The Patea Mail. PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1877.

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 273, 24 November 1877, Page 2

The Patea Mail. PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1877.

The s.s. Waitara made an experimental trip to Patea at the beginning of the present week, and brought from New Plymouth a cargo of flour, the quality of which made up into bread has been pronounced good. A very general wish has been expressed that the steamer may again be induced to visit Patea. Mr William Dale may claim the honor of having been the means of inducing the vessel" to come this way. The trip altogether must have been a paying one, as not only was a quick run made (which means profit), but a haul in the shape of towage fees was also made by the skipper of the steamer, as he was commissioned, and successfully towed into the river, two timber-laden vessels, which had been hanging about for an opportunity to enter, in one case for about six weeks. The towing in of these vessels proved a great convenience to the whole district, as carpenters in every direction were at a complete standstill for want of timber. In spite of want of cordiality with New Plymouth people and ideas, on the part of many residents in Patea County, they are not blind to the advantages which would accrue to themselves, if better facilities for carriage of produce and merchandise existed between the two places. It is on the grounds of mutual interest that Now Plymouth people on the one hand, and Patea people on the other, are so anxious to have the Mountain Road opera'd for traffic. Auckland is generally looked upon as a cheaper market for buyers than Wellington, and if some less expensive and less circuitous line of communication could be opened up, much of the trade would go that way. A letter from Major Atkinson in another column explains the present position of the Mountain Road question. The work may be quickly done, or it may remain another year or two hooked up as it were—of no use for mercantile purposes. As Major Atkinson points out —steady progress is being made in the matter. Just about sufficient to keep hope alive. Certainly, within the course of a year or so, by some means or other, the road will be made trafficable. In view of this possible ready and cheap medium of communication with Auckland via New Plymouth, it may be worth while at once to try and encourage trading in a small way by means of the handy little steamer which this week made its first appearance in Patea River. The p.s. Hauraki is trading regularly between Manukau and Waitara. We believe it wofdd be no hard matter to induce the owners of the s.s. Waitara to lay their vessel on for an occasional trip to this port, as a sort of trial—just to see if it could not be made mutually advantageous from a trading point of view. Cargo could be iransfered from the p.s. Hauraki at Waitara, and passed on to Patea without loss of time, by means of the s.s. Waitara. If only a few leading tradesmen in Patea County, who deal with Auckland merchants, would resolve to give this route a trial, and order their goods to be sent via Waitara, there is no doubt but what the Messrs Webster, owners of the s.s. Waitara, would willingly agree to such rates of freight as would suit importers at this end. Occasional towage fees for bringing in timber laden vessels would help to lighten the ordinary running expenses and consequently be an inducement to low rates for freight. For the matter of that, now that the Inglewood saw mills are in direct communication by rail with Waitara, it might pay to rnn timber occasionally. With the certainty, in comparatively short time, of a trafficable line of road between Patea and New Plymouth, and considering saving in expense and time which would result by opening trade that way, we think the suggestion here made is, worth serious consideration. Interchange of personal visits and goods will land to ft better understanding, and therefore to mutual benefit, and we think advantage should he taken of opportunity which now appears to have presented to soften asperities by fostering trade. Considering that Government has been doing but little in this district of late, and that Major Atkinson was timorous of introducing borrowing powers into the Amended Harbor Bill, to allow of works being executed promptly, and so placing the district on an equal footing with other places, we think it would not be going too far to ask that a sum of £3OO might be placed on the Supplementary Estimates, as a subsidy to any steamer paying say fortnightly visits to Patea. In granting a subsidy it would be necessary to stipulate as to towage rates—that for small sailing vessels the charge should not exceed £5. With the certainty of getting towed over the Patea bar, in reasonable time, and at moderate cost, which the regulai visits of a subsidised steamer would ensure, owners of small ’ craft would be less chary of laying their : vessels on for this port. Freight and insurance charges would as a consequence be lowered, and thus an immense impetus would be given to trade, and to the development of industries. If a subsidy could be secured, tenders might be called, when it is not unlikely companies owning : suitable vessels, trading between Auck-

land and Waitara, and Wanganui, Nelson, and Wellington, would secure the contract, and thss the district would be in direct communication with all the leading markets of the Colony. We trust some good may arise from the late visit :>f the s.s. Waitara.