ARTHUR’S PASS TUNNEL RATES.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 September 1923, Page 3

ARTHUR’S PASS TUNNEL RATES.

CHE \PER TO ISRI NO TIM IfER BY SEA. Builders and limber merchants in ' Canterbury. says the “ Lyttelton Times.'’ thought Unit Hie opening of ihe Arthur's Pass tunnel would ensure I for i hem a quick supply "I- timber lightly freighted, hilt this has not been 5,7. and during the last week or two Oicv have found i! eheaper to bring timber supplie- round by <rn from C icy mouth to Lyttelton. At, present the freiglnage on timber from (ireyiuoutli is not satisfactory to some merchants, and they feel that the position will not be relieved until the Railway Department fakes over the control of the Midland line from the Public Works Department. Until that time, they say, a definite freight satisfactory to them will not be fixed. It in stated that it. is almost imperative now to bring the bulk of the timber by sea because a fortnight ago the District Traffic Manager at Oieynioutn announced that the line was working half time, and that the trucks at the mills bad enough to keen them going for iwo weeks. Therefore those inert chants win, required immediate supplies had no course open to them hut to obtain their supplies by sea. One merchant, said that the cost of bringing his timber from Gre.vtnntilh was <i s Kid per 100 super feet, the sea freight was os. flic railage from Lytle* ton Is Bd. and insurance twopence Corning by rail from Grey-mouth, under present conditions, the cost would have been 7s ltd. He pointed out, however, that there was a sliding scale of charges. For instance timber coming from Lake Moana. which was 30 miles this side of Grey-mouth would cost less than timber coming from mills on the other side of Grey-mouth. Another merchant found that a load of timber from Hokitika cost him at least Is till per hundred feet- more than a load by sea, but on the otliei hand a load from the Lake 'Moana district cost him only •> per hundred f,. ( d. He said that more titan half his timber was coming by sea, not because lie found it any cheaper, but because it was the only way of getting immediate supplies. Quick supplies were necessary, because the building trade just now was brisk.