WAKE UP, NEW PLYMOUTH!

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 55, 25 July 1914, Page 6

WAKE UP, NEW PLYMOUTH!

THE TRADE WITH MuKAU AND THE OHURA. INTERVIEW WITH MR DAVID WHYTE. "New Plymouth has got to wake up." That was the tenor of an interview n'hieh a Daiiy News representative had with Mr. David Whyte, of Hastings', promoter and director of the ■Mokau l.'oal and Estates Company yesterday. The conversation turned mainly on the; enormous possibilities of trade between New Plymouth and the Mokau and Ohura districts, and on what Ne.v Plymouth nui«t do to establish i|.

MOKAU LAND. "I have just returned from Mokau, - said Mr Whyte, "wllwrc I hold -'TOO acres of land purchased from the com pany, and I am satisfied that the land 1 have seen there is equal to the finest of the 'hill country on the East coast which to-day carries from two to two and a half sheep per care. As a matter of fact, Chambers Bros, (who hold native leasehold land round the coal mines <.n the northern side of the Tiver, and who had felled some 801)0 acres of bush) are cairying two sheep to the acre and a head of cattle to every five acre-. IMPORTANT TO NEW PLYMOUTH.

''The opening up of this country," continued Mr Whyte, "is of great importance to New Plymouth 'and the district which surrounds it. New Plymouth has communication with ilokai by sea in from V/-< to four hours. Tlio Mokau river;, which penetrates the country, is navigable by boats drawing seven feet of water, for a distance of fully 23 miles. Beyond that point, it could by the expenditure of £2OO to £3OO in snagging .be made navigable to boats of shallow draught to a point 40 miles from the mouth of the river. To this point, a road is being formed to connect with the Te Arei-Te Kuiti road, and of this connecting road only about two and a half miles are iiiot compi'eted. It is a twelve footpapa road from ten to twelve miles long, and if metalled, would form one of the finest tourist routes :r. New Zealand" TRADE WITH NEW PLYMOUTH.

Mr Whyte then dealt forcibly with the need for actum on the part of New Plymouth merchants and ■ traders to counteract the iibhing by other towns of trade which ought to come to New Plymouth. "The reason why this di-lrict'lias not been opened up," lie -aid, "is that lh<- authorities a< tue chief coimueicial centre of New 'Plymouth tfor New Plymouth is the centre, that Nature has provided which we want to use) have not the facilities for handling the trade, and so outsiders— Wanganui vvA Unehunga among them ■are filching New Plymouth's birthright." SPECIAL JETTY NEEDED. "At present; continued Mr. Whyte, •■there is no regular steamer service between Xew Plymouth and Mokau, beuiuse at the New Plymouth harbor there

is 111) jetty inside the breakwater at which small steamers can at all times lie in sit'etv. At present they an? sometimes, though not at all times, in danger of bumping when lying at the breakwater. The trade requires a s])ecial jetty, and its construction would eie'enrage more freiiuent trips from Mokau tiiau at present.''

XKW PLYMOUTH MOKAU'K POUT. ■•.New I'lvnioutii," said Mr. Whyte, should be Mokau's )iort. At present, by tiiadiic from Wailara, we are under this clillictilt,. lioats have to negotiate two bars, one' at the. Waitara river, and one at Mokau. If a small barrier at the mouth of the 'M'okau river were removed, moreover, that would allow good-sized vessels' to enter. lioverninent engineers submitted plans and estimates for removing tiiis barrier at a cost of CtuilO, and these are now in the possession of the company. A eoinmeiviul eountry like this ought surely to have inlliience to bring about that improvement and make possible a very large trade between New' Plymouth and Mokau in coal alone, to say nothing" of the increased trade in mercliaiidise and farm produce and the tourist trallic. All this would follow to \\ w I'lymonth. This town seems to be uttcrh ignorant of- or. at all events, to utterly ignore—the potentialities of its feeders in the bac,k-blocks. Why. it is only four hours' sail from New Plymouth to the Mokau and (ihuvii districts, with all their resources. Timber has actually' been sent in scows from M'okau to Melbourne. 1 should think few New Plvuioutl) people knew that. With the addition of a jetty at the New Plymouth harbor, and 'with improvements as suggested at Mokau. one of the finest eoal trades in the Dominion could be built up. and New Plymouth would benefit by it. Surely Ibis oilers sullieieiit indmement to the New Plymouth Harbor Hoard to make a.I . Il'.ii t to secure the trade." KXfICSNIYK (IIAIiOKS.

•I'lie tiling which \"i'\v Plymouth must reiin'ilv is the excessive expense of halulling produce at tiie breakwater and on the raihvav line from Moturoa to New I'ivnioull'i. The charges on the raihvav are moils! mils, and the people of New Plymouth should khk. and kid; hard. If that is done, the Covrrmneiifc ll.llsl reined V the inequitable stale of iill'aii-s. II is cheaper to land our coal at Waitara and rail it thence to New I'l.Miioiith than to send if direct to the New Plymouth wharf. It was tile heave charge at the New Plymouth break\v;.ler. plus the railaee to New I'lvntoiif !i. which Mocked the \iokau to'iipane from stalling a steamer service. As to Mokaii hind, it is far better than lliat from I'ri.ii lo the boundary of the W'ainiat" Plain-', the. al-r holds t.'ood f..r the

ohnni. and all tlir lni.li' from tin- di>-tri.-t -houlil ioiin- into New Plymouth. I haw ronv-i.oii.l.'ii<v on tlio lil.s of tho CulllPilli, flon; tlli' l>|.urn Count V |>eon!o ;!.;.iii- '.ran oiili.-i. to tin- Mol-:;'u! viv'.-r. \!-:\v n.v.Moc'nr mtst ait. -If von ;ii-<- ijoins; to attract, all t'ih< tr->.lr t„ Ww Plymouth, whole von haw a liumi iiinl a ili'i'p-r.c.'i harbor.'' ci.il- « In.h ,i My. \\h\ti\ -vim mu-,t r<-liu-,- to lh- !.•«.-!. Ini.ii tii.- al. I.ia port, ami in- -o vcmr tiiniuwr \on vil! iwiva- vnui- IVWillla. Thill! iv !-!■!■" V'v,- I'lvniionh fails. tinli.'ojda of X.-w I'iiiiioiith inako a mow. all !!..• Iradc ami Irallic from the Strat-|-,.r(|-ll„..;,n„. )!>„. , v j!l ,r„ j„ WllllirilHMi. ami all (I- M,il.au inula will ■;■» to l!]1.-hll|IV;il."