MEETING OF MERCHANTS AND OTHERS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 548, 2 February 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

MEETING OF MERCHANTS AND OTHERS.

There were upwards of thirty merchants j . u „l others present at, the meeting held i ' v , <tc.dav afternoon at the Criterion Hotel ! " ril .lisi-ii.-s the difficulties that are likely to | |i(v: .,. ;., the transportation and shipping '■ tli ~p,,luce in consequence "f the paucity „f railway trucks. ; Mr. Clowes having declined to take the : chair, his Worship the Mayor presided. | ;;,„! railed upon Mr. Sumpter to open the , ..p.Cei'llitlgS. ; Mr. Sunipt'T said that he had not a-i'i- ! ( .i,',.'it.,'d being called upon at so early a : f . r „. ef the meeting to make any iv- ■ ' ',,.]. s |,ut he hail no objection to say a j f ,'v words on the subject. He presumed j ,':,.,', „iost of the merchants and gentle- i ~',,'n present, had. like himself, suffered j ;„ ~,'n.equcnco of the difliculties which ! H,ev l.ad met to consider. He might men- j • i,,n that several merchants and others had | i,„.n talking ov.-r the matter at different f i,„, . with him, and finally he inconjuneti,„, with "fliers had thought it desirable t,. meet t.."ether to consider the question, with other matters, as to affording better ,1,.,-1,-ifch for vessels trading here. It was r1•..,/--tifc advisable to ask those who were ~. .-irtps more directly interested to meet ]',,■<• -uiil discuss the matter, and then take „„','.],' steps as might bo considered avisable t„ forward the object in view, either by ~„,venit,g a public meeting or taking such „Hier means as might be deemed nccessarv to bring the matter under the nott.- • ~f the proper authorities. Jt had been [7 sT-'esfed in some quarters, that obsr.-e-te, j • mh'hfc he placed in the way as to sp -eily \ ..hinn.eiik. &c. at this port, tliat othei" ~1,,,.s should be more favoured, and | U.v traffic secured for the railway, ~iil. t l,e did not himself think that such ..-.ill t L }„. the case. One thing, however, was « unite apparent, that some concerted ■ .'..fion should lie taken, otherwise, owing "„, the- absence of trucks and want ot despatch. They ran great risk of losing a ~,i,Mi,lerable portion of their trade, [t not be out of place for him to men- ; rion that he was aware that the Harbour i;,,,,,i had used every effort to obtam ! more trucks. He noticed that eonvspoml- 1 .., n this subject was opened up as en-Ivan November. IS7»'. : re.piests were , M .„ie repeatedly since, but still there was ,„, improvement in this particular, al.Ja.iedi in December last the Hoard was ■\ cin promised that Government intended j f -*,..'itriug several hiindrnl more truel,s_ 0:1 ; 'the various lines, within the next tour j tnontiis. It was well-known the | s'lntilv of trucks lastyearwasb?(ie;:o:;g,i. ; l.n't'what it would be this, unless _ u.im.-- | ,liate ste[is were taken, he won id leave 1 these present to judge. It believed n>\ ! ..f us in the interest of the town and •->!-.- 1 I trict to take protn[»t measures, _ an 1 he hoped that those present would, dis.-uss tlie ■ liiestii.n in a friendly spirit and take nrm { and united action. He might metuion ; that he had collected some facts in connection with the shipping question, mat la- would, if desired, bring under tie- ! notice of the meeting latter on. but as he | presumed other gentlemen had also cme prepared to place matters before the meeting for consideration, he would say no more at present, except again to remark that after all the expenditure at tr.e Harbour Works and the care that had l,rii taken bv the Hoard to grant every faeilitv on the breakwater line, it would It a disgrace to us if we quietly let olirsi'lv. s be deprived of these advantages by wiuit of watchfulness or inaction. Mr. Dimlop wished to know whether Mr. Shrimski could not, as one of_ the members for the district, give some indication of the intentions of the Government with regard to the supply of waggons. Mr. Nhrtniski explained that last session, having received a communication from the Harbour Hoard, he waited on the Minister for Public Works. Theresuit was that Mr. Ormotul promised that a large number of trucks should be placed en tin- Oamarii lines. He appealed to the ' Chairman, ns a late member, whether that was net alt a member could do. _ The - question at issue was one that affected everybody in the community, and not merchants onlv. H- suggested that a public meeting"should be called to discuss the question, and stated that he-, and he thought that he might say his colleague. i would be glad to do all in their power to Jean -ve the interests of the people in the IT-latter. Mr. Dunlop remarked that, as the traffic manager. Mr. Smith, was present, he would like that gentleman to state whether he had asked for any more trucks. or whether he was content with whatever quantity was sent to him. Mr. Shrimski said that no person had any right to ask Mr. Smith such questions. Mr. Conneli said that .Mr. Smith ha 1 no business to be present except for the nirpose of affording information. Perhaps he had attended to prevent other gentlemen from speaking their minds freely. Mr. Smith said that he had as much right to In' present at the meeting as any other individual. That he was there as Mr. Smith, and not as Traffic Manager. and therefore could aot speak in behalf of the District TratKo Manager. Mr. (hdbraith said that he was credibly iriformed that Mr. Smith had attended the meeting for the purpose of holding their firm up as an example for retaining waggons, and read several e> tracts from a <;, letter revived that day from the District Traffic Manager by the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Association, in reference to the discharge of the coals ex Cian-oii. in which the Trafiic Manager stated that he had only two drays at work discharging the trucks of coal from the

vessel On previous occasions lie had had -six rtr.ivs and men awaiting the arrival of trucks, but thev rtirt not seem to think fit to forward two or three waggons as thev «vrp loaded, hut allowert an accumu-1-tiT.ti of U> »i- 12. anrt rushed them upon him so as fo render it impossible to unload them at once. ~.,,, Mr Dunlop was pleased that All. Smith wa-i i.ivsei.t, if tin- trafiic manager wis nor. as'he had several statements to ti,rrk.> winch might have displeased that ..'licet! : but in> would express his views fear!e?s*!v, notwithstanding the presence •«f Mr. Smith, as he was convinced that time was gio.-s mismanagement somewhere, ami i f . sdn.uhl bis the business of the meeting to discover who was at fault. Mi-. t'onti-ii said that he would like to propose that a deputation should wait „„„„ the Hon. -Mr. L'.rnach and seek an inquiry int.. the conduct of the officials here, as sufhehnr curtesy was not shown tin- eiiblie bv the vaiiwav officials. It appeared to him as though the public were i]u- s-rvantsof the officials, and bethought that thev ought to be taught thai Hi.' reverse was the case. He stated that hi* had been treated with discourtesy by Mr. Smith and .Mr. Hay, the storeman. "V,-. T. 11. Brown s:tid that everyhody wott'ld ho aivare that public officials had a -rear deal to contend with, and could iec always show a smiling countenance. }h- had'alwavs wet with' the greatest amount -•? .-.ilrtosv fn>m Mr. Smith and all officials connected with the railway department. ' Mr. C ti. ."'[....re said that he had no | complaint to mike of the conduct of raili way officials, who were but human. He I nsk.d Mr. Smith.several questions relative I to the rolling stock : but Mr. Smith de- ' .-'itu'd to answer them, and said that lie [ ,!!•! not know. Mr. Lawson had informed I him that about 170 additional trucks I would be br..tf_''it into use. I'nless somethlr." were ■inicklv 'ione the result would be very •::-•. ' The yield of grain was enormous this season. From two stations alone there would be about i'; 00 tons, and that Messrs Lees and Moore had VMy lcr ,.s (,-' very heavy crop. This would ail be in exce.-.s'nf List year.

Mr. Dtmiop said that, as about 2,l>\ broad-gi.iige waggons, formerly used on the ChrisTeiiiiroii-Amberley line, had, owing f" the alteration of {he gauge, been sent to the <'".iristchim;h-Lyttelfoii iine, some spare narrow-gauge trucks ought to procurable fiv.m the latter to remove the lie thought that, before appointing .-• deputation to wait upon (lie Hon. }?!•. la.rnai-h, Mr. Smith should be deputatioitised. He moved thnfadepute.r'iou be appointed to waif upon 3lr. Smith, for lie- purpose of eliciting infor-iriaH.-n. and that the meeting adjourn for h.-df-an-hotir. to receive their report. Mr. Conneli objected to lowering themselves bv adjourning the meeting for the tmi-pose' of enabling Mr. Smith, who was present as a private individual, to turn himself in- o the Assistant Traffic Manager just l-o-tnd th.e corner, although he for '..ne- would like to see th.e operation performed. Mr. Sutnpfer here pointed out how serious tht? matter was that was in w under consideration. He thought that the first object should be to show that tin-re was something very unsatisfactory as regards the detention of vessels, and then, if possible, to lind out. where the fault was. Unless steps were taken to give vessels more despatch, the result would be that either we should have vessels refusing to come here or demanding such a rare of freight as would prevent the merchants eor.rpeting on equal terms with other places. He b.und, merely as regards vessels for which he was agent, the following facts :—•' The Seagull, 121 tons, was recently no less than !> days loading ; and on another trip, loading and discharging. I'-' : the Transit, 88 tons, loading "and discharging, lo days ; the heebie!, i'U"> !i days loading 103 tons: the Uhodtrick Dhu, Hi:! tons, loading ami discharging, Hi days : the Transit, again. loading and discharging, 10 daws : the Rho.leiick Dim, again, loading only. 12 days : the Josephine, Oi'i tons, loading and discharging, 0 days ; and the Annie". 201 tons, now in port, had been here lo days, and had discharged, but was not loaded yet.' This was a matter that affected every individual in the place- : for, of course, if a vessel were lying in th.e Port when it ought to be oil its voyage, provision must be/niade by an extra charge in freight, and. of course, ihis indirectly would have to be borne by the community. He then alluded to the terms on which the working of the Harbour line had been handed over to the Government, showing that it had been stipulated that every facility shoiild be given for the shipping, night i-.rdav. He feared that it would be impossible to get a sufficient number of trucks in time, for the. grain season, and thought that in that case the railway should arrange to work night and day with relays of men, whenever necessary and practicable. Mr. Aitken suggested that the I.reak- : water road should bo improved, so as to admit of drav trafiic. Messrs. Sumpter, Moore, T. H. Brown. Piul ihe Mayor, were appointed to wait upon the Traffic Manager, to obtain information as to the number of trucks available for the different lines and other nccessarv data, and that the Mayor be requested to conveneapublie meeting to take the matter of railway and shipping facill-

tics into consideration. Mr. Conneli asked, in the event of Mr. Smith refusing ihe information, what was to be done. Mr. Sumpter thought it might be left to Mr. Smith's discretion whether he replied or not. Mr. Evans moved— That this meeting is of opinion that the i>arbor Hoard should urge most strongly upon the railway department (according to

agreement entered into when the department turned the control of the Breakwater line) tfienccessity for providing sufficient trucks for the Port traffic ; or that the Board should, independent of the Kail-way Department, provide such other means as shall meet the requirements of the town and port, either by re-assuming the control of the line or by opening the road to the Breakwater. It, was thought this resolution would be more in place .at the public meeting. Messrs. Sumpter, Maude, and Dunlop were appointed to draught the resolution for the meeting to be held on Monday. The Chairman thought the Union Comnany was to be blamed for making the same charge for freight in the cases of Timarn ami Oamaru, although the former was double the distance from Dunedin. Mr. Aitken slated in reply that the port charges at Oamaru were far in excess of those charged at Timarn ; and that the Company paid wharf dues for the Waitaki in*Oamaru abmt LGOO a year, m addition to the ordinary harbour dues. A vote of thanlfs to the Chair concluded the proceedings.