NEW PLYMOUTH'S OPPORTUNITY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 158, 21 November 1912, Page 4

NEW PLYMOUTH'S OPPORTUNITY.

In writing as we have we do not wish, to convey the impression that the New' Pfymouth shipping service is all that could be desired. As a.'matter of fact, there is plenty of room for improvement. The' service is irregular and unsatisfactory, hampers the development of the port and town, and causes 110 end of exasperation at times to traders throughout the province. On an average we get about a couple of boats weekly from the south, but their sailings from Wellington and arrival at New Plymouth cannot always be depended upon. Cargo is occasionally missed at Wellington, and sometimes New Plymouth cargo is carried past the port. The Union Company no doubt do their l>Qst for shippers, but they have other places to consider as well as New Plymouth, and their services are framed accordingly. Their sailing time-tables are often upset through no fault of their own. What is waiited is a regular biweekly service. The Union Company re-ply that their boats are often only partly full now, and that it would not pay them to extend the service. That, no doubt, is the position. We cOiitend, however, that it would be better to put on a smaller and less expensive boat or boats. But w? recognise that if this is to be done, and the trade oi; the port fostered and developed as it should be, we as a community will have to help ourselves and not lean on outsiders who have bigger fish to fry elsewhere. We should emulate the example of our smaller neighbors, Waitara and Patea, and have our own steamships. We need not be ambitious for a start. One boat suitable for the Wellington service, and one or two smaller vessels to work the river ports, could be chartered. We have a splendid opportunity. By February the wharf lengthening will be completed, and the fairway will be deepened to such an extent as to enable the largest vessels trading to New Zealand to berth alongside the wharf at high water dn pe:fect security, whilst in eight months time they will be able to come in at low water. Even at this moment we [could accommodate -ocean liners. One thing, however, is wanted, and the Harbor Board should give it consideration at the earliest opportunity, and that is the erection of transhipment sheds. The wharf has been widened, and space for sheds is now available. Just where they should be erected is for the Board to decide, but the fact that a shed running along the centre of the wharf opposite the deep water berth would act as a wind-buffer to big steamers moored to the wharf will perhaps determine the location. With these facilities provided, goods arriving direct from Home cculd be sorted and transhipped at once to any port along this coast or the west coast of the South Island. There are difficulties' in the way of forming a local shipping company. but they are not insurmountable. In such an undertaking the support and' co-operation o? the large district, that would be served could be relied upon. It is 110 use waiting. New Plymouth has -been playing the waiting game too long already, and relying upon others to give its affairs the impetus which all admit is badly needed. We must take the initiative ourselves, be self-reliant and independent of others. Only the other day one of the largest traders in South Taranaki told us that he was thinking of "giving Patea best"—on account of the losses he had sustained through the stranding of vessels there and the uncertainty of receiving his goods—and putting all his business through New Plymouth. But the infrequencv of the present service made him hesitate. A Hawera firm, which has always used the Patea harbor, and is also in a large way of business, wrote us quite leecntly to the same effect. And we know of several similar instances. Once we have a regular bi-weekly service to and from Wellington, practically the whole trade of the province will pass through Moturoa, for, try as they may to improve it, the port of Patea'is, we are afraid, doomed. No one knows this better than the men on the spot. We say this in no exultant or deprecatory spirit. We recognise that South Taranaki owes a good deal to the port of Patea, which has served it well and saved it thousands of pounds in freight in the past, but the disastrous experiences of vessels using the port during the past year or so can only point in one direction. Whereas boats could at one time use the river in perfect safety, the negotiating of it now, even under

fairly favorable circumstances, is fraught with a considerable dangei;. that is yearly becoming more acute. The wisdom of providing a safe and permanent port for Taranaki at Moturoa is becoming more manifest daily, and the people most intimately concerned should not neglect to seize any opportunity for advancing its interests. To establish a fleet of vessels with headquarters at Moturoa is a duty, and an immediate duty, cast on this community.