THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1907. WEST OF ENGLAND TRADE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8353, 8 February 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1907. WEST OF ENGLAND TRADE.

We are in receipt of an interesting papmhlet describing the refrigerated transit Chamber at the Manchester docks, and the facilities for receiving, sorting and distributing refrigerated produce imported from Australia and New Zealand, by direct steamers to Manchester. The Premier is a firm believer in the development of the trade between the West Coast of England and New Zealand. Last year he inspected the Manchester Ship Canal, which is capable of receiving the largest steamers in the world, and Sir Joseph Ward remarked:—"This direct trade is of much importance to us as a producing country, because there are. some thirteen million people almost within reach of Manchester who can be served. I am quite certain it is to the best interests of the producers of this country, equally with the consumers at Home, to vigorously prosecute this trade from New I think every encouragement should be given to it, because, in addition, the direct trade to West of England ports saves the cost of double handling and distribution, which the producer at this end Has to pay. New Zealand produce—frozen meat, butter, etc.—stands very high in the estimation of Home merchants, and with reasonable care on the part of the producers and exporters here there is no reason why we should not do still better." There are excellent facilities in the city of Manchester for storing frozen produce, the Manchester Corporation having founded spacious cold stores in a central position in the city within easy cartage distance from the Manchester Docks. These stores form a valuable adjunct to the extensive meat markets and abattoirs of the Corporation, and are constructed to accommodate 120,000 carcases sheep. The Union Cold Storage Company,

Limited, have also erected a cold store at the Manchester Docks capable of holding 175,000 carcases. A. wharf for large, steamers, with railway connections, has been provided, so that steamers carrying any considerable quantity of frozen produce can .be berthed alongside. The I same company also have a cold store situated in Miller Street, | Manchester, with a capacity of I 80,000 carcases.- Manchester is | situated in the most densely popu- I in the United Kingdom, and, as a port, is the source of supply for at least 177 interior towns. The district in which these towns are situated and which is nearer to the Manchester Docks than any other ocean steamship port, is 10,000 square miles in/ extent, and contains a population of over ten million poeple. The area to and from which the Ship Canal traffic is now carted contains a population of over two millions. This enormous population,comprising workpeople who earn high rates of wages, consumes a very large quantity of all kinds of products, and the supply of these products can be more easily and cheaply drawn from the Manchester Docks than from any other port. The Manchester Docks, therefore, by reason of their geographical position, and their exceptionally good facilities for handling traffic by rail, road and inland canals, have already become an unequalled distributing centre for all kinds of produce. There is, no doubt, that the trade with the West of England will become of very great importance to New Zealand farmers.