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Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5328, 19 September 1888, Page 2

Tjik freight question in a fow Weeks promises to bo a very serious one, not alono m New Zealand, but in all tho colonies, The othi'r day we showed that tin' avallablp ton? niigci tjf' Jh|j woi.jd diiVJng tho last tbreo years had actually und that the demand had largely outrun tho supply. How fierjouH the question in may be inferred from the following figures;—ln New Zealand a largo portion of our last wheat harvest has yet to be exported. A wellinformed oonteinporury says it will take sixty yoKSols fn'itarry the wheat now lying iju story ajiil I'tU'uif ib" hands at the th,ree

ports of Oamaru, Timaru, and Lyttelton. In "Victoria there still remain 118,000 tons of wheat to export, allowing for the home consumption up to the end of this year, when the new crop will be harvested. South Australia, with an enormous' export of wheat early in the year, freely exported at the low prices then ruling, freightsalso being low, and now she has only 45,000 tons still to export. When we put these totals together, and find that in the three wheat-growing colonies there are upwards of 200,000 tons of wheat to export, the seriousness of the outlook is at once seen, nearly one hundred Mild fifty large vessels are required to transport that crop to the world's market. Had it, been at the dull season of the year, the outlook would not have been so bad, but we know in a few weeks—in Australia at least—a large number of ships will be required to load wool, so where the tonnage is tc be got to transport the wheat is not at all plain. The strike at Newcastle, if it continues, might result in many of the vessels now there and others due, which have gone and are going to that port to load coal for California, in the event of coal not being obtainable, loading up with wheat instead. It must, however, be remembered that the sharp rise in the price of wheat has resulted in a great advance in freights, and as California has much grain to export, many of these vessels may prefer to return to America in ballast, and there load wheat for London. Of late a good deal of tonnage has been secured in New Zealand at low rates, which will be sufficient to take away more than one-half of our surplus wheat, but for fresh charters vory much higher lates will have to be paid. The prospect of cheap tonnage is now a tiling , of the past for some years to come, but should the advance in freiehts also extend to the Atlantic trade, there is little doubt but that our farmers will do better next year with their wheat than they have for the last two years, even should freights be twenty-five per cent, dearer.

Touching the contradiction that wo were authorised to make by the railway authorities to the statement made by the chairman of the Hawke's Buy County Council in reference to the carriage of shingle, the. County Clerk has placed the following correspondence at our disposal :—The first letter is from the County Clerk to the District Railway Manager : " Sir, I am instructed to enquire at what price would you deliver in railway trucks at Te Auto station, say one thousand cubic yards of shingle; you provide loading, the County taking delivery of the shingle in the trucks and discharging within a reasonable time." The following answer was received from S. F. Whitcombe :—" Sir, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday's date asking the charge per cubic yard on shingle. Aβ the matter in question is in the Resident Engineer's Department I have referred your communication to him, and he will reply to it in due course." Three days afterwards, that is to say on April 2S last, Mr W. R. Carruthers, the Resident-Engineer, addressed the Chairman of the County as follows:—"Sir, in reply to yours of the 25th inatiint, asking if the Railway Department would supply shingle in wagons at To Aute station, and at what cost, I have the honor to inform you that the Department cannot undertake to euppl_y gravel." This appears to us to be as distinct a refusal as could be made, and Mr Bennett was quite right in saying that the railway authorities refused to carry shingle along the line.