TIMARU HARBOR LOAN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1040, 7 December 1882, Page 3

TIMARU HARBOR LOAN.

A meeting sf the ratepayers of the T emuka district was held in the Volunteer Hall last evening. Mr John Talbot, M C.C., presided, and there was a large attendance. The Chairman, after having read the advertisement calling the meeting, said it had been called to discuss the proposal of the Timaru Harbor Board to raise a loan of £IOO,OOO to finish the Breakwater. There was no doubt that this was the most important question that was ever put before the public of South Canterbury. Its success meant prosperity, its failure stagnation A liar bor was necessary to South Canterbury. The annual exports were now 70,000 tons. It would soon be 100,000 tons, and before long it would be a groat deal more. Go where you would there was fine land for cultivation in South Canterbury ; it was chiefly an agricultural district, and though some people thought that after the first few years of breaking laud cultivation would decrease, he believed that would never he the case in South Canterbury, but that cultivation would increase, and there could be no question about the port being necessary. They wanted to stand on the same footing as Christchurch, and to be able to sell to their own local merchants. Putting it at the lowest they would save 2d per bushel by not having to go to Christchurch. He had made calculations regarding the matter, and found that a man who produced 5000 bushels of grain gained £4O by this saving, while a rate of 3d in tire £ if levied on him would come to only £3. Another view of the case was that they wanted to get their grain away as quickly as possible, and supposing that they had to send to Christchurch and the railway became blocked by.floods,what would be the result ? There bad been £130,000 spent already, but there was a great deal to show for it. The Breakwater would be 1400 feet long when the present contract was finished, and there would be 18 feet 6 inches of water there, but that was not enough. He thought it would be a suicidal policy to stop it now. The £IOO,OOO would extend it 800 feet further out, and it was patent to all that to turn the curve now would be an unwise policy. Once the curve was turned it could not bo extended any further. The fear of a rate raised the only opposition to the scheme. The same cry was raised about the railways. It was said when the money was spent they would all be bankrupts, but who would throw away their roads, bridges and railways now for the rates they paid? It would be the same with the Breakwater. Oamaru had spent £350,000 on their Breakwater, and had not half the water Timaru had. There was a cry raised about the shingle when the work was commenced, but that had now vanished. He was ready to hear what any one present had to say.

Mr 0. G. Tripp said he wished to speak in favor of the proposal to borrow £IOO,OOO, Soms one had suggested that £25,000 would be enough. Wliat good would such a small sura as that be in such a large work ? It would be no good, while the expense of raising it would be as large as if the £IOO,OOOO were raised. The Board would be £7OOO in debt when the present contract was finished, and when that was paid only £IB,OOO would be left. The work was one which they all ought to feel an interest in, the large as well as the small fanner. It would be a great convenience and saving to] them to have a port of their own instead of having to send their goods away, and leaving them there for months without knowing what became of them. What they wanted was a harbor for lat ge ocean-going ships. They had the fiuest district in New Zealand, and they ought to do everything in their power to advance it, and one of the first things they wanted was a harbor. He was a large landowner, and if it were necessaiy he would be very willing to pay rates. He would rather pay rates than see the har bor clues raised, because it might drive the trade of the port away. As for the statement that this would only benefit the town, ho thought this was a mistaken idea. He believed the country districts would benefit far more from it than the town, because it would give them better facilities for shipping their goods, It was true, as Mr Talbot had said, that this was a fine agricultural district, and that agriculture would increase in it. He noticed that there had been an application sent in to the County Council for irrigating the Waitoin Plains, and he hoped there would be more applications sent in, as it would greatly improve the land. In fact it would be a mine of wealth to the district, and so they ought to go on advancing the district in every possible way. As for raising only £25,000, it would be mere bagatelle. The £130,000 already spent had not all been expended on the Breakwater. A largo amount of it bad been paid for plans, plant, etc. All now works experienced difficulties in the beginning, and it was impossible to provide against all contingencies. There was never a new work paid immediate ly. When railways were started it was s tated they would bankrupt the colony, but instead of being a burden they are paying handsomely. He believed it would the same with the Harbor, but even if not they ought to be quite willing to pay a rate for

the accommoilaii"ii it would afford them. (Great applause.) Mr Mendelson ssid some people were frightened they would be taxed, and others that. Timani would reap the benefit. This was a mistaken idea altogether. As property would increase in value in Tiuiaru the rate would increase. Supposing a property in Timaru was worth £IOOO, and another in Temuka was worth £3OO, and the value of the Timaru property was increased by 50 per cent by the Breakwater, the rate on the Timaru property would be £6 while the rate on the Temuka property would he only Is 3d. Looking at the matter from the blackest side, and supposing that a rate were necessary, the rate could not be more than 3-|d. The £IOO,OOO loan could not be spent for the next four years, and it could be invested at a higher rate of interest than it would be borrowed at, so that whatever might happen there would he no necessity for a rate for the next four years at any rate. By the rime the loan was spent property would have so increased in value that there would he a larger field for rating, and then, even if the debt was a quarter of a million, the rate could not be more than 3d iu the £. But it would not he necessary. He could show this to any one who ivishod to go into figures with him, and ho would say, without fear of contradiction, that if the Harbor Board borrowed a quarter of a million, a rale of 3d in the £ would more than pay all the interest they would require. He had been told that the reason he was supporting the proposal w f as because ho had large interests in Timaru. There were some people who could very easily grasp a shadow, hut never a substance, and would give no credit to a person trying to do good. He was at one time in favor of a sliding scale of rates, and brought the matter up at the Council, but ho had since discovered that a sliding scale was not necessary, as the rate would increase ns the value of property would increaseThis was made use of at the Geraldine meeting, and it was stated that he had laid it down as a hard and fast rule, whereas it was nothing of the sort. (Applause.) Mr K. F. Gray, member of the Harbor Board, said he felt very glad that the speakers had put the matter so intellgibly before the meeting. There was some influence used against the raising of the loan, and he was sorry to find that it came from a district which was once noted for its public spirit, but he was afraid it was going backwards, owing to having been led away by men who could only see through their own narrow-minded telescopes, and cared only for their own interests. The opposition which the harbor works had met with could not be concieved. First, Sir John Coode condemned it, then the Government Engineer-in-Chief said it was destroying the railway, and suggested to blow it up with dynamite. The work, however, had been a success —so far it had borne the test, and had gone through the severest weather it could possibly go through, and there was scarcely any damage done to it. In fact, the contractors had had scarcely any losses at all so far. They had now a good estate, and they wanted to improve it, and they had come to the ratepayers just to ask them to endorse their bill for £IOO,OOO. This was all that was required, merely the security of the ratepayers for the loan, and he was firmly convinced that there would never he a necessity for one farthing of rates being raised. Statistics would show that the trade of the port was increasing year by year, although great injury had been done by the disasters of the 14th of May, but he hoped the like of them would never occur again. Very shortly the rateyayers will have an opportunity of electing the members of the Board and they could then elect such men as they knew would spend the money judiciously. If they voted for this loan they would undoubtedly he conferring a benefit on everyone in the community. What would their sons think if they were to turn the curve at where it was first proposed to turn it, and render it incapable of ever being extended. It would be a suicidal policy. The first contract of it was only an experiment, after which they had to go to the Government at great expense. There had been extraordinary expenses incurred in connection with it, and on the whole he believed the money had been well spent. (Applause.) As for the proposal made at Geraldine to raise £20,000, it might have been as well proposed to raise a loan of twenty pence. It would he nowhere in carrying out the work. He would ask them all to vote in favor of it. There was not the slightest danger of the necessity for a I'd rate being raised. Ihe money, when it was got, would be invested at 64 per cent ; that would be 14 per cent over the rate of interest at which it would bo borrowed, and he would ask them to consider what that would come to on £IOO,OOO. He was positive 64 per cent could be got for it. In conclusion ho would ask them all to vote for the loan, and he would promise them they would never regret it. (Applause.) Mr Tripp said there was a gentleman present who had made the calculation, and found that £IOOO a year invested at 5 per cent compound interest for 35 years would extinguish the loan of £IOO,OOO. (Applause.)

Mr Stumbles said he was at Geraldine the other night, and saw there a gentle-

man who would not sit with two members of the Harbor Board on ihe platform, but went down on the floor to advocate his own narrow-minded views. He did tuff think much of that gentleman, and was sorry to see in the position he occupied. A man like him, who used his influence to organise an opposition against such a proposal as this, which was calculated to do the district so much good,oui?ht to be—

A voice : Oh, tell us about the harbor, and never mind him.

Mr Stumbles said he would, but if they had men like the man he was alluding to they wonldneverhaveaharbortospeak of. The Harbor Works were a grand success, and he was not afraid of rates, if necessary to finish them. He had some property outside Timaru, and he was willing to pay rates for it if necessary. It was stated at Geraldine that goods could be sent trom Port Chalmers one shilling and a penny cheaper than from Timaru. A firm in Timaru had at present vessels loading in Timaru and Dunedin at the same time, and found that it cost 4s per bale of wool to load in Port Chalmers more than it did in Timaru. If there was 4s saved on one bale of wool what would be saved on the whole of the exports of South Canterbury. He believed the money could be borrowed at 5 per cent, and invested at 6| per cent easily, so it would take 5 years before there would he the slightest possibility of any rate. He would not be in favor of raising the Harbor dues. If necessary he would rather to see a rate levied, He spoke for the benefit of the community at large and not from any motives of selfishness. Lyttelton had spent £400,000 on the harbor, Dunedin £700,000, and if they spent a little more on their harbor it would be better than either of them. Influences had been used in Christchurch, and the Government lowered the railway tariff. It cost 8s to carry a ton cf grain from Albury to Timaru, while it only cost 13s from Albury to Christchurch. That was charging 8s for 28 miles and 5s for 100 miles. This was done to crush Timaru. He was glad the people here were in favor of the proposal.

Mr A. Wilson said the meeting tha* 1 night put him in mind of the time when Temuka was the most public-spirited place in the colony, and lie liopod its glory had not yet departed. When the Milford Harbor was under discussion they were met with strong opposition from the same gentleman that was opposing the present proposal. (Hear, hear.) He was sorry to see their Parliamentary representative showing such a bad example. The same gentleman had called them a lot of sharks down here. It was the same spirit actuated him now ; he was afraid of putting his hand in his pocket, and for that reason he would crush the most important work that was ever started in South Canterbury. Neither £25,000 nor £50,000 would be sufficient, because if they would not go seaward now they could not do so when the curve was turned, and the whole thing would be spoiled for generations to come. If the work were stopped now, it would be like going backwards. Timaru would go backwards, and the whole of South Canterbury would go backwards, and they would all feel it. He hoped they would all unite, and do their best. Besides, the good it would do in affording more shipping accommodation it would stimulate local industries. Engineering works and factories would start, and an increase in the population would be the result. He was sorry to see any man so narrow-minded as to oppose such a work ; as to stop it now would be ruinous. Ho was not afraid of having to pay rates, he would rather pay them than to see the works stopped, or the port clues increased. He would ask them all to vote for the loan. (Applause.)

The Chairman read a statement to tho effect that the tonnage of exports and imports this year would be 100,000 tons, which at 2s per ton, after paying Is Gd to the railway, would give £IO,OOO as the revenue of "the Board. The interest and sinking-fund on the £IOO,OOO would come to £6OOO, and therefore £4OOO would be left to the Board, which was more than was necessary to pay wages, etc. He thought there was too much made of tho opinions of one man. Nevertheless, a question had been asked at Geraldine as to whether the present works were not sufficient security for the loan. Of course they were, but the English moneylenders did not know that. It was better to shove them that we ourselves here had confidence in the work by becoming security for it. (Hoar, hear.) Too much had been made of the towni and country question. Ho -would like to see 100,000 inhabitants in Timani, and large merchants in it ; the bigger the merchants the better he was to deal with. It was said four harbors were sufficient for New Zealand. Perhaps so, but they wanted a harbor in South Canterbury. It was belter to have it than to send their goods to Christchurch where perhaps something might go wrong with them, and they would have to make a long journey to sec about them. They could alawys see about them in Timani. He did not see the necessity for a sinking fund. He would leave their children to pay the debt. There had been a lot of money borrowed in this colony, but it had not been spent on war as in other countries. It was all spent on reproductive works, (Applause.) He won d remind them that one-fourth more than would be against the proposal would have to vote for it before it could be carried.

]S T o other persons allowing any disposition to speak, Mr Mendelson proposed a vote of thanke to the Chairman. Mr Gray seconded it, and said the Board would be very fortunate if it had always such a Chairman for its meetings. The meeting then terminated, not one voice being heard against the proposal.