Timaru Harbour Board.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 121, 29 October 1901, Page 1

Timaru Harbour Board.

The Timaru Harbour Board met on Friday. The following is from the Herald's report of the meeting : The chairman said that the dredges had in the last four weeks removed—the Tirriarti 11,520 tons» and Taniwba '3582 tons. The. wharfage return was £1289 2s 6dj and ships' dues £BG3 12a 6d, The > wharfage received during the latte«? part of the momh had been a good deal less than the earlier half* still, the month's return was almost a record. Further payments of harbour rate levies had been received, the toial received being £4953 10s id. Two local bodies had yet to pay. The secretary and himself had been to Wellington to carry out the Board's wishes in respect of the Waimate Inclusion Bill, and* accompanied by their: solicitor (Mr Bell), gave their evi* dence before the Bills Committee* Up ro the present nothing much further bad been done. Mr Man* Chester, a member of the Board, he was sorry to say, made statements to the Committee on the position of the Board that should not have been made by a member* He stated that in twenty-four hours £BOOO worth of damage was done to the breakwater, and altogether* according to Mr Manchester and his friends' way of looking afc things, the port was in a bad way. Such statements going abroad would certainly do a lot of damage to tbe Board financially. He was very sorry for this, as he thought that when a man was a member of a Board he should be loyal to it. Mr Hall-Jones did all he possibly coild before tbe Bills Committee. As the matter stood now, it ap» peared that there was very little chance of the Bill going through this session at all, as there were twenty-three or twenty-four Bills to be put through in eight or nine hours, and it was possible the Bill would not come on again at all. 16 was left too long. Mr Manchester Wished, before the chairman went further, to say a word in answer to the chairman's expression of opinion regarding the statements he had made before the Committee. He was surprised that the chairman wondered at these statements, as Mr Evans knew well what his opinions were, and he bad stated them clearly to the Board. He had almost with the Board not to force Waimate into the position, because Waimate felt very strongly about it, and they naturally looked to their Mayor to protect their interests. He had urged the Boarn to let sleeping dogs lie, assuring them that no" effort would be spared, no opportunity would be lost, no legitimate means would be neglected, to oppose the Bill, and he did not feel that he had violated any duty he owed to the Board. His propertv was nearly all in the Harbour Board's district, and he went to Wellington as Mayor of Waimate to endeavour to do his duty to the borough in that capacitv, and if necessary his assistance in that direction would be continued.

The chairman, said he had no more to say on the matter. Resuming his statement,, he that ths Bank of New Zealand had offered to float the debentures in London on cortain terms at per cent and 1 per cent procuration money, These terms were con* sidered too high, and in the mean* time arrangement had been made to obtain advances against the debentures. Mr Maxwell had been in Timaru, and he accompanied bim down to the new mole. Ut, Maxwell was very pleased with the way they were progressing, and the work could not be going, on better, Mr Manchester asked if the chairman said anything to Mr Maxwell about changing the direction of the mole, and Mr Evans replied that he did, and told Mr Maxwell that the . general feeling here was that the direction should be ohanged to straight out, so that the old work would be better covered. It would. save a considerable amount of stone, and if they had to stop after getting out 1000 ft or so they could utilise part of the money in putting out ft wharf. Mr Maxwell said his advice . was to follow out the plan in ita entirety. He was still of opinion that his specification should be adhered to.

The secretary handed in hi* resignation, owing to ill health, and ■ it was decided to ask him to continue in office till the end of the year.