THE HARBOR BOARD LOAN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1038, 2 December 1882, Page 3

THE HARBOR BOARD LOAN.

Meeting's are being held all over the district now for the purpose of discussing the Harbor Board Loan of £IOO,OOO. On last Thursday evening - , in Timaru, about 150 persona were present at one of those meetings. Mr John Jackson, who occupied the chair, said it would be most undesirable to leave the Harbor works in the slate they were in at present. The Board would be £7500 in debt when the present contract was finished, and that money would have to Le raised somehow. The rateable value of the district was £400,000, and 3d in the £ would yield £SOOO, or 10 per cent on the proposed loan.

Mr Sutter said that only a portion of the loan would be spent for the next two years, and if the balance was well invested it would pay the interest. By that time trade would have so increased that the dues from the shipping would pay the interest. In four years the interest received by the Board from the investment of their funds amounted to £24,753, That would show what might be realised by investing a part of the £IOO,OOO loan. He felt; perfectly satisfied that no rate would ever have to be raised. Mr Turnbul! said one of the richest men in Now Zealand had offered to assist iu raising' tho loan at 5 percent. The work so far was a great success, and before twelve months a complete revolution would be effected in the trade of the port. He appealed to them to take a broad view of the matter, and consider well the great benefits that would accrue to the community by having a safe harbor Mr James Bruce suggested that plans of Hie Breakwater should be published iu English and American scientific papers. He' complained of the apathy of the Timaru papers with regard to the matter. They had not written anything about it as they ought to have done He held that the completion of the works would benefit every section of the community. Mr Kimber opposed the scheme, on the on the ground that it would only benefit a few shippers and merchants, but was hissed.

Mr Moody explained that 1 per cent sinking fund, with compound interest would extinguish the loan in 30 years. Speaking at the Washdyke on the following evening, Mr Moody went more thoroughly into the question. He expected' that the Board would receive £9G,000 after paying for raising the loan. Every ton of goods brought into the port through Lyttelton or Port Chambers had , to pay a toll of: 20s a ton at those ports, and estimating the inward traffic at 20,000 tons a year, that meant a loss of £20,000 a year to the consumers of South Canterbury. TII3 merchants could not pocket that sum if it were saved by direct trading; competion would ensure the consumers reaping the benefit of it. But the saving on the imports was a small matter compared with that on the exports. If they could save 10s a ton by avoiding transhipment?', their year's crop would he worth forty or fifty thousand a year more to them. He showed that if the full rate had to be struck to secure direct shipment, the saving of 10s a ton in shippingcharges would far more than counterbalance the rate. A rate of 3d in the £ on 250 acres he reckoned at £1 lis 3d, while a saving of 3d per bushel 011 50 acres of crop would be £4 14s. The thing was so self-evident that no one should refuse to sanction the loan. Working the port at present was a loss to the Board owing to thelanding service, but if all ch°, work was done at the wharf, say 100,000 tons a year, that would mean an income of £IO.OOO a year, as the Board got 2s a ton out of the 3s 6d charge*/ the shippers by the railway. With £IO,OOO a year coming in, and £SOOO a year going out for interest and £IOOO for sinking fund, they would have £4OOO left. They could scarcely squander all that in salaries.

Both meetings were in favor of he proposal. Meetings will be held iu Geraldme next Monday evening, and in Teniuka nexi Wednesday evening regarding the same subject.