THE CHEAPEST PORT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 832, 30 July 1910, Page 6

THE CHEAPEST PORT.

VTHE BOARD'S CHAIRMAN SPEAKS. ('■;■ '"•;'.■ t. - - : v REPLY TO CRITICISM^ |';:\ THE HARD LOGIC OF FIGURES. [• -:'•,.. ..The chairman of tho'Harbour Board, j , Mr; R. Fletcher, was interviewed by a |\';--. Dominion representative in reference to ;V : . • ' statements emanating from Mr.' N. \ -.. ; Galbraith, acting-manager- in Wolling- | T :;-•' toil for the New Zealand Shipping ;.;■ - Company, and published in : tho j. ;;■ Dominion yesterday. .Unhesitatingly, ■' ;/;. . Mr. Fletcher declared that Mr. Gal--f■■■''"''■ braithls - criticism of his utterances in . , regard to transhipment, charges \ and [.'■■' related affairs was orroneous from ha-. j ' .'■/. ginning to end. --;.''. " ■'. j; . -: ■ : Case of s.s. Rimutaka. i : ';Dealing first with an allegation trial ; ; . unfair-treatment - had been meted out. ?■" .. - ;to, the New' Zealand" Shipping Company i..':"/, iii'. berthing the .Rimutaka at the j .:.;'.'Queen's Wharf Mr. Fletcher said the £■ ni'u'stof necessity, be the ;"•' controlling power iiiid ho paramount in Vega-rd to the berthing.;"of ships. In , V-';; aiiy other event there would 'b'o a [ ''•'".'■";• state of chaos. The'harbourmaster had ' ; -;> ' "absolutely at-heart the''interests of t ■']■'. >. shippers'and of the hoard. A mail la I;\ )'':■ ., his position who tried to.please every- !'.-; [ ' bodyivould very, quickly come to grief. !-..;"', ..The board and-harbourmaster endcav- [■;•;"■' ~ .; cured to do their best in 'the interests "f- '_" :."of shippers and of the port and it was ;'-_ only in isolated cases that -complaint t■■'■>'■ arose. The companies in general wero i - - - -Tory, well satisfied -with the arrange- : ments made. ,■;'>-. >'.■■' ;,.:.. As to this particular: case, only a ;'.- • few months ago, there wasa big compe-' \ -tition among largo shipping companies :"' ,',; to ;secure No. a berth, the berth to • ■•■' /which the Rimutaka had been sent. If '; ■;'. the vessel had been sent to'the King's ;.-■:. Wharf, her cargo would'have, been scat- .. , ; -tered over both sheds and; it would •have, been absolutely impossbile to work . ±he lonic" due in about a week,'at tho \y ■ same wharf. - It'would have been ini- ... possible-to get the cargo of the Rirau? : taka clear .before'the lonic, arrived. ' .-'•'' As the ; complaint' that rails could i. ■....■ not bo conveniently ; discharged from ..-'■. the Rimutaka in her present berth,-the Marere. had.recently, discharged ■ 600 ■-. -.. " tons of rails at the.same place and --: there had been.no complaint. As a fact thousaifds of tons of rails had been .>. at.the Queen's Wharf. ' The .i, •berth assigned to the Rimutaka was so ■"■' • "■ n i request tliat. it. had- been ap- ,;',-... P l '™. fer. by. the ,-Tyser Company and ■. ■•'. refused on the ground that it was' being ... reserved-for the Rimutaka. '' : •

; Transhipment. Charges. :' v - , Dealing,'.with; .'transhipment- -charges at Lyttelton,. Mr. Fletcher • said • "It : 'il'l e 7 j¥, nd - of Mr. Galbraith, to' say •that 1. did not convey.the impression 1. Wished to convey, but as a matter ■of fact,-1 did. ■ I stated that'if goods , were, stored; at that port; for .28 days, there would be a charge of Is., 9d.; in .',. addition.- to Is. fid: each way- for haulage^'making a total charge .-of-4s. 9d. ■ There, would, of course, be an additional .'charge for storage." ~ '.;. As,.to Mr.; Galbraith's:statement that .his-, firm had .transhipped '1000 tons of -cargo at Lyttelton at a cost of Is. 6d. ' per ton, the same could be done in "Wellington if a similar special arrangc- - menfc were made to have the coastal .vessel meet the Home. boat. By sending vessels , tor' the Railway Wharf at ■'■Wellington;, goods could be at n cost of Is. 4d. per ton, twopence per ton less than the figures quoted by ..■Mr. .Galbraith, as applying to Lyttel- • ton. ;If the coastal vessel were brought alongside-..the discharging'- ship -at Wel•dington, transhipment could be effected at.a fate of (id.: per. ton in , harbour dues.:. II was necessary to clearly note, .remarijed Mr. Fletcher,, that- : unless •both vessels were in Lyttelton'-'at the , 'satno.-time," a<charge of ls.i 6d. would . 4e/incurred for taking'goods'-'tb' store, .and a similar amount for taking them ,to the receiving ship.V . A Tip for Wanganul? - .. Again,' Mr. Galbfaitii had' remarked , that.AVanganui merchants could effect A saving of at least Is. 6d. per ton by arranging to have a.-coastal boat in ■Lyttelton to receive the:, cargo as it •was discharged. .' "I' would like to ask ;i Mr.-..Galbraith, as a practical 'man,", said. Mr. Fletcher, "whether he means that ;.the ■ coastal. boat is -,to -wait for five or- six days, until .the. cargo'.'is discharged ?:•- One of two things' must: happen.: Either the cargo," as -it "comes out- piecemeal, must be taken to.the sheds, aiid nu incur the haulage charge, or the coaster must waste, time in waitiiuj; which also involves expense."', :-.' Ingenious but Incomplete. . -."Mr.,- Galbraith's interpretation of , the position," said .Mr. Fletcher, "is -ingenious, but, it is designed : to suit .his. own- argument. I regret that I will ■; be unable to include it in the statement to be submitted to the Chambers of Commerce for the. reason'that. it. teens '■.with-- inaccuracies. I may state that 1 have been congratulated by a number of merchants,. largely interested'in shipping, on the clear and concise nature of the.statement which T'made at the ' last meeting of the Harbour- Board. " I am of oiiiniori that not one merchant or shipping company would like us.to. revere to".the: methods employed ■■at-Auckland.-'. The. board at that port ■ charges-2s: per ton,, and render's no -service whatever.'-. "The consignee has to bring his own men and drays down to.the wharf and handle'the goods himself. If .the AVellington Board did the same, it; would . soon : become, the rich corporation, of which I spoke at our last, meeting.. I have been all over the world,,,and I know of no board that, renders, the.- same service as; we: do in ...Wellington'. There is not a master of •a foreign-going ship but speaks in the . highest terms.of tlie.manner in which the..work;.of--discharging is. conducted here. The same applies to masters of ■'cargo-steamers." They are unanimous ; in their enconiums .upon our, methods of-dealing with cargo. '

Hard Facts. '"Here," said the 'Harbour Board chairman, as the interviewer rose to depart,' "is,a bit of positivo'testimony,. It is a return giving a comparative statement of transhipment operations during .nine-monthly periods over- a term of years. It treats, of the nine months preceding June 30 in each year named. There.jb.as .been upon the whole a steady increase in transhipment. operations, and. the total for ■ the. latest period exceeds, even that in the 'boom' year,. 1908. Transhipments • over wharves:. 1907, 83,369 tons; 1908, 96,647 tons;" 1909,''86,522 tons; 1910,; 97,553 tons." ■ ■ ".' " OPINION OF MR, H. NATHAN. . Mr. 'Hubert Nathan, shipping, manager for; W. M. Bannatyno arid Company, when communicated with yesterday, stated that he could corroborate everything Mr. N. Golbraith (manager of the New Zealand Shipping Company) has said in .refutation of the claim by the chairman of the HaTbour Board that Wellington was the cheapest port,, particularly in regard to the cost of transhipment and storage. It was' a rather strange coincidence that Mr. Galbraith should have mentioned the notion of Wanganui merchants."getting their stulf consigned to Lyttelton instead of Wellington, in order to escape the higher charges here, as he had suggested the same thing to a member of the board only a few days ago.'