ThE Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7th, 1916. THE PORT OF WANGANUI.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 160, 7 September 1916, Page 4

ThE Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7th, 1916. THE PORT OF WANGANUI.

(With which is incorporated The Tal hap« Post and Waimarino News.)

It is notorious, and has been so for a long time, that there is delay in the despatch of goods that are sent from Wellington to Taihape via Wanganui. There is nothing fanciful about this statement because it has been demonstrated time after time, leaving no pos sible shadow of doubt.. Nor is the despatch of goods the only instance of 'Wanganui delay. It is quite the rule for press telegrams to be held up in that town for from one and a hair hours to three hours. Telegrams that have been raised in cost by one hundred per cent arrive in a bunch quite too late to be of any value, as our newspaper is on the press very frequently before they come to hand. Wanganui seems to take a fiendish ce Rgiit 'in storing these press wires up till after our sub-editor goes to his lunch at one o’clock, then along they come and he finds on his return a heap of wires that have to be paid dearly for but cannot be utilised. However, this is by the way, newspapers are not supposed to ventilate their own troubles. What we desire to emphasise is that it is to the advantage of Wanganui to cultivate its connection with as large an area of hinterland as , practicable; it is also in the best interests of a place like Taihape to have a port as conveniently situated as possible. Wanganui must agitate and organise until it is certain that goods can be delivered as quickly and cheaply as they can from the port of Wellington, or

any other port. Business men in Wanganui, of course, know all about this, but are they giving that supervision that will ensure what they regard as imperative being done in a general way? A complaint in this connection was recently made that should have been unnecessary The Wanganui Chamber of Commerce took prompt action, realising the importance.-of pre venting the continuance of any condition like ly to injure the place as a port. The matter as reported in the Wanganui newspapers was a distinct insult to the firm that drew attention to the delay. Surely, Wanganui is not taking up methods that are practised by the most unscrupulous money-grab-bing exploiters of mankind in general. The report harps upon what was “alleged” as though there were any doubts about the veracity or bona fides of the firm. We can personally affirm the truth of the complaint from a general viewpont, as we have had paper sent via Wanganui, and while it was lying there or somewhere else between the date it was received at Wellington by the Wanganui boat and the time it was despatched to us from Wanganui we have wired to Wellington for a bale of paper to be sent by rail to prevent a break in publication. If this case is not sufficiently convincing, there is another we can vouch for the truth of. Some goods were despatched via Wanganui to Westport by a local carrier for a publie institution; the goods were delivered safely and the consignors were duly paid for them, but strange to say the authorities at Wanganui wrote to the Taihape despatcher as late as two months after wards declaring that the goods had not been received in Wanganui, and that they could not have arrived there. The Taihape man could not be bothered, and simply ignored the letter. With respect to the present case, it is reported that the Railway Department informed the Chamber of Commerce there was no avoidable delay, and it commences its reply in setting up a false position. The Taihape firm did not state the “Breeze” arrived on the 20th. This is quite obvious from the copy of the letter sent. The facts ,of the matter are, the “Breeze” arrived on the morning of the 25th at Wanganui, and the goods had not arrived at Taihape at the close of the business day on the 30th. In fact, they arrived, it is ascertained, by a late train some time during, the night. Who is right and who is wrong matters very little, but what is of importance is that if Taihape is to have a convenient port and Wanganui is to serve a large, increasingly' growing hinterland, goods must not be held for five days before being despatched. We have no object other than to help on the development of a something that is going to be mutually beneficial to both Wanganui and our own district. We are of opinion that the Wan ganui Chamber of Commerce will be rendering its port a better service by making more perfect the organisation for prompt despatch, and so retaining territory that is already an enormous sender and receiver of merchandise, than in looking' for new territory from whence the demand is infinitesimal in comparison. Wanganui is in the position of rapidly becoming the port of the whole of this territory; if it‘fails it can have no one to blame.