FOXTON HARBOUR.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2704, 6 March 1924, Page 2

FOXTON HARBOUR.

COAL TRADE WANTED

RAILWAY DEPARTMENT ASKED

TO CALL TENDERS.

A deputation comprising Mr J. Linklater, AT.P., (chairman of tha Eoxton Harbour Board, and representative of trie Foxfon Borough Council and Chamber of Commerce, the Levin Borough Council and Chamber of Commerce and the Kairanga County Council), Mr •). A. Nash, M P. (member of the Foxton Harbour Board), and Mr E. 11. Crabb (Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce) wailed on Tuesday afternoon at Wellington upon the Hon. J. 0. Coates (Minister for Railways), Mr R. W. McVill.v (general manager of railways) was present with the Minister. Apologies for unavoidable absence were received from the chairman of the Kairanga County Council and the Mayor of Eoxton.

Mr Linklater >aid that the question they wanted to put before the Minister was that of bringing coal through tiie port of Eoxton. When the department owned the Eoxton wharf a great deal of coal went through the port. From April Ist, 190!), to February 28fch, 1910, for example, 15,000 tons of coal went through Eoxton and in the next 10 months some 10000 tons went through; but gradually the coal trade had diminished, until to-day no coal was coming through the port of Eoxton. If it paid in 1909 and 1910 (o convey coal through the port, surely it should be a business proposition to get it. through to-day; and what they asked the Government to do was to call tenders for the delivery of coal for the Railway Department for its up-country coal depots through Eoxton port, so as to make it worth while for a coal steamer (o trade between Eoxton and Westport. WOULD MEAN CHEAPER COA)

The boroughs of Palmerston Nor!h, Eoxton, and Levin would then get cheaper coal, as also would the dairy factories and other industrial concerns in the district; while the Eoxton-Palmerston North railwav, which was at present doing very little business, would be a very much busier line and the congestion now so obvious on the Main Trunk line between Wellington and Palmerston North would be relieved. MrT'rabb, wlio apologised for the absence, through illness, of Mr TI. L. Young (chairman of the Palmerston N. Chamber of Commerce) endorsed all that Mr Linklater had said. INSTANCES OF ECONOMIES. Mr Nash remarked that only one boat, the Kennedy, had been running Ur Foxton hut last week another had appeared on the scene, and another .-t earner was being built for the Eoxton trade. The Eoxton gas works recently got a shipment of coal direct to Eoxton and thereby saved ,C(i0: so what could not Palmerston North save on the large (inanities of coal it used. At present Palmerston North got coal through Wellington.

Tlie Minister: Don’t you think you me putting ti very silly proposition to the Minister for Railways? Of what interest is it to me? Mr Nash replied that the Prpne Minister had said that if people could got goods cheaper by motor truck or in any other way than by railway, they were entitled to do so. Hut he could quite understand the Minister’s point of view. Mr Linklater: Tt would make the other line pay. The Minister: If you were Minister for Railways would you rather have the 24-uxile haulage from Foxlon to Palmerston North or the SO-mile haul from Wellington to Palmerston North.

Mr Linklater: It would relieve the congestion on the Wellington-Pal-mers! on North line. The Minister: T am not aware of any congestion. "THE GOVERNMENT’S DUTY.” Mr Nash contended that it was the Government’s' duty to consider the port of Eoxlon and the people. That was what they stood for. Many people had eases of oil and other goods sent them by motor instead of by rail. The Minister: And then they claim that they should be allowed to return the empties free by rail. (Laughter). Did it mean, he asked, that the Foxton Harbour Board could not exist unless it got that traffic —unless it got Government assistance? Mr Linklater: No, we are paying oiu way now; but we want more steamers. We have only one now. “BATTLEDORE A_N T D SHUTTHECOCK” The Minister said the trouble was that they could not get sufficient suitabe coal for economical working of the railway engines from Westport, though they were trying to secure that the New Zealand mines should contract to supply sufticient coal for the railways for a period of ti months. The trouble was that the department had often been made a convenience of by the local mmes. When any trouble arose and the mines bad difficulty in supplying their other customers, they approached the department to waive their contracts to supply it; and when they had a surplus the urged the department to take more coal. iSu that the department was to some extent made a battledore and shuttlecock of iu that way. Only the other day a similar situation occurred. INQUIRY SUGGESTED.

Since then, however 1 , the department hud suggested to the coalmine owners that they should appoint a man they had absolute ooniideuce

in and who understood the coal trade, and that the department should also appoint a representative and that these two men should go ino the whole position. The department would give them all its figures and the mine owners should do the same; and they could then go into the situation thoroughly, and see if they could get over any of the difficulties in regard to providing sufficient supplies of suitable coal for the department, the economic effect of Dio coal on the railway engines and all that soil of thing. The general manager ami he iiad discussed tin- matter, and had agreed to that inquiry being made. The point was whether they could regulate the amount of coat to lie supplied by llie New Zealand mines to the railways from one years end to another. Mr Nash: Will you also consider the question whether the department will carry the coal through Eoxton to ihe inland depots'? GENERAL MANAGER’S VIEWS. Mr MeYilly asked whether it was likely that the department would haul coal from Wellington over the hills to Palmerston North if they could get it via Foxton in sufficient quantities to keep them going? The department’s experience was that it was not possible to get ships to Eoxton. Purely from the point of view of railway economics it was cheaper to haul from Foxton to Palmerston North than from Wellington or Wanganui; but the department did haul the coal from Wellington because of the fact that it could not- get a regular supply by boat through Foxton. At the present time he did not know of any one single coal boat that could go into Foxton harbour. DEFINITE CONTRACTS.

Mr Crabb: Then, will you leave it open for the people to tender for the supply of coal through Foxton, if they like"? The Minister: There is no difficulty about that. It was. however, he added, no encouragement to the Government to cater for New Zealand supplies, when, if there was a shortage of coal, the railway department was asked to go without and if there was a surplus it was asked to take more coal. But the department would try to get over that. If those concerned would make hard and fast contracts, the department would consider it. But, so far, the department had never got anything like enough New Zealand coal for its requirements. It must have regular supplies of coal.