HARBOR IMPROVEMENT SCHEME.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1918, Page 6

HARBOR IMPROVEMENT SCHEME.

THE QUESTION OF COASTAL FREIGHTS, (Hawera Star*) The reports of the meetings held in connection with the New Plymouth Harbor Board proposals 'have made it clear that the main factor in the problem is the attitude which the shipping companies may take in the future in respect of travelling upland down the coast of New Zealand in search of cargo. So fur as the ordinary cargo steamers are concerned it is true that, more or less unwillingly, they have gone to many of the coastal ports. They did so before the accommodation was' as good as it now is at New Plymouth, and they no doubt will continue to go to New IPlyraouth as they have done during the past few months. But the passenger liners, the mail boats as they are called, and indeed as they may in fact become, running under a more regular and faster timetable than we have yet known, have not hitherto gone from port to .port. Almost exclusively they have made Wellington their distributing and collecting harbor, and the owners have preferred to pay a connecting coastal freight rather than run up ami down our coasts. The advocates of the New Plymouth harbor scheme assure the ratepayers that the companies must necessarily soon put an end to this arrangement, and thatk therefore, they will be prepared to send their steamer? to New Plymouth. We have no doubt that the gentlemen who have made this statement have done so in perfect good faith; yet it is not altogether certain ■whether it is the statement of a matter of fact or the statement of an inference, for it is worthy of remark that the information has come to the ratepayers only second-hand. We haye not seen any record of a direct statement by the companies that they are dissatisfied; and it is permissible to ask whether it is on the companies' initiative that a change of policy lias been asked for, or whether the Harbor Board, acting in what it believes to be the best interests of its trust and the progress of Taranaki, put it to the companies that it desires them to send their boats and, lias asked if, in the event of such and such accommodation being provided, and audi and such cargo being available, the boats would come; and that the companies have given a conditional or hypothetical promise or undertaking in the matter. There should be obtained some more definite information ,on this point than is at present available. It must always he remembered, too, that the eveeution of undertakings must depend on possible changes in circumstances, and this without involving any real ground of complaint. The present movement by the Harbor Board in asking No. 3 area to consent to a poll to decide whether it will accept a fresh liability, from which by promise, confirmed by Parliamentary statute, it wa3 for all time to be exempt, is a remarkable instance of how an undertaking given in perfect sincerity may by change of circumstances come to be considered irksome or out of date. Who can loretell the attitude of shipping interests after the war? If it were an essential condition a future great, direct or regular steamer service that all Taranaki produce must or ought to be collected at New Plymouth, then objectors to the scheme would be under a serious responsibility; if it is to be an essential condition that the companies must centralise their liners at one or two principal ports, the New (Plymouth scheme, despite its attractiveness, and despite" the perfectly laudable enterprise and ambition of its promoters, is far ahead of the necessities of the case. The matter has to be discussed and decided on its merits. The ultimate question must be: Will it pay the producers in Taranaki to take on this liability, or, putting if in another way, which the harbor advocates would prefer, can the producers afford in their permanent interests to refuse to take it on? The Bill will shortly appear, and it will have to run tlie gauntlet of Parliamentary examination and criticism, which will probably elucidate matters further, so that, if it is approved by Parliament, ratepayers, when the ijpll is taken, may be able to vote with a full knowledge' of the considered judgment and policy of the shipping companies.

DISCUSSED BY KAUPOKONUI SUPPLIERS.

The proposed harbor improvements at New Plymouth were briefly discussed at the annual meeting of the Kaupokomii Dairy Company on Monday, when Mr. Owen, referring to the campaign con- . ducted last week by members of the Harbor Board in South Taranaki, stated that while not wishing to cast any aspersions on those gentlemen, he thought the suppliers of flic Kaupokonui Company should appoint a committee to look after their interests. The members of the Harbor Board had produced certain figures, etc., to make out their case, and he thought that, a committee should be set up whose business it should- be to collect strict facts and, if necessary, make a recommendation. He considered thifl should be done in the interests of common sense. He had no particular objection to the scheme, which might be a grand one for all interested. The proposed committee could lay the matter before farmers as a business proposition, and if the facts warranted it they could go in for it; if not, they could oppose it strongly. He moved in that direction. Mr. W. D. Powdrell, chairman of directors, said that shareholders had elected the best men they could on the directorate of the company, and not one of them supported the scheme. Surely that should be a good lead for shareholders. Ke did not say that New Plymouth would not bo a good port; it would probably be an excellent one, but he asked: Did they want to spend money in erecting works', etc., at New Plymouth? He would be with the scheme if he could see that there would be a saving of one penny. He, therefore, advised them to be careful what they did, and leave the matter in the hands of the directors, who were trustees for the. factory.' Mr. Owen said this would leave the matter as it was. Mr. Russin moved that suppliers turn the scheme down. On thu motion of Messrs. Bireh and Russin, it was resolved to leave the ! matter in the hands of 'the llwipekomii directors.