A MANUFACTURER'S PROTEST.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 246, 17 October 1922, Page 7

A MANUFACTURER'S PROTEST.

i • i ' HARBOUR BOARD CRITICISED.! I i jEXPEXSE OF SHIPPING COASTWISE. ; (Bγ a Corresponclcnr.) I _ For a Ion? time past there liae been considerable dissatisfaction with regard • to the chipping of cargo by the Southern • eteamere. It nppeam that tlic Harbour ■ Board will not allow cargo for tlip i steamers to be put in the shells to be ' transferred to the steamers at the oppor- ) tune time, but insist that the oarjto ■ should be put direct from the. motor ' lorries into thu hold. <>n account of the want of arrangement this , has proved a very costly business •; to shippers, and it i< no uncommon i thing to see a long line of lorries I waiting their turn to get to the ship's • side. One manufacturer, speaking about | , the matter, said "that their firm shipped stuff as far South as the Bluff, i I and very often a few lorry loads of milk- , , cans would be held up for as long a . period as two hours before the goods . were taken into the ship's clings. Thw ; meant an expense for a big lorry of a<bout thirty or forty shilling.-*, or to put It more plainly, a shilling per can was [ added to the price of it all through sheer t mismanagement and waste of time, i ; Nothing was so expensive as a motor lorry of heavy build if it could not be ( ! fully utilised. If the goode were put in j j the shed and put into the hold at the ,' proper time in their turn, the extra j • handling might mean a penny per tin I of one shilling per 'tin, and that ' ■ would be a big saving when a thousand ' I tins and more were sent South in v ; |!«eason. All this extra expense was put ■on and was paid for by the purchaser at 1 jthe other end. but why should any extra !be put on at all, for with a proper ■ : (system there should bo no delay. If thn , j'Star' could get a picture of the waiting cars when a Southern boat wa-s loading, 1 the public would get an eye-opener thai ■ would surprise them. Xever at any time j in the history of the Harbour Hoard, ' 1 and he was speaking as a member of an iold manufacturing firm, haa there been ; • euch autocratic rule as at present, and ; in eaying this he had in mind many | chairmen who were not noted for tender j '! methods, but at no period had the wants \ j and desires of the people met with co ! little sympathy as at the present j ■ moment. The port was extending its ■ activity in all directions, 'but was not i increasing in efficiency. The new Princes ' wharf was attracting a lot of attention, ! I'but he could rvmember the time, twelve [or fourteen years ago, when the ehairjman of the Board eaid that very little ) dredgiing would ever need to be ilone on j ] the western eide of Queen's wharf, be- I j ciiuee any further expansion would have ! jto be made on the eastern side. There ! I seemed to be no reJress. He himself : ! lived on the northern chores of the har- ! bour, and as surely as day fo-llowed night he saw the people of the northern choree being gqueezed right out of the present most suitable berths at the | I ferry wharves. A policy of doing things ! I which irritated the public wa-s being fol- ! I lowed, which savoured too much of the ! j'dog in. the manger' principle, and this' jdid not tend to a good feeling between I the board and the general public, who I were the people most vitally affected. I Auckland Harbour Board, backed as it I is with increasing trade every month, i should 'be pursuing a glofious course of ! expansion with which the people would ! be in absolute accord, and iv? methods ! for handling cargo should be of the very j best, yet the methods for receiving cargo ! for the Southern boats is not in keeping j with the requirements of a port the t>i-x of Auckland." !