THROUGH-BOOKING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1190, 27 July 1911, Page 8

THROUGH-BOOKING.

PRODUCE BY RAIL AND SEA. .'At yesterday's meeting nf tho Fanners' Union Conference, Mr. Ivo Tumucliffo (Nelson), moved:—"That the Dominion Conference bo again asked to urge tho Government to adopt a scheme of throughbooking of produco by rail and sea." The mover said that this was the third or fourth year that this remit had been before, the conference, and each time that the matter had been brought before the Government it had been put off. What he desired was that tho principlo of through-booking should bo established, so that fruit and other produce, from .any station to any stations along the railway (from north to south and vice versa) could be consigned direct. They asked for half-parcel rates, -with a maximum of ss. for 1121b. He also urged that the Government should carry such product! ,by quick railway service trains, instead of by slow goods trains. The answer of the Minister had always been that lie could net carry out the suggestic-n unless the Government purchased the steamer service. Tho Government, -said the-speaker; • had not purchased the steamer service when arranging the through carriage of mails. In Great Britain no less than nineteen steamship companies and four railway companies had adopted such a scheme in tlis trade with Ireland. He believed that the local shipping companies would bo prepared to cooperate in the proposals, and'thonght that the. matter might bo left in the hands of the Advisory Committee, to collect data, and approach the / Government again on the subject. .Ml.' Carder (Kelson) seconded (he motion, and hoped that the conference Would carry it.

Mr. 11: A. Kevins (Wellington) said that luggage could ho•checked through from Auckland to tho Bluff, and. he thought that the fame -system- should-bo-adopted ih'regard to perishable produce. Tho president mentioned that Whangarei had the'earliest peaches in Xeiy Zealand, and their 1 ibest market was Dunedin. The proposed system ■ would thtrtfbr bo of benefit to that district.

Mr. Tunnicliffe, in reply, remarked that the system was partly iti use. .'Ho could itend fruit from Wai-iti, via Nelson, •to Wellington on a through freight. Thb matter was eventually referred to the ; Union Advisory Committee, to fnko action to secure itlis adoption of a scheme U outlined; ■ •'