HANDLING GOODS

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16882, 9 July 1920, Page 6

HANDLING GOODS

« r CONGESTION AT LYTTELTON. , REMEDIES RECOMMENDED. " I A combined meeting of representa- . tives of the Canter bun.- Chamber oi -1 Commerce, the Industrial Association, - the Progress League, and the Farmers' ■ Union, was held in the Chamber oi Commerce Hall yesterday afternoon tc discuss matters connected with the congetion of traffic at Lyttelton. The president of the Chamber, Mr J. G. Hcrdman, presided. Mr "NY. Stringlcrnan, Traffic Manager, N.Z.R., Mr A. K. Harris, Railway Department, and Mr Cyrus J. 11. Williams, secretary and engineer, Lyttelton Harbour Board, y also attended. i The chairman outlined the work of the committee previously set up to go into the question, and said that after . j hearing tne evidence of ten outside 1 people, in addition to the evidence of . members of the committee, a .sub-com- : mittee, consisting of -Messrs C. 11. Hew- ' lett, A. K. Harris, Cyrus Wfllianis, J. \ Flood, Huxitly Eliott, and P. R. Cliniie. was set up to review the evidence earefuLy, and make reeommenda- ! tions; this sub-committee presented its J report to the committee of the Cham- ! ber of Commerce on "Wednesday: and the report had been adopted by the Chamber's committee. He expressed the committee's thanks to Mr Harris for the assistance rendered by him. THE SUB-COMMITTEE'S REPORT. Mr H. A. Adlev (secretary) read the report, as follows: — Tho sub-committee set up to summarise and report on the evidence given at the enquiry find : — That the loading and despatch of ships at Lyttelton is much slower than in pre-war days. A ship that at- one time did a round trip in 14 days, now takes threo weeks. The cause of this is a widespread combination of circumstances, some of the reasons being that: There is a shortage of railway trucks; ships and men arc at times delayed in loading and unloading by a shortage of railway trucks; there is at times a shortage of labour; there are shorter hours worked npw than formerly; in common with work all over tho world, less work is done at Lyttelton than formerly. "We are, however, of opinion that there is no deliberate "go-slow" policy. All the evidence points to the conclusion that there is acute congestion at other main ports, A'hich, in turn, react-s on Lyttelton. A number of suggestions have been made by various persons with a view to remedying matters. In this connexion we find that:— In regard to haulage off wharves and shunting in Lyttelton yard no improvement can be expected until the yard is reconstructed. t> Under the present conditions it is not practicable to sort goods elsewhere than at Christchurch. It is impracticable to have cargo sorted at Lyttelton and despatched direct to destination. It is also impracticable to sort and load goods at Christchurch into separate tracks for each port of destination for each diffei'ent ship. Special sidings and lifting appliances would obviate the necessity for tho provision of special coal trucks. Suitable sheds cannot be erected on.the present wharves under the present system, and is not tho proper way to work the port. As the Lyttelton yard is now laid "out, considerable delay is caused by locking the yard for tho ferry train. This will be considerably reduced when the train •goes to No. 2 jetty, and when the ferry steamers keep better time. It is expected that No. 2 jetty will be ready for use some time next year. The concrete pillars on the Gladstone wharf will not be in the way when tho wharf has been altered as proposed by the Harbour Board. AVe do not consider it necessary to set up a Citizens' Committee, as suggested, as we are of opinion that, after we have made our recommendations for improvements it will be much sim- , pier and more effective if each indus- , trial or trade group deals directly with tho railway, or other interested parties, i( on matters in their particular sphere.

IMMEDIATE REMEDIES. We now recommend the following immediate remedies:— 1. That additional shed accommodation at Christchurch, as already arranged for, be immediately provided. 2. That additional trucks be provided at once. •. 3. That, in view of the Christchurch goods shed being closed between noon and 1 p.m., it is necessary that business houses should be open at one o'clock for the reception of goods t instead of being closed between 1 and 2 p.m., as at present. 4. It is also advisable, when necessary, that the warehouses keep open for reception of goods after 5 p.m., or before 8 a.m. 5. It is advisable that Customs entries should be put through .and goods removed from railway premises more promptly than at present. <3. That double storage be charged cn all imported goods not removed from Christchurch goods sheds within seven days of the "free" time. 7. That all goods consigned to ships or sheds at Lyttelton N.S.B. (no spice booked) be charged demurrage whilst remaining on trucks. 8. That all goods, for which shipping space has been booked, received at Lyttelton ex rail more than 48 hours before the notified time of loading should be charged demurrage. The time of loading must be notified in writing by the ship to the Railway Department, such notification to be made not more than 72 hours before the ship is ready to receive. 9. That the storage rates in Harbour Board a.nd Railway stores, Lyttelton, be the same as those charged by the Christchurch and Addington merchants. 10. That the stationmaster at Lyttelton should bo given relief by the appointment of additional yard foremen. 11. That more supervision over the working on wharves is advisable, especially in regard to hours of starting and "censing work. 12. That shoots be used for such sack goods as grain, seed, chaff, etc., provided the angle is suitable. 13. That ships' agents should consult the stationmaster at Lyttelton before applying to the harbourmaster for berth, so that the most suitable plaeo for working the ship may be allotted. 14. That provision be immediately made for a grain and produce sampling shed and siding. Wo also recommend that as soon as possible:— 15. Traverses on the wharves be made capable of accommodating bogey trucks, and should be electrically operated. 16. That although electrically worked capstans have been ordered on No. 6 jetty, we consider they should bo extended throughout tlic wharves. 17. That improvements, such as are outlined in what is known as the Hiley scheme, should bo put in hand without delay.

THE DISCUSSION. The chairman, referring to tho subcommittee's statement that a citizens' committee was considered unnecessary, said that ho had suggested that such a committee should be set up and Ik? a permanent committee to work with tho Traffic Manager. He thought that with such a committee there would bo a better chance of getting the suggested remedies given effect to. "Wo want to see that they are followed up," Mr Herdman.added, "and carried out ; we don't want to go through the same thing next year." The clauses under the heading "Immediate Remedies" %vere discussed seriatim. Clauses 1 and 2 were agreed to without comment. Mr C. H. Hewlett (chairman of tho sub-committee) explained, in respect of clause 3, that owing to the sheds being closed from noon to 1, and tho warehouses being closed from 1 to 2,

two hours were lest, so thnt only o\ hours carting was possible during the whole dr.y. An hour would be giiined U' the warehouses observed the same lunch hour as the railway. Ihiring periods of congestion, warehouses should L>o op'.'ii for the reception of goods after j p.m., and sn keep the carters going right Tip to the time that the railway losed down. Mr Harris said that it was no use the railways working ovcrt'.me if the -beds were full of goods. Very often the railway could work more hours if there was "room in the sheds to do it, j '-nit the sheds were blocked with goods, j Mr Hewlett: You really want cart- | ige to go on to relieve that state of things? Mr Harris: Yes. Mr P. C. Shirley ("secretary of the Waterside Workers' Union) said that work was carried on continuously at port through meal hours. Though the men were paid extra lor work done during meal hours, they did not want to work through meal hours, and at the next conference they intended asking for 10s per hour for wrrk done dur- j iug meal hours, with the object of doing away with it altogether. Mr S. K. Sleigh explained that men were not worked through meal hours: other men tor.k their place. Mr Stringlcmun asked if the clause was to rpplv to private sidings. The chairmnn said the intention was that- it should aiiply to all doing business with the railways. The oiause was agreed io. In clause 4 the words "business houses" were substituted for warehouses. On clause 5, Mr A. Kaye said that the main cause of delay in passing entries was the non-arrival of documents; mails recentlv had been so irregular that frequently the goods arrived before the documents. The clause v.-as agreed to. Clause 7, Mr Hewlett explained, was designed to prevent trucks" being used J'or storage purposes at. Lyttelton. There were cases where goods had been held in trucks for 21) davs.

The clause was agreed to. Clause S gave rise to a lengthy discussion. Mr Yv. A. Banks desired to amend it by providing that "graduated" demurrage should be charged. Mr Hewlett said that the present demurrage charges were fairly substantial, and if they were made'too heavy there might be an outcry from the ' general public. Tho principal objection raised to tho clause was by Air Stronaeh Paterson, who considered that it would prove unworkable, especially in connexion with the notification by the shipping companies to the Railway Department 72 hours before the ship was readv to receive cargo. In the"event of the shipping companies having to alter the time he thought that shippers would be penalised by having to pay demurrage. Mr A. R. Lyon (Messrs Wood Brothers) explained that the clause would be unworkable in respect of the shipment of grain. Mr Paterson suggested that the notification should be made 144 hours instead of 72. Mr Sleigh (Union Steam Ship Conipany) said that the clause as it stood was workable, but it would be unworkable if 144. hours' notice had to be given.

Mr A. Kave thought tho clause would operate to the disadvantage of the decent shipper—the bona fide shipper who had done his best. The man. they wanted to get at was the man who used trucks for storage purposes, and as far as he coidd see the railway authorities should be left to deal with that class of man. The recent congestion was not likely to recur for a long time, and he thought that they were making too much of it. and would get themselves tied up seriously.

Mr T. C. Field (Merchants' Association) strongly opposed the clause. _ After further discussion it was decided, on the motion of Mr W. .1. Jenkin (Industrial Association), seconded by Mr Paterson, to refer the clause back to the sub-committee, with an instruction to confer with the shipping companies, the railway authorities, and the Merchants' Association. To Clause 9, on tho motion of Mr Cyrus Williams, the words were added: —"Such charges being agreed upon between tho owners of the stores." The clause was agreed to. Clauses 10 to 15 were passed without discussion. Oil Clause 16, Mr H. Holland said that members of the Harbour Board contended that it was the duty of the Railway Department to provide capstans. Ho wanted to know if the Board would be justified in spending money, and thus relieve the Railway Department of its duty. The chairman: All. the meeting wants is capstans on the wharf—it doesn't matter who pays for them f The clause and Clause 17 were agreed to. Mr Paterson said that they should urcre the speedy completion of the ferry wharf. Mr "Williams said that the work was be : n<r pushed on ns sDoedily as possible, but material could not be srot. On the motion of Mr Jenkin, it wns d e -?irlr.r| to up a committee. co T "?ist- ; n<r MJ. Or. Herdman. C H. Harriett, A. G. and Cyrr« Will'".r"«. to «=eo thnt tho recommendations rf +><-■ sub-coTtmittee wlvoh ha' l been agreed to were carried into effect.