The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1883.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4582, 11 September 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1883.

The new by-laws of the Harbor Board are apparently exercising in no ordinary manner those whose duty it is ,-to pay dues for value received; who obtain advantages at the present time gratui* , tously, and whp, it would appear, are very wrath because their past immunity from charges, which appear to be fair and , legitimate, are now about to be levied on (hem. The Thames ;Harbor Board asking that it should have jurisdiction over a radius of/ ten miles from Opani Point, and such a request seems most rational. The Board is compelled to supply the necessary adjuncts to navigation within that area, it has to make considerable expenditure in the maintenance of buoys and beacons, keep on the scene a pilot—who, we may remark, by the way, has his services seldom called into requisition, except for Thames River timber»loading vessels—and incur various additional outlays for which no return is ' made, by; 'those, strongest in their opposition to ihff proposed new, law/- The chief | argiiimitdts^.'Wei^ciiO't call -:th<#n reasons, "'biffeii^ftgkiiißtth^ Harbor Board obtain'iag^i^^ejf^d'^prd quo, jfof, %hfi outlay e*tt«ed'ljy. up-river trflrac; ape/bf such a JULtatp as. the', Earb"o*magter prepared the ..by-laws ,and 'they were passed with little consideration; they certainly were prepared, vwe learn,, by that officer in aceordance t with instructions given him by the Board, and he undoubtedly should be , the man authorised to draft such items for tha 'Board's guidance; but that they were adopted without consideration is hardly consonant .with absolute facfc; at a meeting held, very sconsiderable amendments were made to the rough draft presented to it, and maDy modifications were introduced. Long and meiiri thought was given to the mttkiug'"

of Jhese laws, and when it was considered that the various mills up the river were shipping goods and using the harbor, its facilities and officers, and not paying anything towards their support, it appears to have suddenly dawned on the Board that something required alteration in connection with so uneven an arrangement. After carefully going into the whole question, even such details as the erection and maintenance of buoys, beacons, &c, the repairs frequently required to be effected through damage done by timber rafts, and a variety of minor items; we cannot but come to the conclusion that up-river mill-owners should contribute their just quota —which they do not under the present system —to the expense attendant on keeping the Harbour in order, for the operations of their business, as well as that of other per? sons. The mere fact of their h aving constructed wharves for their private use should not exempt them from the payment of fair harbor dues. , The local tradesmen are at present handicapped unfairly in the matter of supplies going up the river, by boats to load timber, freed —under the old system —from the dues they have to pay on goods landed at Grahamstown or Shortland. Were they to raise a voice of objection, it would be more reasonable than that sent up by the mill owners. Notwithstanding our desire to point out the un reasonableness of the objections offered to the proposed enactments, we have been long enough on the outside of this sublunary sphere to recognise the existence of man's selfishness,, and how he frequently individually opposes—when he is personally concerned —actions and measures which he would otherwise uphold and support. We trust that any selfish opposition offered to the very fair proposals made will be of no effect.