THROUGH BOOKING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1864, 25 September 1913, Page 10

THROUGH BOOKING.

AN EXPERIMENT THAT FAILED. The Minister of Railways mentioned in his annua] statement, presented to Parliament yesterday, that disappointing results had followed upon tho establishment of a system of through booking. "With a view to bringing the producer tynd consumer into closer relations for tho mutual benefit of both," lie st&tod, " .arrangements wero made for the through booking of fruit from various parts of tho Dominion. Delivery at destination was also provided for in tho ease of larger centres, and a minimum rate of freight was fixed for both rail and sea transport. The steamship companies readily joined in tho scheme and assisted as far as practicable. The Postal Department co-operated and arranged that orders for fruit might bo transmitted through postmasters to growers direct. Wide publicity was given to the arrangements, and every endeavour made in other directions to. ensure tho success of tho project. Tho traffic results wero, however, distinctly disappointing, tho resultant business : being insufficient to recoup the cost of bringing the arrangements into force. "In responso to strong representations made respecting. conveyance of fruit from Auckland to Wellington by express, social arrangements wero made, on the assurance of thoso concorned, that the traffic would amount to about five tons per day. In actual practice it did not averago Sowt. por day, a quantity altogether inadequate to justify the running of a bogy wagon. Similar experience followed the efforts made to ' foster . the fish industry and meet tho requests of fishermen for improved means of transport. Tho traffic did not expand, consequently the cost of operating became greater than the value of the business, and loss resulted. ■ This will readily be understood when it • is remembered that 561b. of fruit can .be railed any distance over a connected railway for 6d., and 71b. of fish any distance for 6d. Customers who deal direct with producers can obtain tho benefit,of these rates, aiid it is a'matter of sifrpriso that tho producer and oonsumer do not, under such circumstances,' got into directj touch and tako advantage of t'lio facilities provided to enable them to save tho cost inseparable from dealing through intermediaries."

Mr. J. H. Pedorsen, who ha 3 been with the Taihapo Co-operative Dairy Company for tho last four years as first assistant, has' been appointed manager of tho new co-operativo dairy factory at Wangaehu. The Taihapo Dairy Company paid out Is.'2d. per lb. for butter-fat to suppliers for August, tho price for this month being Is. Tho lowest grade scored last season was 92 points, and tho highest 95, the averago being well over 93 points at shows. Out of 13 entries Inst year tho company secured 9 first prizes, and won trophies to tho vaJuo of 125 guineas.