Freights on N.Z. Produce. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2677, 5 July 1905, Page 9

Freights on N.Z. Produce. TO THE EDITOR.

Sib —That the proposal to establish a direct service to West of Englard and Scotland is already being taken up by the Chambers of Commerce, in Cardiff, Manchester, and Bradford and will, I doubt not, be taken up by other parts of Britain, is evidence of the immense benefit such a service would be to Great Britain and New Zealand. Up to tne present we have had to ship our produce to Lcndo", to be carried at great expense to the place -of sale or manufacture in other parts of the kingdom. Take wool, for instance: Liverpool or Manchester is the natural port fox this product, seeing that the great ni^ufacturing centres are adjacent thereto. Why carry to LondoE and pay the enormous charges for carriage that . are thereby mads necessary? Then the frozen meat trade is in the same position, and dairy produce also. If we take the County of Middlesex, which has London with its immense population, and take the same area round Liverpool or Manchester—and you have a larger population in proportion to the same space. Then theie ia Glasgow and surrounding di&tricts with their teeming thousands; Bristol and Cardiff are also thickly-populated centres. Take the trade in dairy produce— not more than one-fourth is consumed in and around London; therefore three-fourths has to be sent at great expease by rail to the other parts of Britain. Take butter alone: 12,000 tons would have to be railed to other centres, at a cost of not less than £ 12,000 to £18,080, this large amount would be saved to the producer. The same applies to wool and meat. Besides that, there is the probability that the London merchant gets bis profit before it goes paat-bim, a commision that could be saved.^Than tihere is the question of freights from Great Britain to New Zealand, which are excessively high, and which •would bi placed on a more satisfactory basis.

I understand that on some clas&es of goods at least throa times ihe amount is charged by the present shipping ring to New Zealand compared with charges to Australia. Moreover, m their endeavour to keep out competition German goods are carried at lower rates (I believe 25 per cent, lower, but am not certain about the proportion) than th© goods of our fellow countrymen in Great Britain. German agents m New Zealand are therefore -enabled to undersell the British manufactures. Have we no warm side to our kith and kin in Britain? I think so. Everything points to Ike necessity of extended facilities for trade, and if th© proposed service is established the merchants in Britain will soon insist on direct shipment to the nearest poit, and save railage and the profits of tie Londoa "larchsnts.

In the past season prices were good, and wa were able to bear the high rates of freight with a light heart; but when the RussianJapanese war is over the position will be altered . the immense area available in Siberia will be utilised to the fullest extent, and butter producers m New Zealand will have to put up with reduced prices, probaVy from |d to Id per lb. How will they b© able to stand the high rates agreed to in tha contract entered into by Messrs Harkness and Scott, and agreed to by the National Dairy Associations of New Zealand? The day of reckoning will come, make no mistake about that, iwhen the butter makers of New Zealand will recognise who were their friends and who harded them over to the capitalist. As regards the Taiexi and Peninsula Company, alone representing 2000 farmers (and it must affect others equally), the saving would be as follows, supposing the South African service to be discontinued and a direct servica to the West of England established where our produce is sold, and calling at Port Chalmers: — 1200 tons at £2 33 4d per ton . . . . £2600 Freezing chaargas Lyttelton, and railage to and from steamer, £1 3s 4d per ton 1400 Railage to Liverpool and Glasgow at an average of 30s per ton 1800 JESBOO This amount would be distributed among the farmers of Otago. and I would say to every farmer interest-eel, urge your representative in Parliament to help you to establish a sea-vice of such great imxjortance to you. — i I ana, etc., i ! * Wu. J. Bolt, i June 30, 1905. | SPRAYING MIXTURES. j j Bordeaux mixture is the name given to ! a potato-spraying- mixture in which the alkali is used to neutralise the acidity of the I sulphate of copper in lime; that in which washing soda is employed for this purpose is known as Burgundy mixture. The composition of each oi these mixtures is as follows : — Bordeaux 2 per cent. Mixture — 21b sulphate .of copper (98 per cent, pure), lib unslacked J lime, 1Q gallons pure water. Burgundy Mixture — 21b sulphate of copper, 2Jlb pure washing soda, 10 gallons pure water. In reference to the relative -efficacy of these mixtures the Mark Lane Express says : "Owing to the claim made on behalf of the Burgundy mixture that it sticks better on the foliage and is not so easily .washed off by rain, it is fast coming into more general use in Great Britain."