Railway Best For Inland Towns

Northern Advocate, 10 May 1939, Page 3

Railway Best For Inland Towns

MR H. F. GUY

Kaikohe Co-operative Dairy Copany, Ltd., finds its interests best served by rail transport as opposed to the ste'amer service.

This statement was made by the chairman of directors, Mr H. F. Guy. ; “The location of the factory was selected because of its adjacency to the railway,” said Mr Guy. When the factory was built it had been planned to provide a siding to improve handling facilities, but so far nothing had come of this suggestion. Prompt Delivery Prompt delivery to the port at Auckland, and a daily service if required, were the chief advantages of rail transport in the handling of butter, said Mr Guy, especially as the company’s factory stood right alongside the railway. . The truck system did not affect the company, Mr Guy said in reference to this point. Butter was railed on the freightage system in direct competition with shipping rates.

Realising that the best interests of Kaikohe and district lay in leaving the retail trade in the hands of the business community, Kaikohe factory was not a trading concern, handling no more than the recognised farm requirements, (and thus the question of rail charges in relation to goods hardly entered into the question. Development of District The advent of the rail, and the improved communications linking up 'with it, had been the greatest factor in the development of the North, said Mr Guy. While he 'admitted that the shipping service had bean the only means of transport in the early days, there was little doubt that the interests of an inland town and district such as Kaikohe, could now best be served by the railways.