PRODUCE EXPORT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 288, 5 December 1932, Page 9

PRODUCE EXPORT.

SHIPPING PROBLEM.

MANY PORTS OF CALL.

DEFENCE OF PRESENT SYSTEM,

A circular issued by the Dominion executive of the Farmers' Union, urging that the number of produce-loading ports in the Dominion be cut down, should not be taken as the unanimous opinion of the farmers. It is freely admitted that collecting cargo from fifteen ports, from Opua to the Bluff, must necessarily cost more than if the number of ports were reduced to two or three, but it is pointed out that such a reduction is a physical impossibility. "Auckland is not seized of the necessity for the pruning down of ports, as suggested in the circular," said a prominent member of the Farmers' Union this morning. "Something of the same kind crops up from time to time, and farmers are inclined to think it emanates from outside influences; they cannot understand why it is sponsored by the Dominion executive, apparently without rigorous examination."

Farmers in the Auckland Province had gone thoroughly .into the question of the most economical methods of shipping produce to the Home market, and had fully discussed it with the shipping companies. Some people did not realise that New Zealand presented the shipowners with the most difficult problem in their business. Owing to geographical features the internal means of distribution had to follow certain lines, and certain districts could be tapped only from certain ports; it was an entirely different proposition from a country where internal distribution could be effected over the whole area from one or two ports.

I Cost of Road Travelling. The internal means of distribution and collection in New Zealand had been developed to best serve the interests of the various districts, and that was one of the main reasons why there were so many loading ports. Farmers had looked at the matter from all angles, and those who realised the handicaps imposed by the geographical features of the country had come to the conclusion that the cost of injury to stock and the depreciation caused by road-travelling would be infinitely greater than the cost of shipping from a number of ports. If the number of loading ports were drastically reduced not only would stock have to travel long distances, but there would have to be a complete reversal ol the New Zealand policy of internal communications, and of farmers' policy ot shipping their stock from a port that would cause the minimum amount ot the road travelling that wae so detrimental to fat stock. When these factors were taken into account it would be seen at once that the matter was not so simple as the circular of the Dominion executive would make it appear.

In the Auckland Province, freezing works had been established at Moerewa (Bay of Islands), Horotiu and Southdown, points that had been selected after a very exhaustive examination of the needs of etock and the internal communicatione. It should also be remembered that the railway services had been organised with the idea of collecting stock to certain points.' The railways were finding it difficult enough to carry on at the present time, and if this traffic were taken away from them their troubles would only be accentuated.

Coastal Feeders. Consideration had been given to the possibility of collecting frozen produce from the outports by means of coastal eteamers, but that was not a practical solution of the problem. There were admittedly difficulties and delays at some of the outports in loading overseas vessels, but it must not be forgotten that those delays would tend to disappear. Many of the outports, such as Napier, had not completed their port equipment, and when the harbour works were finished the cauee of some of the present delays would be removed automatically. When people spoke of introducing a coastal shipping service to feed the overseas vessels they forgot that such a system had its distinct disadvantages. It was essential in shipping frozen meat to reduce the number of handlings and exposures of the carcases. If coastal steamers were used, it would at once mean double handling of the carcases, and the result would inevitably be that the meat would suffer. Another disadvantage of having a coastal shipping service to supplement the overseas service was that it would mean dual control and the question of insurance— a most important one —became involved.

Looking at the question from every point of view, including the peculiar geographical features of the Dominion, as affecting coastal and internal communications, the necessity for single control once the meat left the freezing works, and the advantage of having freezing works eo situated that road travelling of stock would be reduced as much as possible, farmers of the Auckland Province could not suggest any system that would be an improvement on the present practice, and the shipping companies concurred in that view.