TARANAKI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 293, 5 December 1908, Page 5

TARANAKI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

The quarterly meeting of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce was lield liisL "'•oiling Mr. W. .1. 1V,,,,. vice-president, occupied the chair, in the „!„,.,„.,. of „,,' k , I t :" , '- Ul - T -l'-*linaekenberg. k i-MI-.SMU. |.,„.- r UXI , nLU r, ;)IS Hie mutter of il„. e\cos,ivc trt-i-iit " charge, 1,,., „„,, A , u - ~, „„, - the breakwater came up for dU-u-,io„. > ,• "', t ; I,a "', 1 " an " ilill ll i''e council -01. the Uiambor had deputed Mr Vwtuii •J Kiiif.' to act wiili .\|,-. .1 Ji Convcii ;j chairman of the Harbor Hoard,!., Illllk .' «S representation., t „ ti,,. h1 .. 11U ol - Ul . 'V, .I'"'!' 1 ll l>"" this matter. Al that time tl„. (_„„„,il l,ad no know-i-iige <)t tlie actual position <>f the Cnristchureh-L.vttcltou port line .Now I'ic.V knew that there the charges had I'WH much the same as here, and now in response to the representations of the tanteroury Chamber of Commerce, the charges for light goods had been reduced so that they would not be charged on more than double the actual wci.°,t instead of often six times the weight! as . formerly. Over twentj years «go° regu- ' httions were gazetted to reduce these

charges, but apparently it had been over looked except iu the case of the Bluff Invercargill line-, where all this tiuu t;iey had been working under the amended tanll. It was upo„ this bein» discovered that the action of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce was again taken. This overcharge on the Xew IPlymoutb port line had been brought under [ tue notice of the railway authorities upon times without number, and the reply had always beeu the same—that the Department could make au exception m favor of Xew Plymouth. It nowappeared that the Bluff-liivercargill section had enjoyed concessions for twenty years, and Christchurch was to be similarly treated, so the time seemed opportune for this Chamber to approach the

Government again, lie moved, "Tliat this Chamber again directs the attention of the Minister of Railways to the excessive charges upon goods carried between the breakwater and Xew Plymouth,, especially upon verv light goods, which are charged according to steamer's hill of lading by measurement, and re- ! spectfully requests that the same concession be made in this respect as has lately been made o n the ChristehurehLyttelton line. Further, that this general meeting confirms the actions of the council in appointing Mr. Aewton King to wait upon the Minister for Railways in respect to the matter." ilr. C. E. Baker said that twelve months or eighteen months ago he had brought this matter before the Chamber, and he had at that time produced the Blull-Invercargill tariff. The chairman said that the information then given did not reveal whether the lower rates at the Bluff were on weight or ship's measurement. Jlr. E. Griffiths seconded the motion, which was carried without dissent. THE EXPRESS SERVICE. A letter was read from the Wanganui Chamber oi Commerce inviting this Chamber to send delegate* to a conference at Wanganui to discuss the proposed alterations to the express service.

'. The chairman doubted whether the !- interests of Taranaki and Wanganui ~ were identical in this matter. Wanganui was aiming at a second daily exf press service to and from Wellington. 1 New Plymouth was already moving in v regard to the time-table re-arrangement, . and there was no reason to play second - fiddle to Wanganui s It was decided to reply that this Chamber was already moving) in the i matter, but would endeavor to be reprei sented at the conference. ; A PLEA FOK UNITY. Mr. JI. Fraser remarked that the ' Chamber was not paying due regard to the recent very important changes in p the railway .service in Taranaki. By the opening of the Main Trunk Railway 1 the stream of traffic between the Northern and Southern parts of the colony had been diverted and was passing behind us, so that we had no communication with that traffic. He thought the Chamber was wasting time ia discussing the time of arrival of the mail train and such other details when there was confronting them a question of such vast importance. Hitherto, he regretted to say, the various towns in Taranaki had pulled apart rather than together. Now they had a common trouble and a consolidated interest. And he thouglit that now the time was ripe to impress upon the whole of the province that we have got to depend upon our own resource.-, and opening up our back country, realising that we must concentrate our trade in thin port. It wan all very well to bluir and say "The loss of the passenger trallic doesn't matter.' 1 Hut it did matter, fur in losing the passenger trallic we would lose the whole of the shipping trade. His own idea was that they should hold a conference, not with Wanganui,. but with all the othc-r towns in Taranaki, in the common interest. These towns should unite in asking for the immediate completion of | the Stratford-Ongarue railway and the . connection of Opuuake with the existing '

railway system. He moved, "That llii l'liainl>er confer with the other Tara

liaki t'liaiulßTs, calling their attention to the radical change that ha-, taken place in regard to the through trallic from Auckland to the South by the .Mam Trunk l'ailway, pointing out that Tarunaki is now practically detached from the central stream of communication, and. that the time lias come for us to stand together and demand of the Government the weighty necessity for urgently pushing, on to completion the Stratford-Ougaruhe railway." It was mentioned that the Government at present was attacking the Stratford-Ongarue railway, from only this end. Mr. Kerr said that about a year ago the Auckland Chamber of Commerce asked this Chamber to support them in an application to have this work commenced from the Ongarue end. That was, of course, in Auckland's interests. There was a movement to have the junction with the main line made somewhere near Te.Kuiti instead of at Ongarue. That would not be in the interests of Taranaki. Auckland was already connected with Mangavoa by a road from Ongarue. and the result wa« that the trade from that fertile area of country was «oin.r to Auckland. If should come here, C f<ir'the New Plymouth harbor was its natural outlet. He considered a vigorous roadiug policy was of paramount importance, and the province must show an united front. The chairman doubted whether this was the proper time to move in this matter. It would be better to leave it until somewhere about the time tor openin" Parliament. Then the whole of the Taunaki local authorities, with the five Taranaki M;P.'s. oonkl confer and devise some definite policy which would obtain the support of the entire province.

' Mr. Shaw a»i'eed. . Mr V.. (irilliths cordially supported Mr Fraser's remarks, and instanced the -access of a similar movement 111 Marlborough. . Mr Frascr said he had no desue to nres« the motion, but he did not wish the matter to he lost sight of. Vpon the suggestion of the chairman, Mr. Fraser «ave notice to move 111 this matter at the next quarterly meeting. UAI.I'-HOLIDAVS. Mr K. <irilliths gave notice to move ,;,l next meeting in the directum '.t5e-,,,,-ing a uniform weekly hal>-holula> j throughout Taranaki.