TRADE WITH THE ISLANDS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8655, 13 February 1914, Page 8

TRADE WITH THE ISLANDS

THE NEW STEAMIER SERVICE

The Wellington. Fruitbrokers’ Absooiation, to. which was referred by the Wellington Chamber of Commerce the letter from the Union Steamship Company announcing the new steamer vice between the capital and the Fiji, Navigator and Friendly Islands, has returned to the chamber its unanimous opinion upon the arrangements. The association holds that longa will not at any. time prove a factor of importance in .seriously affecting fruit requirements for the Dominion, as the markets of Wellington, Canterbury, Otago and Southland are more, than amply supplied from Fiji and Rarotonga. The association continues: “It appears to us that the service now being inaugurated between Wellington and tho South Jsland and Tonga ss somewhat improved; the time occupied in delivering cargo remains about the same, but transhipment at Auckland is avoided. This, However, applies only to Wellington, and not to _ southern ports, transhipment to which is still unavoidable, hut takes .place in Wellington in lieu of Auckland. We are afraid that very little export business to Tonga from Wellington can take place, and if in the past Auckland with a four-day direct service cannot successfully compete with Sydney with a thirteon-fourtecn day trip to the Friendly Islands, then wo feel that the ■ Sydney market must offer distinct advantages to the Island merchants and traders, which are not possessed by New Zealand. We venture to make a suggestion which would be in the. best interests of the whole Dominion, and has long been advocated by public men and merchants of the South Island. . . . Instead of making Auckland the first port of call it must be apparent to any person with the slightest geographical knowledge of the Dominion that Wellington should be the first port touched at, for ‘by this means the interests of the South Island would obtain long-neglected recognition, and Christchurch and Dunedin receive, their shipments of perishable goods in about seven days from time of shipment, as against an average of nearly eleven days. Auckland would be served in about seven days in lieu of five as at present. If the directors of the Union Steamship Com r pany could see their way to make this alteration in the itinerary, there is no doubt that the present service would appeal most favourably to the Dominion as a whole, in being a real effort to study tho respective markets in a fair and equitable manner.”