THE CENTRAL PORT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1671, 11 February 1913, Page 4

THE CENTRAL PORT.

.CATCHING;OVERSEA SHIPPING. . Amongst ' tlio outward correspondence submitted to yesterday's meeting of the Wellington' Chamber of Commerce was t.hb copy of a letter forwarded by' the secretary..to. Iho managing agents of' tho Nijipon Yusen Itaisha lino of steamships at Sydney. The letter read lis follows:— ''My chamber has. been given to understand that your principals, the Nippon Yusen Kaislin, have decided to extend their stoain services to Now Zealand, and it takes this opportunity of bringing under your notice tho advantages which .Wellington has to offer as the port of call, in' New Zealand. Situated as it is at- tho southern end of the' North Island, and being'the ccntral port'of New Zealand, it offers facilities for .transhipping which no' other port in New Zealand can. Not only does Wellington itself servo a very ox-tensive district, but transhipments for all places on the north and west coasts of the (South T sland and'oil tho w«st coast of tho North Island, as far as Now Plymouth, and to Gfsborno on the cast coast, or©. invariably forwarded from Wellington; This fact will bs appreciated,when it is pointed out that tho direct steamers to Gteat Britain, which leave at fortnightly intervals, make Wellington their port of departure, and first port of arrival, years of experience having shown theso companies»that both for tho import and export trade Wellington is the port in New Zealand winch best serves their purpose. I noed hardly point out that Wellington Harbour is not only tho best and safest harbour in the Dominion from the point of viov of depth of water and readiness of acccss, but thnt the facilities offered by our Harbour Board for tho handling of cargo and dispatch of steamers are probably unequalled by any port in tho Southern Hemisphere. . . . So far. as our export trado with Japan and the East is-concerned, in the past this has been very small, chiclly wool and hemp; but my chamber believes that as Wellington is one of tho principal centres In New Zealand for this class of business, a considerable trade can be worked up with Japan'and tho East. In addition to this, we have 110 doubt that tho frown and potted meats trade could bo considerably extended." i Mr. Mabin (president) explained that Iho letter had been' written on the strength of a paragraph which had appeared in a Sydney paper which had it? origin in a Japanese paper. An answer had been received from the Sydney manager [dating that there was no present intention of extending the service to South Australia mid Now Zealand (as reported), but the letter would bo kept in caso there was a likelihood of any development in the future.

The valuo to owners of liy« stock of ft good, "lick" was incidentally demonstrated in the cotirso of some experiments in the control of worms in sheep last year at Glen Inties Experiment Farm, wys the Sydney "Daily Telegraph. It had been previously noted by the manager ot tho farm that certain sheep lmd done exceptionally well on n lielc made up of five 'parts of calcium phosphate, .0110 part, of sulphate of iron, and *0 parts of Liverpool salt, and'during 1912 a special experiment wns arranged to test this licit. 0110 lot of slu'ep 1 joint; placed 011 it. nnd another lot on a simpler lick consisting of 0110 part of sulphate of iron and 40 parts of Liverpool salt. Unfortunately, tho very dry season necessitated the sheep being run together after a thrco months' trial, but tho superiority of the "conv pleto lick," as it was called, w.ia so constant up to that time as to call for remark. The average (fain in weight of over 20 sheep 011 the complete lick was 101b.. against lesti than Gjlb. pained by a similar number on the incomplete lick,