INCREASED WHARFAGE ACCOMMODATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 21, 4 November 1879, Page 2

INCREASED WHARFAGE ACCOMMODATION.

The injustice under which the Port of Foxton — and in consequence the sawniillers of Manawatu — at present suffer through want of proper wharfage accommodation, was rather unpleasantly illustrated on Saturday last. The river was alive with shipping, there being four sailing vessels and three steamers, whilst a paternal Government has provided the port for about 10,000 people with wharfage for two steamers, only one of which can be worked with convenience at one time ! What was the result ? The majority of the vessels were unable to work, and the crews were compelled to remain idle. Nor is this the worst. Two of the vessels in port were awaiting cargoes of timber, and were ready to receive it, but were unable to obtain berths, and the timber lying upon the trucks for them, was consequently emptied out into the railway yards, thus necessitating an extra charge of sixpence per hundred feet, for two handlings, because the vessels could not get alongside the wharf to load up ! Such a charge, demanded by Government, is monstrous. It is obtaining money under false pretences. On the assumption that the vessel is ready to receive her cargo, the sawmiller ships it ; but the Government actually prevent — by want of accommodation — the ship from receiving it, and because of its lack of wharfage, charges the extra sixpence per hundred feet, or an amount almost equal to the total cost of carriage from the mill to the wharf. Surely no further proofs are needed of the urgent requirements of the port for mci eased wharfage. During the next few months vessels will be constantly arriving to transport sleepers to Southern ports, and whilst these vessels are at the wharf, the ordinary timber trade, which is the staple of Manawatu, is placed at a tremendous disadvantage. The arrival of a steamer — and the average arrivals are three or four per week — means the immediate vacation by a sailing vessel of the only good and convenient berth the port possesses — to the obvious loss of the shipowner, and the consequent detriment of Foxton as a shipping port. It will therefore be seen that the disadvantages under which the port suffers are of the gravest character, and demand speedy action. Prompt and united effort by the inhabitants to urge the matter upon the Government would not, we bolieve, be without effect. Certainly, nothing would be bat by trying.