TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3173, 30 August 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1881.

i* 7 . r'Hd 'o rse X - ropers fn.,;n Fiji •:<) hand h p -v. hat cnl that communiCiijT r * .>•..• ;;- -i ;j er"h ;)._:ed between tbe Fiji iuid De::- .chi Co-triers of Commerce w'h a vi< <v to upenini. up an extended intercourse between the Islands and this coiony. Mr Witbam. one of the prineir>*\ speakers at tbe meeting of tbe Chamber of Commerce at Levuka, of which we have a report, stated that he hf.d recently y*id a visit to New Zealand, and fivp-d on the part of the merchants a most cordial disposition to enter into more extended commercial relations. Mr Withsm said that an indispensable condition of opening up a trade was tbe establishment of an adequate steam service connecting Levuka withDnnedin. calling at intermediate ports. 11. Baid nothing w»s to he done with any vessel having Auckland as its ternrhus. He had himself seen goods from Piji lying on the vrharf there for four days, await-'i-«r transhipment, and in the important item of fruit export this -imply meant ruination. A more comprehensive service would not mean business with Otago. hnt it would open up the markets of Napier, Wellington, Lyttelton. Christohurch. and Dunedin. If. in dealing with the matter, the Chamber were to showr, as he had no doubt tbey would hive little difficulty in doing, that freights could be secured, he was sure the business people of Dunedin would meet them more than half. The direct service, he wag convinced, would pay, whereas any one making it necessary to tranship at Auckland will not p-«v. The stnreage and double freight on fibre, fur instance. rw.Mows tbe margin of profit vrhieh the direct roue would allow of, and when he was asked in Wellington, by an extensive frui ? erer, why his shipments d<d not come more regularly to b»nd, ho could have told hi;n, because they were fl'htr spoiled in transit or rotted on the Auckland wharf. Large quantifies of fruit could be placed in all the southern cities if it could be landed regularly and in good condition. The developmeL; of the trade would therefore be a rr.pid r,nd certain result of the establishment of a .te_oi service, and to such proportions would it soon grow that both tbe company and tbe producers could not fail to benefit largely by the export. The sugar consumption of the south island was something enormous, one firm alone employed eight vessels a-year iv conveying sugar from Mauritius, but it was impossible for Fiji to supply this demand under existing arrangements for freight carrying, in fact the Southern Cross wa. more harm than good ; she could neither take away or bring down the quantity of merchandise passing between Auckland and Levuka, let alone load sugar for Otago.