Northland Age The Voice of the Far North FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1949 POTENTIAL TRANSPORT

Northland Age, Volume XVIII, Issue 41, 25 February 1949, Page 3

Northland Age The Voice of the Far North FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1949 POTENTIAL TRANSPORT

Our leading article of some few issues back dealing with potentialities of the North has raised a considerable amount of discussion and general interest throughout the county, this with particular reference to the north. Such interest prompts one to proceed with the matter some stages further, inasmuch as it is found since that date that sugar cane is being grown successfully already within the environs of Awanui and Kaitaia. In view of the fact that there is a local sugar shortage at present, and this state of affairs has happened on more than olne occasion recently, this growth of cane is particularly interesting. It. remains now to be shown just what the percentage of sugar sap will be obtained from that cane, which is now in full growth. If this percentage is on a par with that grown in Queensland, or even if it is a little below that, it seems as if then we have a commodity of everyday use which will prove a blessing to this New Zealand. It must be remembered that Queensland took up growing this merely because it was so inconvenient to transport sufficient for Australia’s use from Fiji. Labour was the first consideration at that time, and to overcome this indentured labour was obtained from the Pacific Islands. It was not long before this practice was stopped by the then Government and it was decided that only white labour, with the addition of stich aboriginal labour that might be offering, should be used in the cultivation and preparation of Australia’s sugar. As a result, sugar in Australia was retailed at a much higher price than in New Zealand, being 4id per lb even in the days of depression when sugar here was only about 2d. Inversely, when sugar rose here through the war years, and maintained its high price even after the war was entering into the limbo of things forgotten, sugar still was retailed in Australia at 4id per lb. There was a reason for this. We in New'Zealand were under the difficulty of having to seafreight every pound of sugar that came to the country. The sea lanes, almost during the whole of the war years, were hazardous to say the least, and as a result higher pay was made to seamen with an added amount monthly for war risk. In Australia this disability of sea transport did not prevail. They grew their own. The plantations were at their door, together with the means of transport. They had coastal shipping. They had railways that could take all that was needed to the south. They had the alternative of fine roads with trucks which were capable of carrying six or seven tons of the granulated sweetness. Kapok had been grown under the same circumstances, and when war came here was another commodity at their hands, this being for use in the matter of manufacture of life-jackets. So. if we in the north can produce enough sugar for the use of the whole of the population of New Zealand, should we not then, under the circumstances today, be encouraged to proceed with the venture. Again there is the question : If we do grow this, what are our chances of getting it transported to a mill, or if a mill be erected here, what are our chances of having the manufactured article transported to the south ? As we are situated at present, the outlook seems more or less hopeless. Our butter products are all transported by sea, and the majority of our everyday needs also come to us by that medium. Road transport is too costly for us to use it to any great extent, in addition to which, the roads are not first class, neither does there seem to be any immediate prospect of them getting better. Awanui port is as good as our local authorities can make it, and it has been proved that we cannot do without it. It has been argued, and rightly so, that the river has been our salvation, but immediately the thought comes, that if we are going to continue to spend money on this more or less ditch, will not those in authority allow us to wallow in the state of loading and transport to which we have become accustomed ? There can only be one answer to that. Yes ! That fact has been demonstrated only too well over these last few years. It cannot be beyond the bounds of possibility to give us a railway. The country lends itself admirably to such, even though we have mighty mountains between us and the South. To follow a river or stream course seems to be the way it could be done. More mileage will be averred, but other countries, and even in our own South Island, this course has been followed successfully to give rail access and egress to seemingly impossible places. It is this lack of transport that is holding back the Far North from blossoming into possibly the richest area of New Zealand, and with this fact borne always foremost in our minds, we must strive to have something done about it forthwith. It is useless sitting back and suggesting that they have tried in the past. That is not enough. It is the constant dripping of the water that wear away the stone. Ship-owners should not be worried over the advent of road and rail transport. Such transport would be the means of opening up more lands with more produce to transport, and maybe would be the means of having installed in our midst a sugar mill, thus again with more produce to carry, and this would be of such a nature that seaways would get more than a share. Most of the inward transport woudl still be of the sea, for manures and bulk cargo of like nature would be best carried in tile holds of ships, and the ultimate cost to the user would prove cheaper. Admittedly, there would be a leavening out of transport, so that ail would get a share, and this is rightly so, for monopolies would go. All, like the old bay tree, woudl flourish and as a result the residents of the county as a whole would benefit. So again, bearing all this in mind, together with such other arguments that can be thought of in favour of better transport, let us press and always continue to press for better service for our community and county by way of alternative and suitable transport.