WAIKATO TRADE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 261, 28 July 1908, Page 8

WAIKATO TRADE.

IS IT GOING TO WELLINGTON? WARNINGS TO AUCKLAND MERCHANTS. ■ With the . approaching completion of the Main Trunk line, says a wiiter in the "Herald, '. it seems that the .monopoly which tho Auckland merchants have hitherto held over the trade in tho Waikato and King Country districts will be challenged from Wellington. In fact, tho commercial war has already begun. Commercial travellers from Wellington are making their way into' Auckland proving in ever-increasing numbers, and the general opinion prevailing in the Waikato and the King Country is that if. the! Auck- . merchants do not wake, up .to tbc seriousness of the situation, they: will find the tirade slipping from their hands, and will iSu great difficult y in. getting it back. \\hena representative of the "Herald" was m the Waikato and the King Country recently, several of the prominent residents took the opportunity of sounding a note of warning. One of these gentlemen, was Major Lusk, chairman, of t-lio AVaitoino .County Council, who said that, the Wellington merchants were already pushing their way into the district, and intended to compete even more keenly for its trade in the near future.

They have;" he said,:."been offering in our country districts agricultural requisites and so on at much lower than the Aucldand prices, so the Auckland merchants will have to look out. This is a . very important as well as a growing' district,' and it is tho interests, not only, of'the Auckland merchants, but of the Auckland City also, "to cultivate it and secure the whole of its trade. For instance,'those responsible should endeavour to,-makc tho' Auckland wool sales more attractive. It-has been noticed that the wool sales •at Wellington and Napier have attracted more: buyers than lias' been tile case at Auckland, and have-thereforo realised better prices, and if Auckland does not wake up it will find when the Main trunk line, is .opened .that the 'whole of, tho wool from this. district will go to' Wellington. , '

Asked what ho meant by the phrase "moro attractive, Major Lusk, said'that what was desired by the growers in. the King Country was . that the Auckland .wool brokers .should strain evciy nervo to get the buyers to _ come to their sales. They' should advertise these' sales more, get better rooms, if possible, and at the same time endeavor to reduce the charges on. liandling, etc., so as to ericourUge tho settlers in-the■ Ivmg Country and in:the rest of the province_to send.the whole of -their wool to Auckland., If they did not do something in these -directions in meant; that the wool buyers, would not come to Auckland, because it was not worth their while, and the prices consequently would 5 be. 'flat. : . Onco this-was established the settlers would send their wool on to Wellington for the, keener competition, for if .they got $d. per,lb. bid better ,this would handsomely repay them, notwithstanding the .extra freightage: ' : Major Lusk also pointed out that once the Main-Trunk line was through thero was every probability that tho butter ,of the Southern Waikato would go to Wellington'. "You see," he said, " thero. is no direct boat ,to London' from .Auckland, whereas there /is from Wellington, and at tlje present time in order to get the butter there it lias to be sent, on from Auckland; frozen there, railed on to Onehunga, transhipped '.there, .and taken on to Wellington, arid .transhipped there again. Once the Main Trunk is through, however, it: is .obvious, that it will go to Wellington, and what the .Auckland merchants have to agitate for, if they want iho trade, is a-direct boat from' Auckland. You can depend upon it that tho Wellington people are quite prepared to get, the trade, right up to Auckland's gates,'if possible.". Mr. J. Ormsby, a. member of tlio samo County Council, and a commission agent carrying on business at To Kuiti, was also of tho same opinion as Major Lusk. There'was, he said, a general complaint in tlie Waikato and tho King Country, that whpn orders were sent to Auckland merchants, they were very often only-partially fulfilled, and. a noto was sent along stating that they did not have tho' other articles ;in stock.. These other articles were very often simplo lines, which, if the Auckland merchants put . themselves about at all, they'could easily get. The result was that country clients got disgusted,' arid changed their connections, and it was not. at all improbable, "if there was not an awakening in Auckland, these connections might go to Wellington.

' Mr. C. M. Ahier, the leading storekeeper at To Awainutu, also informed a " Herald " reprosenta tito that two commercial travellers from Wellington, who 'had never been there before, had called upon him recently. "Thero is no doubt about it," ho said, " that Wellington merchants are already invading the Waikato, and when the railway connection is established will do so still more" - •