IMPORTS FROM ASIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27385, 10 May 1950, Page 6

IMPORTS FROM ASIA

Evidence Of Large Expansion

Tangible evidence of a large expansion in the import trade with Southeast Asian countries is seen in the increasing number of shipments of Eastern produce now arriving in New Zealand. Several shipments have already reached Dunedin this year, and now another is due in the freighter Pentakota at the week-end.

Catered comfortably for by one New Zealand cargo vessel before the war, this trade now provides a continuous service for two Union Steam Ship Company vessels, the Wairimu and the Wairata, which between them have a cargo capacity of about 16.000 tons. In addition, assistance is frequently obtained from the British India Steam Navigation Company. That company, for instance, owns the Pentakota, and also chartered the Welsh vessel Dan-y-bryn, which delivered the annual shipment of dates from Basrah to Dominion ports. Bitumen from Abadan, and ground nut kernels and cotton piece goods from Indian ports comprise the greater part of the cargo in the Pentakota, but these items are only a few of the many which are imported from the East. The Wairata is at present at Rangoon loading rice for New Zealand. and her next ports of call are Calcutta, to take on jute, and Colombo, for a substantial quantity of tea. Her ports of discharge are Auckland, Napier, Wellington, Lyttelton and Dunedin.

Other ports of call for much the same type of cargo are included in the itinerary of the Wairimu, at present at Auckland, but due soon to sail for Singapore. Jute is to be loaded at Calcutta, linseed at Vizagapatam, on the east coast of India, tea at Colombo, rubber and pineapple at . Singapore, and kapok and peanuts at Java. Though the Dominion trade with South-east Asian countries is predominantly of an import nature, there is, however, a growing demand in those countries for New Zealand primary products.