RAILWAY TRUCKS.

Grey River Argus, 26 June 1906, Page 1

RAILWAY TRUCKS.

THE ALLECED SHORTACEt A SAWM I L L E RS' COMPL AIN T. RESU LTS OF AN IwVEST!CA- - TION. CAPACITY OF PRESENT ROLLING STOCK. Complaints regarding- the shortage of railway rolling wagons for the carriage of timber are so frequsitl.y txpressed by sawmillers on tht: West Coast that they are usually leceived with a certain^ amount of scepticism especially as it is generally surmised that the complainants themselves am sometimes at fault — the uvalrv be tween people in the same line -of business frequently resulting, if ccuciiii statements in circulation can be creditedj in one sawmiller app yin^ for and getting more -trucks tha:a he knows he requifes: . It is gcneraLy known that several months' agj cqn*siderablie additions were made to"tbe wagon rolling stock on' this secrion c'r the railways, and these wagons wi;h those previously in use are sutnei'snt, according to the contentions of the railway authorities, to cope with the output of all the mills served by the railways. Usually the complaints regarding the shortage of trucks '-'have been made by shippers of timber, but according to a statement made to a representative of the Argus by a local sawmiller, those who require timber for local requirements, or ' local orders," as they are called, are even at a. greater disadvantge in this respect than shipeprs. A SPECIFIC STATEMENT. The specific statement made by the local sawmiller above-referred to, was that he has had since January last, at a certain railway siding, a quantity ot timber ranging from 50,000 to 75,00 c super ft. of which he has been unable to have 30,000 super ft. transported;: by rail to town. Some of the white! pine included in the stack which he,v has been unable to get transported; was absolutely rotten. •'Why have you not been able get it removed?" asked the reporter.* "Because I haven't been able to get' the , wagons to overtake the work that has been offering," was the reply.- --* "You have applied to the railwayauthorities for trucks ?" ) "Yes, time and again." ; *"- "When, did you last apply?" ' "On Friday, May 25th." --' * "What replies have you usually received ?" f^That they would do their best." Continuing, he said that as far as coping with the local timber business' the railway service was utterly unable to do it. Whilst shipping operaations are being conducted there are not sufficient wagons to do all the work — the shipping monopolising all the available wagons. When shipping operations were suspended owing to stress of weather or -the bar being bad, the wagons are not available — they are standing loaded on the wharf awaiting -the resumption of work on the ships. For six weeks, he added, at three mills he knew of there was about a quarter of a million superficial feet waiting to be transported to town,' and the" f aiF : way authorities had been unable to touch a stick of it. HOW BUSINESS IS AFFECTED. As ia further instance of the alleged inadequacy of -railway rolling stock the same sawmiller stated that at the beginning of May he applied for wag 7 . ons to remove 110,000 super ft. from a siding not twenty miles from town. His reson for so doing was that he had previously been workng on freehold land, and was about to commence cutting on Crown lands^ and in order to save complications regarding the payment- of royalty, it was necessary to have the timber cut from the freehold : removed before he started to cut on the Crown lands. ■ During the month he got seven or eight trucks which were not sufficient to remove the quantity mentioned. At the end 0 fhe month there was jnore timber at the sidng than at the beginning of the month. Four times during the past twelve months he had to make special arrangements with the contractor who was running his mill and who had threatened to throw up his contract because of the delay in getting the timber away owing to the non-supply of the necessary trucks. At another mill he knew there was ,100,000 super ft. on the skids, completely filling them whilst 30,000 ft. had had to be piled up behind necessitating the double handling of that timber. He did not think that a ralway run by a company would treat their patrons in this way. AN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION.. Having had these definite complaints made to him the Argus representative considered it his duty to ascertain what the railway authorities had to say in reply. Accordingly the statements made were put beftore Mr J. Ashley,; the district : traffic manager, with whom the reporter had two interviews. Mr Ashley beng unable at the first one to state whether or^not ! the allegations made were accurate. At the first interview Mr Ashley "went fully into the question of how the trucks are apportioned amongst sawmillgrs. ,With regard to the requirements for shipping orders of sawmillers belonging to the Association, the quota of trucks available is communicated to the secretary of the Association, who apportions them amongst the different sawmillers who, in the case of a sawmiller who has more than one mill, instructs the railway official who has control of the trucks as to the number he wishes to be. sent to each mill. Mills not in the Association receive from the railway official similar information as to the trucks that are available for their respective mills. In the case of a miller who wants trucks for "local orders" he' deals diiect -with the railway offi cial. Mr Ashley pointed out that what the railway authorities endeavor ed to do was to see that every mill in the district had a fair average of trucks supplied the s m, but they had not the slightest control in the matter of how the trucks were loaded. -A miller might say that he wanted trucks for "local orders," but might find it to his advantage to' load shipping orders; so that though trucks were supplied for "local orders" thfiv might be loaded with timber for shipment. Without informing anyone of his intention Mr Ashley the day following visited the mills mentioned.. .MR ASHLEY'S INVESTIGATION. ' 6n being seen on his return Mr Ashley stated that he had visited the mills, and had found that the quantity of timber stated by the sawmiller to the Argus representative was certainly there. In all there was 250,000 super ft. of timber, of which 200,000 1 super ft. was for Greymouth. He 1 contended, however, that tKe millers , to whom the mills belonged had had their fair proportion of 'empty trucks j available, and the only explanation of 1 the large accummulation of timber 1 at the mills that he could give was , that the millers had used the trucks supplied" for shipping orders. Dur- ' ingmhe fortnight previous to his visit Mr "AtKLm— cta±ad__tKa±— cma-nf ftio rml-

lers mentioned had got- 5 U trucks one U.B. truck. 2The reporter reminded Mr Ashley of a letter of complaint sent by the sawmiller, and asked if he could explain, why -it had not been answered. Mr Ashley stated that it was usual for all letters addressed to the Traffic Manager dealing with\ requests for trucks to be dealt with the official who has control of the trucks. If the the" letter referred to contained anything in the. nature of a complaint it ought to have be referred to him, but 'it-had not reached him. In. their own interests he thought the sawmillers should communicate to him direct if they found out that they were not receiving fair treatment in the matter 'of trucks. f Within a few days the state of affairs originally complained of were remedied;, and the sawmiller was kept supjplied with the ' necessary trucks to transport his timber to town. „^THE SUPPLY OF TRUCKS. *r In connection with the supply of amber trucks on the Westland section *)f- the railways, it is worthy of note t that whilst six months' ago the carry|ag capacity of the available trucks was 0njy_395,200 super ft., ihe trucks i^ow available carry 509,600 super" ft. This total is arrived at as follows :— r Capacity of Total. No Class Each Capacity 42 ... " U 6,400 268,800 i!A ••• UB 10,000 140,000 Timber trucks 2,800 100,800 Total ... 509,600 This capacity"" it is considered, is sufficient for the requirements of the port and with the present wagons the railway authorities contend that they can meet the demands of shippers. Enquries made as to - the v amount of timber which can be loaded in a day go to show that.it-is under the total capacity that the railway rolling stockis capable of delivering. The record amount of timber loaded is stated to have been on one occasion when the Kittawa «was receiving, a cargo. On that occasion one U wagon (6,400 super ft.) was discharged per hour at )each of the three hatches. Pre suming this rate "could be maintained for' 24 hours the' amount that, could be loaded would be 460,000 super ft. At present there is practically only available one timber-loading berth so •that the amount mentioned is practically the makimum that could be dealt •with in 24 hours on the wharf. The available railway .rolling . stock could deliver nearly 50,000 super ft. in excess of the amount that could be dealt with by the shipping. 1 [The investigations detailed in the above article were made about three weeks ago, but "from various causes the' publication of the article has been held over.