Direct Shipping

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 205, 18 January 1913, Page 5

Direct Shipping

LONDON TO NEW PLYMOUTH. A PROMISING INTERVIEW. THE BRITISH SHIPPING COMPANIES. "EIND THE CARGO AN J) WE'LL FIND THE BOATS." An important phase in the history of the Port of New Plymouth eventuated ast night, when a deputation of the leading business men of the town waited upon Mr. .). McMillan, deputy-manager ot the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Shipping Company, London, who is on a flying visit to. the district. The object of the deputation was to hear first-hand what w ?* e the prospects of a direct service with London being established at the port.

( The deputation was introduced bv Mr. C. A. Wilkinson, M.P.. who said that it was of great important to the business people of Taranaki and the residents of the province generally that they should have, if possible, a direct service from London to New Plymouth at the earliest possible moment. At present the bulk of the general goods consigned to New Plymouth were imported through Wellington. The Harbor Board had gone to very considerable expense in endeavoring to improve the harbor, in order to bring the boats of the Shaw, Savill, and Albion and New Zealand Shipping Coinpies' lines regularly to New Plymouth. It was quite certain also that the local merchants could practically guarantee these companies a fairly heavy freight of profitable cargo. The freights they were at present paying through Wellington were 40s plus 10' per cent, to as high as 60s. They wanted this cargo, however, brought direct to New Plymouth. They had, at various times, had certain boats from Liverpool, but unfortunately the hulk of the local imports were from the port of London, and they were there that night to urge the initiation of a cargo service that would meet their requirements as regarded direct importations. The speaker then stressed the fact that if a direct service was established the bulk of the trade of the ■ province would be diverted through New I Plymouth and the companies could thus ! look to fairly large cargoes. Of course, i what they wanted was a regular serI vice. They would sooner have a regular ; service of smaller boats than an occas- , ional service of large steamers. He be- | lieved that the port now offered facilities for boats that would suit New Plymouth. Whether the companies in question had the smaller boats he did not i know. He believed that there was a possible chance of their having a service of that kind brought about at an early date, and they could definitely offer a general cargo by a certain time. In reply, Mr. McMillan said he thought that he quite understood the position. I The. shipping companies were only too anxious to eater for the Taranaki merchants and traders when the exigencies ' of the trade demanded it. At the present time the imports of New Plymouth, so far as he knew, were rather small, and their ships at t'lie present time were large, and the tendency was to keep on increasing them in size. They had no ships at the present time that could come into the New Plymouth Harbor as it stood, and their largest cargo boats were quite as large as their biggest-mail boats, which were the largest ships south of the line. They could not keep up with other companies unless they had j big steamers. 1

A DEFINITE UNDERSTANDING. If New Plymouth could show them that its imports were such as would justify a service of four, five or six ships a year, then the companies would meet them. They could take his word for that. They would have to have the trade to warrant it, however. "You are business men," he remarked, "And you cannot expect us to send ships here for only a few hundred tons of cargo." Continuing, he said that Mr. Newton King and others associated with Mm had been importing basic slag and salt, but that sort of cargo was not very profitable. It would, in fact, pay them better to carry bunker coal. As regards general cargo—and that was what the shipping companies wanted to cater for—he did not know what it would amount to, but if it was likely to be of such proportions as Mr. Wilkinson had indicated the company would provide the boats. They would, however, have to guarantee at least a thousand tons of general cargo. A GUARANTEE OF CARGO. Members of the deputation interjected that that quantity could easily be guaranteed, and, proceeding, Mr. McMillan pointed out that the trade with the New Plymouth port at present was not so large that it would justify a twomonthly service. He was talking now only unofficially, and he was only visiting the district to see, and be seen, and to learn what he could. "It is good," lie continued, "for us both to meet here tonight. Our interests are ypur interests and identical. We cannot live without one another. , If you guarantee us a certain amount of general cargo we have no option but to give you a service." '"1 have no doubt,' followed Mr. Newton King, that we will be able to guarantee you a very fair amount of cargo of paying stuff, leaving out my own unprofitable 'stuff! AN INTERESTING COMPARISON. Mr. F. S. Johns, president of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce, also spoke. He was pleased, he said, to hear Mr, McMillan take the stand he had done, for lie (the speaker) felt certain now that the success of the proposed direct service was almost assured. The company's boats visited Nelson, and haying an intimate knowledge of both Nelson and New Plymouth he was quite certain that we in New Plymouth could guarantee them a better cargo than the South Island port. The boats were going to Nelson with 1000 to 1200 tons of cargo three to four times a year and. having that in mind, lie felt assured that the New Plymouth district could offer llicni a far move substantia', amount of cargo of a payable class than Nelson could. In Nelson the imports were practically conlined to the town itself and the surrounding small towns which were not to be compared with the towns and country in . from New Plymouth. In fact, he thought New Plymouth could justify a two-monthly service. On the other hand it was for the local commercial men to show the companies what they could offer, and it was for them to "buck up" and sec that (be necessary amount of cargo was guaranteed. Touching on another point, the speaker expressed surprise in learning that the port at New Plymouth could not take the Company s boats, when it was borne in mind that they were able to enter the port of Nelson. The New Plymouth people would now have to j;ct the port ready foe.the reception of the boats as quickly as possible and then show the companies the amount of freight they were prepared to guarantee. Concluding, Mr. Johns pointed to tlu' fact that wit]i direc.tviservicc an established factS'inUch of the coastal trade in Taranaki would be diverted to Sew Plymouth. . - * * *

As representing the soft goods trade. Mr. W. Amlnirv said that tlioi'f wej'e three fairly Wg wholesale firms in flint' line doing business here, and they were good for a considerable volume of import?. "We had a ing. which we hopeJMw- ni.Wiisuitalile for the Company's ship." Knowing th«

port well, lie thought, it was a better one already than Nelson. Interrupting Air. Ambury, Mr. McMillan said it was not for himself or the deputation to say that. Neither parties weie technical men. The responsibility of saying that the port was able to cope with the oversea liners rested with the companies' marine superintendents, and he did not think .anyone would, recommend taking big ships into the New Plymouth Harbor at the present time, but not so at Nelson. They had to be guided entirely by practical men. Boiled down the whole thing amounted to this: if they could guarantee a thousand tons of general vargo per boat, and finish their harbor improvement scheme to the satisfaction of the marine superintendents, they could re»t assured that New Plymouth would get the same facilities for importing direct as those enjoyed by Nelson. So far as he could see, as a layman, New Plymouth had the makings of a fine port. Incidentally, he pointed out that the New Zealand trade was very difficult to cater for. It was a small country with a tremendous number of ports. In fact, it had ten times as many ports as those possessed by Australia.* It had certainly four or five times the number. Every town in New Zealand thought that its port was the only port in the world. Reverting to the suitability of the New Plymouth Harbor, he reiterated that as commercial men they would all have to be guided entirely by the nautical men. It was a fact that the big boats had gone into the Nelson port successfully, but then only on the recommendation of the marine superintendents. They would ■ot recommend big ships to come here at. the present time. That was the position today. He understood, however, ■that the harbor would be improved sufnciently in a few months, and when this position was reached all that was required would be a guarantee of a certain amount of cargo. With these two things assured all would be well. Concluding, the speaker said, in answer to Mr. T .C. List, that the largest of the company's ships drew 29 feet, when fully laden, and that the 1000 tons of cargo required referred to general cargo, exclusive of manures.

In tlie course of n few remarks, Mr. Newton King said that he agreed with Mr. McMillan that at present the dredging wag not sufficiently far advanced to ask the companies to send their ships to the port. Touching on another point,, he said he did not think Mr. McMillan quite grasped the extent of the importations made by New Plymouth. He' felt sure that they were a great deal more than he thought. The speaker went on to point out that the imports at the Breakwater by no means represented the sum total of our imports. A tremendous amount of cargo came here through other channels, notably Wellington. Mr. McMillan commented . that of. course that was for the local merchants t» guarantee. Mr. E. Maxwell, a member of the New" Plymouth Harbor Board, the ' fact that the bulk of Mr. Wilkinson's and other southern merchants' stuff was' at present coming through the port of ,-»• Patea, and as soon as a direct service •to New Plymouth was an assured thing; 'it would naturally be diverted to the latter port. A whole lot of trade at{ present coming by way : of Wellington-' would likewise be diverted through New: Plymouth. Nine-tenths, in fact, of the, J|.,j trade of the province must necessarily come through New Plymouth when the! direct service was in operation. The j speaker then went on to regret that ow- , ing to the insufficiency of time at their i lM disposal, the . deputation had been ifn- , able to collect some facts and figures !i < about the trade of the district. : Had K they been produced they would, have favourably surprised Mr.. McMiilsfn. /If • ■ Mr. McMillan was only familiar With the big area of land at the back of New Plymouth, and 1 the large amount 'of \' closer settlement round about, and thelarge number of small holdings, he woulcP immediately realise , that there must be a big trade. With the i; ?'• haps, of the Waimate' Plains, the whole', of the productivity of the laiul \in the / province was as yet in its infancy. With '' cheap manures the land \smild increft.se : enormously in productivity. In reply to Mr. Maxwell, Mr. McMillan | said that if there were 1500 tons-of / cargo, including manures, available, the.. ■) shins might call. Certainly if there were ~.. . tft> 1000 tons of general cargo they'would. '' One or two points previously touched upon by various speakers were then em- A pliasised, after which the conference ad- ' | journed, heartily thanking Mr. McMillan jju for having met the deputation in such a "? eympathetic manner. i j