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There seems to be no good reason why private enterprise and Government between them should not in the future construct and maintain all necessary piers once a general plan of development is agreed upon and a policy is settled which would give the lessees security of tenure,
For this the interposition of a Port Trust does not seem necessary.
(3) The provision of navigational lights and buoys and mooring buoys has been undertaken in the past by the Harbour Department and no suggestion has been made as to inadequacy of this provision.
The charges have been fixed by Government, on the advice of the Harbour Depart- ment, and no suggestion has been made that these were excessive.
Here again it is difficult to see in what way any advantage would be gained by the service and its charges being handled by a Port Trust.
(4) Ferries and the royalties, &c. therefor have been controlled by the Government through the Harbour Office, the operation being by private enterprise.
There is no suggestion that the normal services are inadequate or that the charges for licences or royalties are inappropriate.
(5) Dredging of the Harbour is only required on a small scale and when required has been arranged by Government.
(6) The licensing of pilots has been effected by the Harbour Master under the provisions of the Pilots Ordinance, 1930. No complaint has, to the knowledge of this Committee, been made as to the operation of the statutory provisions and it is difficult to see what improvement would be likely to be effected if the licensing were in the hands of a body of Trustees.
(A change in the method of supply of pilots to the ships requiring their services is understood to be under the consideration of the Government).
(7) The regulation of Harbour traffic has been under the control of the Harbour Master, as it would be if a Port Trust were created, and the promulgation of the necessary by-laws for that purpose has been effected by the Legislature, the proposals of the Harbour Master being considered by the Government which introduced the necessary legislation.
The present system appears adequately to meet all requirements.
(8) The general policy of the Harbour has in the past been the concern of Govern- ment, which has had the benefit of the advice of the departments concerned and to which commercial or other interests affected have always been able to make representations.
In paragraph 102 (10) of his report, Sir David Owen specified that the policy of the Trust should be that of seeing that adequate and proper facilities are available in the Harbour for ships and their cargoes, but to allow approved private enterprise to provide these facilities as far as possible and also to let private enterprise do its own operating.
This has been the general policy in the past and the Committee feels that this policy could be pursued with the aid of a strong and representative Advisory Board as effectively as it could be pursued by a Trust, particularly if such Advisory Board were given the necessary powers to see that any of their recommendations which may be approved by Government are carried out.
At a later stage of this report we submit recommendations as to the formation of such an Advisory Body.
This Committee does not feel that it is necessary to constitute a Port Trust in order to ensure effective control of the matters which Sir David Owen proposed to place under the control of that body or that it would be justifiable to constitute a Trust for the control of so limited a range of matters.
As stated by Sir David Owen in paragraph 83 (h) of his report "the Trust would merely be taking over duties now performed by the Government", and there has been no serious criticism of the way in which those duties have been performed.
In Sir David Owen's words, "the Harbour is the Colony and the Colony is the Harbour". If a Trust were to acquire and operate all the facilities of the Port, including piers, wharves and godowns, shipyards, and the Railway, also the control of foreshore rights and reclamations, it would indubitably become the master planning unit of the Colony. It is conceivable that a Port Trust of such importance might, by unifying control, effect certain economies, but before it could come into being immense capital expenditure would be involved, and there is no evidence before the Committee that this proposition is practicable or desirable. It is completely against Sir David Owen's recommendations, which do not advocate the creation of operating Trust.