SHIPPING AND AIR TERMINALS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 153, 25 March 1938, Page 10

SHIPPING AND AIR TERMINALS

It is satisfactory to have from the chairman of the Wellington Harbour Board in his annual report, published yesterday, an assurance that the board, in conjunction with the City Council, is keeping before the attention of the Government the claims of the premier port of the Dominion as a base for .trans-oceanic air services. The commission which has been set up to investigate the question cannot but be impressed by the steadily mounting figures relating to the trade of the port of Wellington. There is also the question, as important to the general interest as that concerning the airways terminal, of recognising the public convenience and economic gain that must result from making Wellington the terminal port for the Pacific mail-steamers. It should be unnecessary to reiterate the arguments advanced in previous discussions of these questions regarding Wellington’s central situation, its commodious harbour, up-to-date wharf equipment, and convenience as a distributing centre. But if additional emphasis were required, the latest statistics of the trade of the port, as reviewed by the chairman in his address at the annual meeting on Wednesday, should carry conviction. During the past year, said Mr. McGowan, the total tonnage of cargo inwards and outwards was 2,311,076, topping the previous record by 77,000 tons, while shipping arrivals aggregated 4,090,307 tons, 179,000 better than the last record. A large proportion of the cargo tonnage handled represented transhipments. The port of Wellington, geographically, is the natural distributing and collecting centre . for the Dominion. The fact is being increasingly recognised. Transhipments to British and foreign ports increased last year by 21.1 per cent.; Australian transhipments by 29.1 per cent.; and coastal transhipments by 8 per cent. These figures are strong argument in support of the claims of the port for recognition of its merits as a terminal for the trans-oceanic airways and mail steamers. There is nothing parochial about this agitation. It is a plain business proposition, economically sound, as the figures T-he Harbout Board has a good case, and, conjointly with the City Council, .should continue to press the question.