TRADE WITH LEVUKA

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 44, 16 November 1920, Page 8

TRADE WITH LEVUKA

PORT CUT OUT OF STEAMER ITINERARY. At a, recent meeting of Hie Wellington Ohnmber of Commerce a. letter \ri\s received from the Lcruka (Fiji) Chnmbor of Commerce, complaining about the Union Steam Rbip Com puny having cut Lcvuka out of its itinernry for eomo •months past, nnd pointing .out that New Zealand trade iviHh Levuke must suffer, considerably if poods had to be trannhipned at Suva. The chnmbor decided to refer the matter to Hie Auckland chamber, as the northern port was more closely concerned with the trade of Fiji dhan was Wellington. At,yesterday's meeting of the Wellington chamber a letter was received from the secretin-}' of the Auckland chamber (Mr. 11. C. Tewsley), sta-t ing that he hail seen the Aucklnnd manager of the Union Company, who had pointed out that Levuka's exclusion was dup to the paucity of cargo offering, nnd had said that there were good feeder s-Vmmers between Suva and Levuka. The Auckland manager's letter read as follows:—

"I am forwarding a copy of the communication from the Lcvuka Chamber of Commerce to my head office, but I can hold out no hope of J.evuka being made a. regular port of call. You will appreciate the position mora fully when I point out that on She last 6e.ven trips of tho steamer from Auckland to Fiji, Levuka enrgo has averaged 70 tons per trip, and this quantity is quite inadequate to warran'i a call at Levuka. on account of the high cost of operating steamers of the size and class of those employed in the Fiji-Samoa-Tonga trade. Further, instead of our steamer being dispatched from here every uventy-eight days, it now takes close oil twenty-eight days to make the round trip from the time of departure until arrival back in Auckland, and the consequent is instead of being able to maintain a twenty-eight days' service, we loso some days each trip. _ This is a matter of importance, ns.it is necessary in the Fiji trade, to adhere as closely as possible to regular sailings in order to alternate the fruit shipments to Sydney and Now Zealand, and the interests of Fiji as a whole would not be served by the steamer making a call at Levuka, which would involve exim time and jeopardise tho regularity of fruit shipments."