DELAYED SHIPMENTS

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 126, 28 May 1920, Page 7

DELAYED SHIPMENTS

"NOT OUR FAULT"

WELLINGTON HARBOUR BOARD'S

EXPLANATION

Reference was made by Mr. J. ■ G. Harknfess. chairman of the Wellington Harbour .Board, at last night's' meeting of the board to an article which recently appeared in the Taranaki. Herald, and was reprinted in The Post. The article dealt with the alleged failure of the hoard to handle cargo in an expeditious manner. Mr. Harkness read a. 'report made by the board's engineer as to the causes of the conditions complained of. This report .stated, that on 15th May the position was as .follows :—Fifteen sheds full, six sheds three-quarters full, five sheds half-full, and one shed a-qnar-ter. full. JThe immediate causes of the congestion were due to the facts that: (1) As the great majority of the skipping documents came through the banks, and those institutions . were closed on 4th and sth May and that general holidays wefe observed on 6th and 7th May, the board practically lost a week as far as the delivery of cargo was concerned; (2) that an abnormal amount of rain tended'to retard delivery, and the railway strike also ■■■' prevented up-country consignments friiiu being cleared from the wharves with the usual expedition. During the week ending Bth May the cargo arriving in Wellington was approximately 23,080 tons, and the cargo arriving for the week ending 15th May was. .13,152 tons. The causes of delay generally were chiefly due to the practice of importers saving their own storage accommodation ,by selling their goods direct from the wharf. That practice necessitated excessive sorting in the sheds and increased the storage space on the floors through consignments being divided into a number of sub-marks for convenient distribution. The position was such that in the near future the board would have to consider the advisability of refusing to receive sub-orders for the delivery of all cargo other than produce. In addition, an acute shortage of labour had been experienced during the past week, due to the unsettled state'of'business and holidays. No less than 25 members, of the boaVd's'permanent staff were aUo absent from duty through infleunzk. 1 An attached Report showed that in. January four vessels loaded 836 tons of cargo for New Plymouth, 375 of which were transhipped from the board's, sheds. In February six vessels loaded 606 toil!-,' 85 tuns of which ware loaded from the sheds. In March there was only one vessel, which loaded 398 tons; in April, one, which took 397 tons; and in May, two, which loaded 1107 tons; while another sailed without cargo. The Rosamond shut out 50 tons of transshipments on the 15th on account of town cargo; the shortage of labour, and the congestion in the sheds, but. the Coririna practically^cleared up the sbc-d of the New Plymouth cargo for which orders were issued.

In March and the' early portion of April there .waa. no serious ac» M iulation oE New Plymouth cargo. vre«seJs 1 .departed fully loaded, but the length of tmio betwen sailings ihado the short shipments more serious. During the latter portion of April and in May heavy shipments arrived, ahd the sheds became badly congested, while with labour in short supply serious short shipments resulted. .

The board, Mr. Harkness held, was in no way to blame for "the position.-