GISBORNE HARBOR BILL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2156, 12 August 1907, Page 1

GISBORNE HARBOR BILL.

Xo-the.Editor.

• Sir,'—AKindly 1 allow me a little space in your columns to enlighten Mr. W. Siov,wright. .-muM/T < ■' . .A In section 4of Mr. Sievwnght s letter; published in your issue of : Monday, sth inst., lie states, “I am unable tc> tfind rany really valid ground on which the rating area should be restricted I ‘so as to ■ .exclude: Waiapu wholly or'.' Tolaga partly. ;The traffic of the East Coast must concentrate in . Gishorne-.sooner.or.,later, etc.” " As a storekeeper of many years experience of coastal trade, I might inform that it i® aliiiost I 'aJmtitteV of impossibility that, , ur,dei%>xisting . circuiiistahces, Gisborne ; ‘wiU r ever .become the distribnir-r ihg; centre .for 'the ■ East .Coast, even with' 'or •' without any harbor improve-mehfs-at7Gisborne. I r ' • Itl’will be many years lienee belorea railway ’ via ' East Coast swill he _es-, tahlislied, .and. then it is [almost impossible to briiig the line near enough to the coast to make any difference to tile trade ’ of the coast. . J can also assure Mr. Sievwright that long before the Gisborne Outer Harbor is finished, the Home boats Will be calling in to at least one of j the places along this coast. ■ : . For general merchandise (jrisborne eaiinot. attempt to compete with the ' Auckland, market from, whence Warn-' pu people at present’ obtain the great majority—in fact nearly all.—of thengoods. Tho Gisborne branches of Targe Auckland firms can never expect tile trade to conic: through them, as no one who is the least awake would' think of paying about 20 per cent, extra for liis. goods wholesale, besides the wharfage and other charges added when he can obtain them direct from Auckland as at present. It is also a well-known' fact oil; the Coast that in many instances goods are retailed on the Coast at less than the wholesale quotations from Gisborne houses. One .firm in particular made a futile attempt: to alter this about' three years ago. To be a distributing centre tor Waiapu, Gisborne would be obliged .'to bring .the rail somewhere near the coast-line or to run boats regularly from Gisborne here, and then the question of wholesale cost of goods has to be faced.i With [respect to sheep and. wool I need say nothing as eyeryone is awarq .it is only a short timeiwhen ;4>hese will he attended to in one of the Waiapu bays. . A.atn g)ad,.Jioweyer,vthat .Mr. I Slew . yourself,,. Mr. Editor, 'iirc .o&ienrasetetfl|§hf&ifhg the general MmtiiV. on (the,.questjcnCbf j the Outer Harbor.: 1 ' ~ I am, etc., ■ - ‘‘STOREKEEPER.”