PORT OF PATEA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 52, 2 March 1903, Page 2

PORT OF PATEA.

LUfIOH Br OWNKU3 OF AOTEA. j IN honour of the arrival of the Aorere Company's new boa', the Aotca, a lunch was given by the Conpany at the Central Hotel. Patei, on Friday. Invitations had been issued to representative men up and down the coist, and a party of about 100 a?sembl-d in responso thereto. Mr E. O. Horner, local repntentative of 'he Company, occnp : ed the chair, Mr Nicholas Keid, of Missis W. G. Turnbull and Company, al>o being present, and prominent; positions were assigned to the Chairman of the Harbour Board, Mr Walter Synrs, IW.ET.R. the Mayors of Hawe'a and Elthaiu, Chaitman of Patea County Council, directors and managers of vjrioue dairy companies, and others. Rep'yiug to the toast of the Momb r for the District, Mr Symes congra u kted Pattaon the addition of a new and larger vessel to tha fleei trading from the port, and hop;d to see within •en yeirs vessels live or si* times a * •large as the Aotea (say of the Takapuna class) trading here. (App:nu-e ) He complimented the Harbcur Boird on its progres-iveness, and contrasted its present position with that so ne years asn, when members had to give their own joint and several to fininc-' it. He did not suppose any ha-biur board would repudiate, but certainly some of thorn were in a " so so " poji tion. He emphisised his opinion tint if the port was to bj developad as desired, the back block settlers must have attention, so that production cjuld ba increased. (Applause.) After the haakh of the M lyors of Paeea, Hawera, and Elthim had been honoured, Mo G. VV. Tayler, Mayor of Eltham, poposed tha Patea Harbour Board. He slid what h<d since been done showed waat progress could be by persistent effort, and he very heartily complimented the Board on what it had d?ne, and f-aid the Board : should be btcked up by the inland settlers and busintss p'ople. (Applaus.i.) Nearly all th's stuS imported by Eltham came through Patau, and his experience, and he believed the general expei'ieoc l , was satisfactory— I che»p rates, scarcely any losses, and very few delays. If it was rigbt for ; importer ', it followed that it mu4 be ; right for exporters. To to port did he wish a better future than to Pa!tea, and ; in conclusion ho spoke warmly o f the business capability and energy of I "he present chairman. (Applause.) i Mr J. A. McKenna, chairman of

he Board, responded, and made an in-J foresting speech showing how the trade! of the port had increased, referring toj his recently published annual report for detailed figur.s in pronf of this. The financial position of the Board, too, was satisfactory, though it had not levied a rate, and had no' power to do so. In this connection he observed that he did not believe people yet sufficently appreciated the value of the port to carry a loin if based on a rata. However, the Board had baen able to convince Sir Joseph Ward of the ability of the Boird to beir a lem of £25,000 without a rata as security, and he took to himself part credit, for having succeeded in ihat (applause). In the course of a few weeks the first stone would ba laid of further harbour improvements in which £15,000 would ba spent, and for which they would have something like 600 fee' of p otective work (applause), and if thatgwas found insufficient to provide for the growing trade of the port, he had no doubt the Board would ba ready to promote a larger scheme, and would go on until it made Patea as a bar harbour second to none in the North Island (tppUusc). He rnterred to the remarks made in a New Plymouth paper, and s lid that they evidently thought it was time to stir, Thy fait was that even now it was cheap r to send butter a-.d wool, etc,, from Stratford and Toko via Patea than it was through New Plymouth, aud that applied also to inward cargo. Referring to other matters he offered his congratulations that the old j ml--1 uay betwasn Hawora and Pate* had died out, and that Hawera members had assisted Patea in getting it? Bill through. Pats; recognised that the larger Hiwera grew the better it would be for Patea. The object of the Board was to gac boats away regulatly. The new works would contribute to that materially, aud he expressed a strong hope that the in-urance companies in view of the work the Board was doing would be a little more liberal in their treatment of owners. He congratulated the company on putting so fine a boat into the trade in the face of the res'rictions of the insurance companies ind hoped their vessel would hive a successful career a": Patea for many years. (App'ause). Mr Bobbins, mayor of Hawara, propose i the " Aorere Company." Mr Nicholas Reid, who was very warmly received, gave a history of the various companies and boats which had been engaged in the trade, and showed how the freight had since 1878 dropped from 40s per ton to 30s, then to 20s, and to 15s, 12-i 6d, until io now stands at 10s, while the reduction in outward freight had b ;en as severe, and passenger r-ites had also come down in proportion. The volume of trade had expanded very considerably, but the abse'cca of return cargo in th i winter months made running during that period unprofitable, while the increase j in the cost of coal, wage*, victualling, j insurance against tho Workers' Compensation and Employers Liability Acts, mide a serious drain on r -ceiots. The new boat could carry up to 150 tons general cargo. She was not insulated, because the promise of trade mide to the company by the Refrigerating Company had not been fulfilled, though he had helped" m iterially in getting Patea made a grading port. There h;\d baen unfortunate delays, but bo detailed causos to show that the iault did not rtst with his company. Mo calkd atteution to insufficient wharfage accommodation now that tiier.i were four steamers in the trade, aud he hoped that the protective work and conveniences spokin of by the chairmau as abiut to be commenced would be elective, He might say that at prfseat tho opinion of the Underwriters' Association surveyor was that the two new boats were ahead of the protective work-', and the Association was refusing to cover the Patea risk "Xoep"; for total loss, Impressing upon his hearers the need for harbour improvement, ha added it was a matter of groat importttnee, as the prodncer would always obtain tho highest price for his prcduco at the port that has tin boss shipping faciMep, and the con wine;' of imported goods would naturally buy at leist co.it. A number of other toasts were dealt with aud the gathering broke up with cheers for Mr it j-ud and the Aorere Company. [Condensed from Hawora jSSJr»'.]