THE HARBOR LOAN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3510, 9 December 1913, Page 6

THE HARBOR LOAN.

' ■MEETING AT MANGAPAPA,

v - OH AIRMAN OF TITE HARBOR - . J3OAR!> EXPLAINS THE PROPOSALS. A fair-.number of ratepayers at-•l-oaded' kb the Mangapapa Hall last 7*ight: to hear Mr J. Town ley. Chair--1 man. of the Gisborne Harbor Board, on tig* proposed, loan proposals. Mr A. horde Matthews was voted to the chair, and explained that all were anxious to hear what the Chairman had to say on such an important subject. Mr Townley. stated that one o'f the rex von s for bringing the loan forward tit the present time was the unsettled shite of the money market. Another reason was that when a"Bill went to Parliament yon never knew when you were going ito get it back. It was years since a poll had been taken on * the harbor question, .and as the p; esent loan was for 30 years ,it would tf) a seen that they were not often troubled with harbor questions. He hoped, that everyone would regard the carrying of the poll as in their own interests, and that they would all go to- the poll and vote for the loan. He had been asked particularly to in.6n.tion the question of rates. The Bill provided ror a loan if necessary, but he hoped none would be neces-si-.-y. The rate provided for was -Jd hi, ‘the £ oil over the borough and country. The Bill of 1907 provided Hr a rate of Id in the borough and'-Jd via the county—a double rate in the borough, and such would be a heavy o.ie if levied. They were constantly "hearing (•-’>out the state of the river. Twenty ■years ago- Liverpool had not sufficient w iter to accommodate 'the size of boats which were coming along. They, however, got to work " with 'dredges ,-v'jd now they could accommodate the largest'vessels. So i( had been with the*Clyde. Mr Lysnar had been wishing for a Hood. Well, a flc-cd some- ■/ times did good and sometimes barm, b it the flood they had had just before the Maul arrived"had scoured the river out and enabled that vessel to come in. without the slightest difficulty, and ch.fi, had done splendid work ever since. •.Hi- Lysnar had written as follows to the press: ‘‘These "figures" had been ji uforward bv Mr fiownley as Cliairiii in of the Beard in answer to the fig-u.-os I had published. I "would point out that they in no. way answer the position • ..as stated by me; but it is o at® "d’.v that Mr Town ley has got very much mixed up in his own' figures. - How could ne have possibly overlooked the receipt of over £61,000 j,. coruns?don with the loan funds rei:,i,sed by Parliament I cannot concgve, bus it should show the ratepay•u..; that reliance cannot be placed on Mush figures.” In reply to this_ Mr. Tbwr.ley read the following note from Pie, statement of the annual expenditure of the Board from 1885 to 1912 .prepared by Messrs J. W. Witty (treasurer) ‘and T. A. Coleman '(auditor) : —“Unexpended loan moneys, £Bl.-368, is a- cross entry and is only I .jxiuded in this statement for the purpose of showing that the whole of the Hoard's payments ore accounted for. T,xe amount' was subsequently repaid to the Board by- tlie Public Trustee c ad is included in the above-mention-ed expenditure on harbor improvements.” Had Mr Lysnar, the speaker stated, looked at the statement a little more closely he would not have inode such a wild statement. Mr Lysp tr had also made another incorrect .'statement when he told those present his Patufcahi meeting that “all ratepayers had a vote on this matter, •aad the wives of those men on the roll o ukl also vote.'"’ As a matter of'iact tie wives "of ratepayers on/the borcixgh roil could vote, but the ladies in cu© county could not exercise that privilege yet. Hie Liberal Government Lad contemplated such an amendment t> the law, but it had not yet come to pass. Ete wanted to see all the ladies i the borough coming out and recording their votes in favor of the loan. One of the reasons that-induced them to go in for the loan was that it had I I Xti r eported to them that the -'-c trance to the river was unsafe. They had brought Mr Holmes, the Engm-' cor-in-Oilier, up from Wellington, and j,e had advised them to extend their breakwater. He had also givep them a report on an outer breakwater as well. They acted on Mr Holmes’ pjan and let a contract for an exten,,’oa’of 209 ft. When Mr McDonald arrived, he advised that a further 250 feet should be added to the breakwater. Part of the loan was required to' pay fer this contract. They had also to redeem £75,000 of the old Jo,aa, which would leave them about £■3o,oo# for new works. That very great improvements had been made in the'river was proved by the fact that the s.s. Rosamond had come yip to the wharf that dav two hours before high v iter drawing 14ft Sin. ' - , Mr Townley went on to say that isolated extracts had been put forward from, the reports of the various consulting Engineers with the view of influencing the public opinion in favor of an. outer harbor on the . Haiti beach, generally known as Mr Marchant’s scheme.” It therefore becomes necessary to put the correct facts before the ratepayers. Mr Thompson’s original scheme”, a portion of which only was carried out, was for a combined river and outer harbor on the Wuikaitae beach. Mr Leslie Reynolds [hates the best outer harbor site is on the Waikanae beach. _Mr Holmes’ s-'heme was for a combined river and outer ‘harbor on. the Waikanae beacii. Mr McDonald’s proposal is for a combined river and outer harbor on the Waikanae beach. This makes a total of four Engineers adopting the Waikanae beach as the best site. Mr Marchar, t recommends a site for outer J i arbor on the Ivaiti beach and in this recommendation he stands alone, as Messrs Goode, Son and Matthews were limited in making their report, to ad-, vising the Board on Mr. Marchant’s ,wheme. The concensus of opinion is therefore 4 t-ol in favor of an outer .harbor, when required, being constructed on the Waikanae beach. In reference to his own design for an outer harbor, on the Haiti beach, Mr March-ant states that he “cannot conceive a much more dangerous place for a vessel to seek shelter than in a .harbor situated in the north-eastern aide of Poverty Bay,” that is at Haiti beach. A more complete condemnation of his own scheme cannot be ima-

. gined. . . The question of what the various consulting Engineers considered possible to maintain, in depth in the entrance channel, at the time the_v_ reported, is beside the present question, as conditions" have materially altered. We have now-'a powerful dredge which was-not anticipated by them,,and the breakwater has ‘ bean extended a further 450 feet, giving effective protection to the entrance. It, cannot be de- ■ nied that whatever opinions were given in the past, the fact now stands- out that we have our 15 feet of water at low tide, in the entrance channel, and right ut> to the wharves, and this is being maintained. The Board' have now before them a .complete scheme for further development, and the work . is being carried out on economical bu- * siness lines. . There is nothing of an experimental nature in the Board’s present proposal, as they are acting under the advice of a well-known arid experienced Harbor Engineer, who enjoys the full confidence of the Board. 'The present - financial - position is , that the dredge Maui was purchased and paid for by the Board without striking a rate, but the outcome ox this expenditure was the raising . of •the.; overdraft to £IB,OOO at the time the Loan Bill was drafted. The first seelion of thq breakwater extension was let'without having sufficient funds in. hand to met the liability) but the work b'b, ■■ ' blNr-ab''//; ■ . ■ : '• : - : WMMm; ' . /.>'.■ IsH i II is Is Hhi j s l i ■’ si 11

was so urgent that the work as recommended by Mr. Holmes; had to be proceeded with. In January last the Board decided to take the initial steps for raising a loan to carry out urgent harbor improvements, and it was then decided to anticipate this loan by authorising at further extension of the breakwater so as to give complete protection to the entrance., The expenditure to which the Board is actually committed fit the present time is £57,000 (Bank overdraft £lB,000, breakwater Ist section £17,000, and 2ndi section £22,000). At the time the loan Bill, was prepared the Bank overdraft was £IB,OOO, but Ins has now increased.to £43,000 owing to heavy progress payments that have had to be made to the breakwater contractor as the work-proceeded, : These; contractors have been paid to date £25.548 for work done. If is expected that this contract will be completedin April, when the balance of the corntract amount will have to be found. The other items in the loan proposals are, redemption’ of 1885 loan, amounting to £75,0C0, and £68,000 for new works that have not yet been started. These later works .are widening and deepening the entrance channel and construction of additional, wharf and sheds, which are urgently required to keep pace with the-groov-ing traffic of this port. They had, he was glad to say, made very satisfactory arrangements with the bank to float the loan in London at a favorable opportunity. He thought the Harbor Board was deserving of the confidence of the ratepayers. ’ He considered the" proposals .they had chalked out would result in a great- improvement in the river. The other day they hacl had 21ft of water in the river. ‘ He was glad to' hear that the s.s. Taka-puna was expected' to restart running next- week, and if. she did she would be able to come in and out at any state of the tide. If the people of Gisborne had the good sense he gave them credit for, when they went ijpr an outer harbor they would see that “it was constructed in the borough. If they built one at Haiti, it would be- one of the most expensive harbors to work in the Dominion. . “Fancy landing there on - a dark night half a mile from the shore,” said the speaker; “you would not be able to see.” A Voice: You could have electric light. Mr Townley: It would blow it out. In conclusion. Mr Townley said he was for this loan, and would ask every ratepayer to record their votes in its favor on December 17. Mr J. IV. J. Preston said lie had come out that night with the- expressed determination to speak, because confusion Was being caused in tlie minds of ratepayers on this -outer harbor question. Mr Lysnar had said that nothing had been done with the river, and that the first flood would silt, it iup. They had, however, had several floods here, and tlie river was better than ever. The object of all towns was to get the harbor as close to the- centre of the town as possible. The improvements which had; beencarried out within tlie past few years had been quite momentous. He had been responsible, to a certain extent, for the extension of the breakwater. The shipping companies and masters had got together and had pointed out that the entrance was a menace. He had t-old Mr Townley that the breakwater would have to be extended. Mr Townley had replied that they had not sufficient money to pay for the work. “Money or no money,” the speaker had replied, “tlie work must he done.” The Board had undertaken the. work, and now t-liey had a.perfectly safe entrance, and could get vessels drawing 16ft up to the wharf. He (Mr Preston) had also pressed for the appointment of a properly-qualified Engineer. Mr McDonald had been secured, and since lie Ikkl arrived “tlie "work lie luxcl done spoke for itself. Mr Lysnar had made a great point of freights, but he could tell them that as much as 2s <i ton liad been taken oft the freight in coal through vessels being able'to come up to the wharf. Gisborne was developing, and it was an imperative necessity for the Board to get to work and provide extra wharfage accommodation, or there would be contusion worse confounded. Everyone uho had the best interests of the town at heart would vote for the loan as the ■development ox the inner harbor was Essential The policy -urbinh the Board was pursuing was entitled to earn them the confidence of the ratepayers, and he felt that they could not gowrong in voting the necessary monev to pay for what had been done and further develop the river. Mr F. Stafford stated that he was. heartily “in favor of the present loan proposals. He recounted early experiences in the river in the days of the Snark which could not come up the river, though only drawing 3ft 6m., and contrasted the great improvement which had been effected. He believed that the proposed works of the Board could be carried out with great .advantage to.the district, and without striking a further rate . . ' Questions were then invited bv the Chairman, , but none were fortbccin-. Ul Mr Matthews then proposed a vote of thanks to- Mr Townley for his interesting address. . . c Mr Townley : I don t deserve any thanks-., it is‘only my duty. - Mr Townley said lie would .like be-, fore closing to refer to the Hatemen ■ made bv Mr Lysnar to the effect that 25 000 tons of -cargo would come dnect to the port- of Gisborne if they had an outer harbor.. Some years a .go lie (Mi Town lev) and -Mr Common nad gone round the town to see what amount could he:guaranteed;for- a direct shipment from Home, but Ahev were unable to get 200 tons. . TV hat, he ask ed. did the army of commercial travellers come to Gisborne for, but x secure orders which were supplied bj the Dominion houses. T etoetosuch as the Corinthie had to pay £9<. to come to Gisborne, and it would not pay them to come here with a. lev tons or cargo. The Chamber of Commence had done its best to arrange fordiiect. Home shipments to Gisborne, but had been unsuccessful. On one occasion, the only cargo brought by one Home boat for Gisborne was 36 tons for himself. Would, he asked, Island boats come to Gisborne with a iew tons ol fruit? Such statements as Mr Lys-nar-hacl made were mere dreams,, andlie was surprised how anyone could listen to them. He thanked them roi the patient hearing they had given him, and again expressed the hope that everyone would do then best t roll up to the poll and record their votes for the true progress,of the <iisA vote of thanks to Mr Townley and the Chairman terminated the meeting. ' ,

THE OPPOSITION. A MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE. ■ A meeting of the Citizens’ \Committee set up to oppose the Harbor loan was held last evening. . Mr. W. Arnold- occupied the chair, and tnere were 20 members in attendance. Mr. AV. I>. Lysnar reported .the re-

sult of the Patutahi meeting, in which the chairman announced thattion in favor of the-loan was defeated by two to one. . . ‘ ‘ It was reported that arrangements had been made for a meeting in town in the Opera House, on the night before the poll., ~ Mr. Lysnar stated . that he was. arranging to show soriie limelight views of the .Timaru, Fremantle, Marseilles,,. Port Said,' and other harbors construct-, .ed. "of-rubble. Views'would also be oh own of Hie Waihirere quarry and the, Timaru quarry. ■' . It vaß' -decided to write both Mr Townlcv and the 'Harbor. Engineer, ’(Mr, McDonald) to .he present 'at- the Gisborne meeting.'- and an opportunity, will be given to them to speak.,' , AT /iiVi I i 111 a ’ life

■ ~to , ~ kjy ■ .... '.- k- . - It was decided that Mr. -Lysnar should address meetings at Ormond on Friday night, Te Karaka on Monday night,'.and, if possible,,a-meet-iiig at To Arai > and Mata ivhero also before the poll. '. • ’ • p) It' was depided that the committee should meet every night as from Wednesday next until the day of the poll. The general, reports.received showed that there -was a great _ want of knowledge. of -’-the real position of matters, and the efforts of the Citizens’ Committee were bearing good fruit; ;