HARBOUR MERGER PLAN

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1940, Page 6

HARBOUR MERGER PLAN

MR. VICKERS' ATTITUDE CRITICISM AT WAITARA OBJECTION TO REMARKS Exception to remarks reported to have teen made by Cr. S. Vickers, chairman of the Taranaki County Council, ,in connection with the harbour amalgamation proposals i was taken by Mr. J. P. Hughson, Mayor of Waitara, at last night's meeting of the Waitara Borough Council. Mr. Hughson made the following statement,:— "It has been reported in the newspapers that Mr. S. Vickers made the following statement, viz.: 'Mr. Vickers pointed out that an offer made by the counties that the money be vested with the borough council for 10 years, was refused.' Surely Mr. Vickers has been misreported, hecause everyone present at the conference with the Hon. W. E. Parry knows that the proposal of 10 years came from the Minister, and not from the counties, and furthermore was accepted by the borough council and not refused. Previous Conference. ','At a previus conference with the New Plymouth Harbour Board prior to the visit' of the Minister representatives of the Waitara Harbour Board, the Waitara Borough Council and Mr. Vickers definitely stated that they would accept any proposal that the Minister decided on when he came up to act as mediator. The Waitara Harbour Board and the Waitara Borough Council honoured this promise, but not so Mr. Vickers, who refused all proposals of the Minister. The other representative of the counties, Mr. H. Foreman, did keep his word, because he had said that he would only accept the Minister's deeision if favourable to his views. I admire a man who keeps his word even if his view is in opposition to my own. "It is to be regretted that when an unbiased gentleman like Mr. Parry gives up his valuable time and comes here to a-bitrate for us, that the counties could not accept his deeision. The borough council was pr-jpared to accept any deeision that was arrived at. In fact the Minister put forward two proposals and I as representative of the borough council was prepared to accept either proposal." '"That is perfectly true and 1 congratulate you on putting it so neatly," remarked Cr. J. C. Blanchard. It was noticeable, he added, that the Minister allowed the county representatives to leave the room on three occasions and each time they came back they were prepared to agree to some point that they had not been prepared to agree to previously, but they also brought forward some other technical point tc which they objected.