LONDON AS A PORT

Evening Star, Issue 19710, 10 November 1927, Page 3

LONDON AS A PORT

THE WORLD'S GREATEST ROMANCE OF THE THAMES London stands out unique among the seaports of the world in its antiquity, in its'unbroken chain of history, and in the magnitude of its trade. Almost 51),1)00,000 tons of shipping entered and cleared the Port of London last year, according to the annual report of the Port Authority, which was issued this week over t»io signature of the chairman (writes a correspondent of the 1 Sydney Morning Herald,’ September 15). Most people know that London is the greatest port in the world, with New York, Antwerp, Hongkong, and Hamburg somewhere in the rear. Hut few realise how easily it leads the other ports of Britain, It does about twice as much business as Liverpool, fivo times as much two and a-half times as much as Southampton, more than throe times as much as Cardiff or Newcastle, and about six times as much as Glasgow. More than 50,000 men are registered as transport workers in the Port of London, and the Port Authority’s staff numbers 12.800.

■ What a part the river Thames at London has played in the history of the Empire. The earliest man who discovered that the Thames could be forded at this spot; the Celt who built the first rude hut near the fora; the small British community who constructed the nucleus of a trading centre; the Romans who mingled their blood with the British inhabitants, and united the qualities that wmdo for law and order with the Celtic imagination, and enlarged London ami its tnirie, the Saxons who grafted themselves on the Romano-British stock, and expanded the possibilities of the town; the subesquent Danes, Norwegians, ami Normans who linked themselves with the earlier races and raised up a great nation and Empire—all these, m turn, played a part in the building up of the Port of London. Now. night and day, the heavily-laden ships of trade come and go. Now 1,000 ships of all sizes pass Gravesend every twenty-four hours, and 1,000 entries in a hook are made by a look-out man in a tower at Tilbury. The dock line starts at Tilbury, and may be said to cud at Molesey, near Hampton Court, where the Dutch motor schooners now unload their brick cargoes direct from Rotterdam. Loudon’s great network of docks, its quays, and wharves, and warehouses, are spread over 50 miles of river bank. The fleet of ocean giants is ever increasing. The biggest vessel that Infs ever entered the Thames is the Red Star liner Belgcnland, with her 27,133 tons, hut 20.000-ton Cunarders, having jilted Liverpool, have recently made London their home. Four and five thousand tenners will soon be able to unload within a few yards of London Bridge itself. Hitherto, ships only a quarter of their size have berthed there. TREASURES OP THE WORLD.

The next step in the development of London’s waterway is the possibility of Tilbury becoming a serious rival to Southampton and Liverpool as an Atlantic passenger port. The £4,000,000 scheme for port improvements includes a sum of £2,275,000 for the construction of a new dock at Tilbury to accommodate the largest liners afloat, a landing stage similar to that at Liverpool, but shorter, and a riverside station for through trains to other ports and industrial centres. Ships like the Majestic and the Leviathan, after disembarking passengers at the landing stage, will berth and “ turn round” in the new dock. Its construction will provide work for 1,000 men for four or five years.

These great docks represent only one phase of the Port of London Authority's work. Hidden from the ordinary traveller or dweller in London are the great town warehouses, as they are called. There are two of these warehouses, almost in the heart of the city of London, for the warehousing of sonic of the valuable commodities imported. The more extensive of these is the Cutler street warehouse, approached either through Honmlsditeh or Bishopsgato street. _ It formerly belonged to the East India Company, and covers a ground area of five acres, having a. floor space of f)82,13"ft, a considerable portion of which is devoted to tea from Ceylon and India. Oriental rugs, too, are shown in this warehouse, the best; coming from Persia; and there is an important depot for Chinese and Japanese porcelain and other wares—the Satsnma and the Cloisonne—carved ivory figures, bronzes, lacquer cabinets, silk and satin screens beautifully embroidered, vases and bowls of beaten brass Egyptian coffee pots and holders. Japanese pictures, ancient manuscripts from Persia and Mexico. The visitor will also note raw and waste silk, and silk and cotton piece goods, from China. Japan, and Bengal, the value of silk piece goods alone sometimes reaching to £700.000. There arc also ostrich feathers from Africa, for which public salcs are held about six times a year. This warehouse is, too, the groat depot for cigars, the finer sorts coming from Havana, the Philippine Islands. Madras, and Burma. In the drug department all the great drag staples of the world are to be found.

WOOL FROM AUSTRALIA. Australia, of course heads the list with the importation of wool, and great warehouses are provided for its storage. London is not as w» know, uic nianuLicturing centre of the woollen industry. Yet 1,881,858 bales were imported last year. The market is here, and more buyers arc said to bo present at the London wool sales than at any other wool market in the world. The wool warehouses of the Port Authority embrace a scrics_ of buildings extending over a portion of the London and St. Katherine docks. Their lloor space covers nearly one and a quarter million feet, or about 30 acres, with a storage capacity of nearly 200,000 bales. The top floors arc set apart for displaying the wool for inpcction by prospective buyers. These floors, called the showrooms, have an area of more than eight acres, with a capacity for exhihitinig 40,000 hales at one time.

The meat trade of London is u trade unto itself. Home-produced moat furnishes a little more than half of the total quantity available for consumption in .Britain, and about 70 per cent, of the total imports of meat into Great Britain is absorbed by. the London market. While the frozen meat trade has been maintained at a constant level during the past fifteen years, the quantity of chilled meat passed over the Port Authority’s dock quays has increased threefold. Altogether the cold storage premises now owned by the Port Authority will hold 1,035,000 carcasses of meat.

The port of London, with its great London and St. Katherine docks, the West India, East and Milwnll docks, the Surrey Commercial docks, the Boy a! Victoria. Royal Albert, and King George. V. docks, and the Tilbury docks, Is no now port established in recent times to serve modern need. It dates back to a period long before recorded history. For its beginnings one must penetrate Iho mists of more than twenty _ centuries. _ Its story is to be found in a beautifully-produced book, ‘The Port of London, Yesterday and To-day,’ first issued privately by the Port of London Authority.