HARBOUR TRADE

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 265, 4 August 1932, Page 10

HARBOUR TRADE

Diversion to Wellington FEARS IN HAWKE’S BAY Dominion Special Service. Hastings, August 3. Some concern at the state of harbour facilities in Napier, and fears that Hawke’s Bay export trade would to some extent be diverted from Napier to Wellington, were expressed at this month’s meeting of the Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Union. i The branch should certainly make a strong move to have matters improved, said Mr. W. J. Livingston, in introducing the topic, as at present there was a grave prospect that next year’s shipments of livestock would be held up. Mr. N. P. Ericksen said it was a difficult matter to discover which was the proper body to push. It was not a matter , for the Harbour Board or for the-Rivers Board alone, but for the Government also. Mr. J. A. Miller expressed the view that the question was above any consideration of inner harbour versus breakwater, and said that the problem must be immmediately faced. If adequate shipping facilities were not provided very soon, Wellington would become the centre for Hawke’s Bay’s wool exports. To-day the harbour costs were being borne almost entirely byi the farmer, and the business people and the residents of the towns should be made to bear their share of the burden. Mr. Miller quoted figures in support of his contention that harbour costs to the producer were disproportionately high, and went on to emphasise that the facilities existing before the earthquake should be immediately restored. A .motion to that effect was unanimously carried, Mr. Ericksen pointing out that the position was becoming worse every week.