CONGESTION OF CARGO

Press, Volume C, Issue 29469, 22 March 1961, Page 11

CONGESTION OF CARGO

Businessman’s Appeal The unprecedented port and railway goods sheds congestion showed once again the absurdity of having December 31 as the deadline date for import licensing, said the president of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce (Mr R. H. Clark) in the latest issue of the chamber’s newsletter. When shipping delays arose overseas and coincided with a period in which the maximum use was being made of rolling stock for moving primary produce, a situation was created which was beyond the physical resources of rail and port to handle expeditiously, he said. No reflection should lie against the port and railway authorities and their staffs, whose efforts to solve the problem he described as "trojan.” Representations had been made to the Government on many occasions for an alteration to the deadline for imports—March or June had been suggested—and the present Minister of Customs (Mr Marshall) had promised to examine the position. “May the process of examination be brief and action rapid,” Mr Clark said. Meanwhile, there was an emergency situation, and commerce and industry could best help itself and others by opening stores and warehouses to receive inward consignments at any hours required, he said. “This is a duty which the chamber exhorts all its members to accept in the immediate interests of Canterbury’s economy.”