CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 197, 22 May 1914, Page 1

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Annual Meeting of

Members.

The annual meeting r,f the PukeI kohe Chamber of Commerce w?s held ! in the thorough Council Chambers on Monday evening; presort-Messrs R. F. Webster (president), LI. H. Andrew, J. Grant, 11. Dell, H. E. Smith, J. Patterson, F. Perk in?, G. Sutton, W. Townson, J. l'ilkington pnd VV. Lusher. THE ANNUAL REPORT.

The hon. secretary, Mr Andrew, read the annual report and balancesheet;—

"Since our last annual meeting some fcood work has been done by the Chamber of Commerce, and members have every reason to be proud of the achievements that have been attained. At the same time there is still a lot to ba done, and the incoming committee will lis ve plenty of work before them. "The most important concession

that we have yet iittiined has been in gutting the Wei I i gton express to stop here on Sundays. Ujj to this time we had no Sunday service between Puktkohe and Auckland, and although the momir.g expiess leaves at an inconvenient hour, it is better than no train at all, The Railway Department tried to debar passengers from using this

train between I'ukckohe at;cl Auckland, but thanks to the valuable assistance ot MrjMasssy we were able to have this restriction removed. It should be the policy cf the Chamber riot to let this matter rest until the Department provide for every express to stop at thin station daily.

"An effort was made last season to have tbe Sunday milk train service extended to Pukekohe, and for this purpose Mr Sutton represented this Chamber 011 a deputation which went to Wellington to interview the authorities. The request was turned down 011 this occasion, but the matter should be kept steadily in view, as it is only <•: matter of time when the Department will have to agree to extending the milk services to enable the Auckland supply to be maintainfd. A good deal of opposition was made against the extension to Pukekohe by the Auckland Farmer*' Milk Supply Co., who evidently wish to deveolou a big monopoly In the milk business. "At the request of this Chamber the Railway Department have placed a lamp at the East Etreet entrance to the station. Thia a great convenience to the public in the winter time

"Another niHtccr that was taken | in hand was i'-.e <|Ui.-ti m of sp. tiling I up the mid-day train fiom Auckland, land with the assistance of The

vjrinus i;.t rested local bodies this [object has been achieved. I'his train r.o.v leaves Auckland half-an-hour later and reaches I'ukekohe an hour earlier- a big saving in time. "A considerable amount nt correspondence has taken place in reg&rd to ilie railway fares between Pukekohe and Auckland. In order to find out if the Department are overcharging we have written asking for the distance between these two stations, tut strange to say the officials have absolutely declined to state the distance.

"The Railway Department locked the gat? at the northern outlet to JVlanukau road from the station. A string pretest was mail a by this Chamber and shortly afterwards the road was re-opened. "During this summer an attempt was made by the Railway Department to run the Rotorua express through Pultekohe without stopping. A very emphatic protest was made against this innovation and again Mr Massey came to the rescue arc! with his assistance we secured the slopping of this train daily at I'ukekohe.

"An objection was lodged against the unsatistactory way in which railway lares are charged between Auckland and Simons south of Papakura, whereby Waikato travellers have to p3y Is 'l\ more than Papakura residents for a ceeond-class ride between Papakura and Auckland. The Department refuse to remedy the matter, so that we can only advise £.ll residents when going to Auckland to take a return lidtct t) Manurewa and then get a further return frem Manurewa to Auckiad from the guard. J his shows a cor.si lerable saving. '"hi February Mr Massey visited the district and the president, secretary and Mr Perkins, vice-president, were appointed to wait oa him in regard to various matters, including tiie question of making Pukekohe the jiinrticn of the Waiuku railway, Mr Massey advised that bethought that this would be the junction and lie promieed to advise later. l : p to the present this advice has rot come to hand, so the secretary has written reminding Mr Massey that we are awaiting his reply. "We have suggested to the Borough Council the advisability of offering the water to the Hallway Department at a reduced price so that all expresses could make this a watering station. This suggestion was receptee! aid th ■■ Borough Council aie now connecting up the supply to a set of tanks that the Department have erected for the purpose. The price agreed on was Is per 10UO gallons. "Post and tclc-graph matters have received a good deal of attention ar.ii several important concessions have beet) granted. Wc have arrarged with the Department to send cut a mail from Auckland by the 12 i? 0 p.in tiain each cla>*, also for the receiving if lata' lett'.rs at this ollice for letters going to Auckland by the mid-day anil evening trains.

"lie inf.tic<|u;ile r.rt vmade I'.ir ti.e delivery cf letters in i ekekehe has been brrugbt u.d-.r t e notice of the official:', and an early

step is b.ing taken by the D.part ment to remedy the matter.

j "A vcy serious nutter that lias come t" light recently is the fact | that htt.'n are •nt i::ing promptly delivered in Auckland. beveral m-tances id' this rort have b;tn brought under the m.tice of the p.st- | master, and we have also asked the Postmaster-Gei crni ti itijuire into the matter and we trust that local business firms will hive no fritter cause for under this heading in the luiutv. "We were again able to arrange fcr the ttlegraph office to be oocned during the produce season between th. hours of 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. " 1 liis yesr, in response t) representations made by the various Chambers between Cambridge and I'ukekohe, direct telephone comniuni cation ha 3 been, made between i'ukekohe and the other nsin Waikato towns. Previous to this we had to get connection through Auckland and pay according to ihe mileage of wire used. The new arrangemei t therefore means a reductien of ''• 0 miles thus all'ectiiisj a great saving in cost. With the assistance of

Mr Massey we have secured an addition:; ! 'phor.e circuit between I'ukekohe aid Auckhnl, :irul this should bo installed before M:c busy scaron com s iru.id again. Our tt Icphonc exchange is gradual'** exteneing, and we hope before 'he erd of the year to see IO'J subscribers on the list. r iliia will Ljive U3 a decidedly improved servie.\ "Potato gradi; g las again come

forward, and in order t. j assi-t bc>th sides we lixed a standard f r the various grades ant] had same wci. aoverti-~ed. Although there has (i etn a decid-.d improvement th grading sircu this Chamber lirst interested its: If in the matter, the posi lion u etill unsatisfactory, and i" would seem r.s if the only solution ot this problem will tie the appointment if a Government grader, ihe question i- a most important one to the farmers ol' this district, and it rr.av be advisable to again ci.ll them together at d see whether they can oiler any suggestions to improve matters. ' Ilie Technical School has made a start and ahheugi: up to the present the classes have not been attended as well as they deserve, we thii k that in a shott lime this will he me ot the most popular in.-titutioris in th; 1 town. The classes wart to be better idvertised. The furnishing ol a la'jo.'atoiy for the purpese of teaching agricultural science is a nu st important step and it is to be hoped that the farmers will avail themselves: of the valuable knowledge that new awaits tlio:r. at their very c;o);s. 1 ast jear Mr lownguii represented this Chamber on the Techni al t!o.;rd and fur the earning ye-u Mr Andrew Ins been a ppointed. "We have brioght under the nutice of the a'jclio.'.ecrs the .|uettion of paying cut the proceeds of local -sales with cheques that will be free of exchange. The various firms are row giving the matter their consideration. "We h-ve made an application fur the reduction of the insurance rates which are still as high as before the water supply was laid on. the underwriters have refused to make any concessions, as they consider our fire t rigade cpiipnunt to I t inadequate. The h'orough Council row propose to raise a loan id' i'TOih which if propelly expended should give us some relief from insurance rtos. "Great ciiliculty was being ex- ! perienccd by farmers in getting j labour to harvest their imps owing t.) the natives being debarre ! frem coining •ouch of Mere.r owing to the smali-jiox epidemic. We made representations u the Government and arrjilted with tluni to extend the boundaries to I'aerata. Jn this matter we are acting in conjunction with the Fanners' I'nioii.