable to raise money at .present for additions lo refrigerating works and sloragc. Kxpendilure thereon is not morn- necessary than expenditure on a vork that will ultimately confer the same materia! benefits on the producers nf this province, , and the longer thework is put oil' (l>e greater the loss to the eoimminily.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19180824.2.15

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 24 August 1918, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,185

The Daily News. SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1918. THE HARBOR PROPOSALS. Taranaki Daily News, 24 August 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1918. THE HARBOR PROPOSALS. Taranaki Daily News, 24 August 1918, Page 4

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