COAL AND TIMBER FROM BULLER

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26211, 7 September 1950, Page 6

COAL AND TIMBER FROM BULLER

INCREASED USE OF RAIL TRANSPORT LESS SHIPPING AT WESTPORT From Out Own Reporter WESTPORT, September 6. The value o£ the Buller Gorge railway as an alternative route for coal supplies from the Buller district when shipping is disorganised is indicsted in the Marine Department’s return *or August, which shows that 19,567 tons of coal was shipped from Westport curing the month and 14,003 tons railed to the east coast. The incre s?d proportion of railments is partly attributable to the snipping hold-ups, mainly at Auckland, which idled the port for many days. But ever-increasing supplies are being sent by rail and as a result the p °rt is not as active as in the past. Only on two occasions in recent years has it been necessary to ship coal to South Island ports whereas before the railway was completed ships such as the Canopus and Union Steam Ship Company colliers maintained a regular service between Westport, Lyttelton, and often Dunedin. Now an average of about onethird of the total coal • produced from Buffer mines is transoorted bv rail. With the timber trade to the North Island considerably reduced, much of the timber is now handled bv the Railways Department. Very little timber from Buller mills has been shipped in the last two months, but in August more than 200.000 superficial feet was railed from Westport. During the last month only 12 vessels entered the port and 12 left.