NEWS AND NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2144, 9 May 1914, Page 8

NEWS AND NOTES.

/ PORT OF BRISTOL. EMISSARIES IN WELLINGTON. The two . emissaries from tlie City and lorl ot Bristol—tlie docks at Bristol are a municipal enterprise—who are touring Australia and Now Zealand, arrived m Wellington yesterday. The two gentlemen, who are working to establish a direct trade between those Dominions and Bristol, nro Mr. Henry L. Rißcly, sometime High Sheriff for the City and County of Bristol, and Mr. Manning Lewis, Commercial Superintendent for the Port of Bristol. ' "We have a splendid message to .give Jou_, said Mr. llisely in the coursc of dii inter,view with a Dominion reporter yesterday. "It 'is, I think, one of the most important messages that lias ever been brought from tho Old Country to tlie overseas Dominions. It ivill show how the New Zealand producer can be brought into close touch witli the consumer, • without the intervention of. a speculator or other middleman. This will improve tho price of New Zealand pioduce as a matter of course, but also we hope by tho better handling of your produce at Bristol, and by tlie perfection of the methods of distribution, to render -a very valuablo commercial set'"m. 0 producer and consumer." The "message" to which Mr. Iliscly icters so enthusiastically,' will bo delivered by his colleague and himself to the Chamber of Commerce on Monday afternoon. . ' ir"^ii r -' la P s yoa ma J remember," said Mr. Hisely, "that I was out here in the autumn of 1909, when I camo to Australia us ono oi tho delegates representing Bristol at tho Conference of u i , n \i r ® of Commerce of tho Empire, held that year at Sydney. I was then glcatly impressed with the possibilities oi developing a trade between your country and Bristol, if only improved steamer services could bo obtained. Bristol had spent between threo and our millions in providing ocean dock's, the iast word in dock construction, and when I was last here Wellington business men told me that tho enterprise unadvertised was so much money wasted as tar as anticipation of New' Zealand trado was concerned, but that if the facilities ottering at Bristol were made known, people here would be only too leady to malco use.of thorn to securo a uew. market, and a new area of distribution. It was my intention to make % P lca suro trip to Australia and New Zealand, and when this becamo known to the city authorities in Bristol, they invited_ mo to sing Bristol's namo and Bristol s tame wherever I should go. S ?^' 11S been done before, ana that what was required was that close commercial propositions should be put before the business community in New Zealand. I therefore asked that Mr. -Manning Lewis, Commercial Superintendent of the Port of Bristol, should accompany mo to place his expert knowledge at tho service of the merchants a,l a producers here and in Australia. . That, briefly," is the objcct of our visit. My only interest in tho business' is that I am anxious, as a good citizen, to see tho port of Bristol progress. Mr. Manning Lewis, however, has been connected with the administration of the Bristol docks for many years. Wo hope that as tho outcomo of our visit to Now Zealand, it will be possible to arrange for improved steamship services to Bristol. We liope to seo a fortnightly service direct to Bristol'established, or even more fretjuciif steamers, if necessary, and if wo succeed in achieving this' I think everyone who is interested in the expansion of tho trade of this Dominion will bo well pleased."