MOTORAGE CHARGES

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17939, 6 December 1923, Page 11

MOTORAGE CHARGES

I ,rT"TTELToNnf reducing storage V^° n bv theLyttelton Har " i***,,'considered at. yestorf»* * S It body and after '"" r .-iM ° .. decided to maKe tcn after Wil- %«***!& flowing report ,„ n rrnemeiii Com'JiHtfh«Jy7or November ifrf'-'Bg ■' rcnort of the l'Jtli &&»**? Ssed that the fc shoul,i £'• (!utl detail the various receipts and .'*«.»' " j r.rtifular reference and paiticu'" , P SwB except chat the 1 s -„:led for storage lias been '<*<**■*?% ver ton per week in-by-law. ** S,{ Lthe basis of our charts ¥* for receiving and deper week for storage. the cost or receivS f*S W even this appar4*»i large did not pay he 5* I!i£ s .hat it was necessary tor remain *o™ weeks m *P m Lud the loss. Figures tome, showing that &re = mucli less than at prosit

1 flowing table will show that ■■ftiSSe Coord's gram stores **" «t\ loss regards receipts £ifcro alone, without taking i33fcration interest. ..nd depre-

it; ts to "fiay. the stores were run iites until the year 1910", such loss &to to made , good from tho Eft ether 'sourcts of revenue. And hi Hot until the disorganisation of pt'k ISIT, necessitating the storquantities of wool, etc., for |* prods, that the Board's stores to make a substantial profit. It profit was entirely due to the aiteSiaining in the store for a con--5* period of time. From time jjiyg the rates have been adjusted itep pwe with the ever-increasing it libonr, ; and' the complications fated by the'various awards of tho ttMira Court. No comparison §B6 elsewhere is' apt, because the stores are only accessible by iimi tha country or from the jtyi, isnd we have no control oyer jkieor manner of delivery by rail, Mjjt-iia other hand, must be precise no time in discharging the 't&itm tliey are delivered into our v.: i •' • jxtfpm supplied id me of the flUf wrtna* connexion nith a cond aairi. railed to the ship's *, and sent to the lAotir stores- for• a month and then substantially ns fol-

"indicate that it cost i> 'to the store and FSWOTMf.to bring it from Meth\Wtot expense of £4 19s 7d aphit j?' incurred only be"Wam'was defective. Had it ,5® jetted, it would have been ship for about lis 4Jd per sack, i Board dated July t '.PWBtioned that a com--6? if Chamber of Comftnd recommend means congestion in Lyt-. .committee the mercan■swfflpioginterests, the Railway imd the Harbour Board among ,3^5,, that provision be immediiiiw i i 1" a S rain and produce fojjr*; siding. If such a siding were erected 5? Board, the interest iLitoui «P the eost of such '®,t? be paid for out of i and this "would no doubt 1 which might ac-

cnie from improvements in design of the store reducing the handling charges. The estimated cost of such a store was £17,000, and the annual cost for interest and depreciation would be £I3OO. The establishment of such a store would not avoid any of the hauling charges. I cannot suggest any means of substantially reducing the present charges -which are incurred by defective grain being sent to Lyttelton. As the storage after the first two months is profitable to the Board, the rate might be reduced by Id per ton per week after such period, but such reduction might not have much effect on "rejects." Any reduction for tho whole period of storge would be taking a chance that some grain would remain in store long enough to make up for the loss on such grain as remained in store less than two months.

After referring to a number of other details, the Engineer went on to state: G-eneraUy it may be 6tated that although the Board owns the wharves, tho Railway Department has the right to lay rails on these wharves, and that right has, from the establishment of the province, carried with it the custom, of working the cargo on the wharves as if they were railway stations. There are nice points for .academic discussion as bo where the rights of the Railway Department on the wharves end, but it is my opinion that while the connexion between Christchurch and the country generally and the Port, is by rail through tho tunnel, no other system than tho present one would be workaide. The present system provides cheap and convenient connexion between the country and the Port as is instanced by the example of the 100 sacks of grain from Methven. For exports direct from the country, it is hard to imagine any system more convenient or cheap. .Such difficulties as do exist are principally noticeable in connexion with imports through Christchurch. These difticulties are easily remedied, but the remedy is not in the hands of the Harbour Board. With regard to costs, a ton of general merchandise is delivered into consignees' drays at the Christchurch railway station at about 7s Id I>er ton, the same charge at Wellington being 4s per ton. But for this difference in price the goods have been brought nearly seven miles. If such goods went direct into the country, tho cost from Lyttelton to Christchurch would be about 3s 5d to Christchurch railway station, and railway mileage rates thence to destination.

Mr T. A. Blackley said it was evident that the Board was collecting a lo'; in charges from producers. He thought the Board should consider the question of making a reduction in the storage charges after a month's storage. Such a reduction would not be a very considerable matter, but at the same time it would be welcome. It behoved the Board to give an example in this connexion to other firms charging for storage. Mr Blackley said the sum of £IB,OOO had been made by the Board out of producers in six years, which was equal to £3OOO a year. This was too much to make, and he hoped the charges would not be continued.

Mr R. Macartney said there was room for improvement regarding the charges made for haulage from the ship's side to the stores and hack from the stores to the ship's, side. Mr H. T. Armstrong said there was no doubt that the charges made by the Railway Pepartment had a lot to do with the high charges made. He did not think it fair to single out the profit made during the last six years; if the period of six years prior to this were taken into consideration, he thought a different position would be .revealed. In any case,-it appeared that the department concerned was not more than self-supporting. He thought that the engineer's suggestion should be adopted. Mr H. Holland said it seemed to him that the receiving charge of 4s 6d was too high. If possible, this should be reduced. A more modem system of handling produce woujtj, he thought, result in a reduction being made. The engineer agreed with Mr Holland, but drew attention to the cost of installing the plant necessary to carry out the suggestion. Mr Miller supported the engineer's proposal.

Mr Armstrong said one of the reasons of the high charge was, that owing to the Board's restricted ground space, it was necessary to stack produce "sky high." • v *

Mr C. J. R. Williams (the Board's engineer) said he had recently been engaged in investigating railway charges, and he could assure members .that the more the question. was gone into the less ground there appeared to be for grievance in this connexion.

The meeting went into committee to hear a statement from Mr Williams regarding such charges. After further discussion, the report was adopted, and a special committee was set up to make enquiries concerning the working of tho stores and report' their findings to a subsequent meeting.

Profit. Loss. 1)19 1 U t >S31 13 S » L614 19 4 » 764 18 4 * ' 975 16 3 • " 547 3 8 $ 1067 14 •j 8 320 18 9 . -'24a' 5 6 I-' 86 13 11 1U9 7 5 B 53 9 9 b: 97 0 0 il; ' 186 17 11 15 ' " ■ 599 7 11 »■-■' "• 1* . . ."447.15 8 a.., --. ...3853 2 4 P • ...3348 15'11 6 „ 1074,18 8 w ' .. (865 11 3 6 ■•■'■'• .. 2500 13 U

iSlKH- * £ 8. d. £ s. d. r U) .-ship's Irn&j plcslftod Hli^ctaafcSJd) 4 17: 0 tt.0. ftof'Soflfil fif/iwi ® w.'Karaa- 3s W »n3"ihstir- .,. Winn and ide- ' ' ' . 1 18 0 16 2 5 1 6 0 4 19 7 JPfeg 9 16 7 0 5 0 k': ■■■ £10 1 7