The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Thursday, August 23, 1888. MEDDLESOME LEGISLATORS.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 186, 23 August 1888, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning.

Thursday, August 23, 1888. MEDDLESOME LEGISLATORS.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

A new and peculiar light has been thrown on our harbor question by the possibility of Parliamentary interference, that interference being of a kind that may possibly lead to serious results. It is evident now that it was a mistake in submitting, without protest, to the first interference by Parliament. It is a great pity the works were not then immediately stopped, because we believe had this been done, the position would have been a far more hopeful one today. At present, disregarding the site question, the successful passage of the Bill seems a very doubtful advantage. There is no guarantee that the radius proposal will be altered so as to give satisfaction or justice, and the probable result of the whole thing appears to be that no one will be satisfied. There does not seem to be the remotest chance of the site being taken into consideration, but this intervention between the bondholders and the ratepayers is a most extraordinary development, and if any limitation of the rating area is fixed it will leave the district in a very peculiar position. The following comments from a Wellington journal have, in point of argument, a bearing on our own case, though the references do not apply, because we have not yet made default: — The question to be solved is this. Certain Harbor Boards have borrowed upon a certain specified security, at rates of interest corresponding to the nature and extent of the security, large sums of money. This money they have spent, on the assumption that their revenue from harbour dues or other sources would suffice to meet the charge for interest and sinking fund, after providing for ordinary expenditure. This assumption has proved unfounded. The charge for interest and sinking fund is much greater than the Boards’ revenue ; and the Boards acknowledge their inability to meet it. Some of them, moreover, require further sums for expenditure on the construction or repair of harbor works. Ab they are unable to pay the interest on what they owe already, it stands to reason that they cannot borrow any more on the same security ; nor have they lawful authority to do so. Such is the problem. What is the solution ? Before we enter on that question, we may very naturally be asked why the Government, or Parliament should trouble themselves to dissever any solution of the problem at all. What concern Is it of theirs ? This is a very pertinent question, and one that goes to the root of the matter. Viewed in the right light, the financial emergencies of the Harbor Boards Are in no ’ way the concern of the Government

or Parliament. They are solely an affair between the Boards and their creditors. The Harbor loans have been raised on the clearly expressed and clearly understood condition that the security offered by the Boards was the whole security, and that the Government of the colony had no liability, legal or moral, for the loans. Those who lent the Boards the money knew, or might have known and ought to have known, exactly what they were doing. They got a high rate of interest because the security was what it was, and because the Government were in no way liable for the loans; and, if there should be any difficulty about repayment, or about the completion of the works, it is for the Boards aud their creditors to settle it between themselves as beat they may. If the Boards cannot pay at all, aud if the security proves insufficient or unrealisable, then the creditors must be prepared to lose part or the whole of their money, as often happens when people lend money on doubtful security for the sake of getting a high rate of interest.