NIUE ISLAND TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17650, 10 December 1920, Page 6

NIUE ISLAND TRADE.

INADEQUATE FACILITIES.

STEAMER SERVICE DESIRED.

The need for a better shipping service to Niue Island was emphasised by Mr. R. D. Head who arrived in Auckland by the Tutanekai last evening.

Mr. Head, who is a merchant at Niue Island, stated that the chief industry there was the production of copra. The schooner Jubilee, which was recently trading to the island and is now missing, was too . small to accommodate the cargo offering and a considerable, portion had to be left behind .each trip. Schooners were slow and uncertain as to times of arrival and departure and were not convenient fcr passengers. They could only make a limited number of trips a year, and if anything happened to them the food supplies of the white residents were seriously effected. * The island was under the jurisdiction of . the New Zealand Gov ernment and the residents thought the Government should subsidise a small steamer to trade to Niue Island. - In 1900. when the late Mr. R. J. Seddon visited Niue, he premised that a steamer should trade to Niue, and the residents had been looking for the fulfilment of that premise ever since. •It was understood that a wireless station was to be erected on the island shortly and that would be of material benefit to the residents.