WEST OF ENGLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 102, 27 October 1931, Page 9

WEST OF ENGLAND

«. DIRECT SHIPMENTS KEY TO THE POSITION COMPLAINT AND ANSWER

(From "The Post's" Representative J LONDON, 4th September. i'he Manchester "Evening' Chronicle" devotes a column to tho subject of direct shipments of produce f'om the Dominions. It is stated that as a result of an article in the "Evening Chronicle" of 27th October, 1930, tho public interest was aroused in replacing foreign butter and cheese in favour of New Zealand produce. The "Evening Chronicle" and "Daily Dispatch" were also responsible in great measure for tho success in the shipment of a cargo of New Zealand butter and cheeso in the Surrey to Manchester, where tho ship's hatches wfiro opened on 20th April by the Lord Mayor, the Mayor of Salford, and the High Commissioner for New Zealand. This cargo was sold to retailers and consumers within 2-t hours of its being unloaded from the ship. A growing feeling, says me "Chronicle," that New Zealand and Australian produce shippers are- not catering adequately for the tremendous demand for Kmpirc produce amongst the huge industrial population of Greater Manchester was revealed in interviews. Produce dealers in the city express the view that totally unnecessary costs aro involved in the transport of provisions from' London to Manchester. A wellknown Manchester authority remarked: "The sale of New Zealand, Australian, find Canadian butters and cheese has increased in our area by leaps and bounds, and a conservative estimate of the amount consumed by the four and a. half million people within 25 miles of our port is 400 tons of- Empire butter arid 200 tons of Empire cheese per week. ROAD AND RAIL FROM LONDON. "Of this quantity quite 200 tons of jutter and 50 tons of cheese per week come from New Zealand, and we would expect to see New Zealand ships bringing fortnightly, or at least monthly, supplies up the Canal. The only ship from New Zealand which has come to Manchester since the Surrey in April is the' Middlesex, which arrived with a very small cargo in June. "About 300 tons of New Zealand and Australian butter and 300 tons of cheese are being sent every Week by road and railway from London to Manchester at a. cost of £40,000 per annum in useless transportation, which waste has to be paid for by the consumers of Greater Manchester. "If Manchester merchants sent cotton goods to Adelaide for sale in Sydney or to Auckland for sale in Dunediu, the Australian and New Zealand merchants would think we were mad. The New Zealand and Australian'exporters grumble because Manchester has not in the past consumed thoir produce, and yet, when we are patriotic enough to do so, they overlook tho fact that wo have a canal and docks, and send Manchester produce to London." NEW ZEALAND SERVICES. Mr. D., Graham, of Messrs. Lovcll and Christmas, Manchester, Ltd., provisions merchants, remarked: "For the past ftve years we have- been striving to get increased facilities for direct shipments of butter and cheese to Manchester. Canada, so fur, has been the only country that has responded. The New Zealand authorities arc now arranging for better and more frequent services to the Manchester Ship Canal. The benefits of direct shipments are not to be sought in reduced prices of food to consumers (the margin being so small), but they will bo found in increased activity at the Manchester docks. This, of course, will mean more employment." It will bo remembered that when Sir Thomas Wilford visited Manchester in April he stated frankly that if Manchester merchants would take the risk of buying the produce instead of requiring it on consignment there would be no"difficulty in arranging for regular direct shipments to the port. STATEMENT BY MR. DAVIS. In the "Evening Chronicle" on the following day there appeared a communication from tho London correspondent of Hint journal, in which ho quoted a statement made by Mr. 11. E. Davis, London manager of llio New Zealand Dairy Board. "Years ago," said Mr. Davis, "the New Zealand Dairy Board made ample arrangements for shipments to Manchester and other West Coast ports, and these arrangements still stand. The difficulty is that the merchants in the North will, not avail themselves of these facilities. This matter is entirely in the hands of the importing agents. It is wrong to state that the New Zealand authorities aro now arranging for better and more frequent services to the Manchester Ship Canal. "Never once have we turned down an application for direct shipments. ■Furthermore, only oil one occasion has a ship been, filled by orders from Manchester and the West Coast. Our contract "with the shipping companies states that two boats a month shall be provided for the West Coast run. Only once havo the merchants there taken up that offer. "The Tunning of a. boat into Manchester costs the shipping companies a certain sum of money, and if there is not sufficient cargo aboard it docs not pay them to send there. If tho Manchester merchants order sufiicient direct shipments, the boat will go. If not, it is not a paying proposition for the shipping companies. "I suggest that tho importers of Manchester should arrange for a conference with their London head offices, presided over by the High Commissioner if ho is agreeable, and then perhaps some finality might be obtained to this matter." "I understand," the London correspondent adds, "the chief difficulty is that the supplies for the North arc purchased through London houses, of which tho Manchester merchants are brunches. If the Manchester merchants would make up their minds to order their requirements lo come by direct boat, it. should be easy for them, judging by the figures for the weekly consumption of butter and cheese published in Hie 'Evening Chronicle,' to order in sufficiently large quantities to justify direct delivery."