THE PORT OF LIVERPOOL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3854, 24 January 1928, Page 34

THE PORT OF LIVERPOOL.

A GOOD YEAR. Any upward trend in industry in Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midlands quickly registers itself at the port of Liverpool, and the splendid report of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board just published is an index of prosperous times ahead.

The revenue of the board for the year, from rates and dues received on vessels and goods,, amounted to £2,917,689, which is an increase of £162.892 over the preceding year. It may be added that while rates and dues increased, there was a considerable falling off in the receipts for the ■warehouse rates, some £30,006, but as Mr R. D. Holt, chairman of the board, remarked at the annual meeting, this means low stocks in the warehouses, and probably a consequent need to renew them, thereby bringing about better trade in the near future.

It has been the policy of the board to add to the sinking fund to the extent of £lOO,OOO in each year, and this had been done again, making the total of that account £5,884,913, while £19,000 is carried to unappropriated receipts account. The expenditure on capital account for the year was £860,000, making the total capital expenditure to date £41,377,000, and leaving the balance of capital unexpended at £2,141,780. Nearly the whole of last year’s capital expenditure had been on the Gladstone Dock works and the new entrances at Birkenhead, and it was expected, the chairman said, that the present year would see the end of the expenditure on these works. The expansion in trade in at once a justification of the expense which has been incurred in the construction of the Gladstone Dock (opened in July last by the King), and an indication of what Liverpool may expect in the future as a result of the improvement in ker great dock system which she has been carrying out for many years. The event of the year was the opening of the Gladstone Dock, constructed at a cost of £7,000,000, and though certain works remain to be completed, the dock is in commission and able to meet any demands upon the wonderful facilities it provides. Its value to the trade of the world is well shown by the instances quoted by the chairman of the board of vessels which were enabled to enter or leave the dock, in some cases more than six hours before or after high water. The saving of a tide in this manner will be duly appreciated by those shipowners who are able to take full advantage of the facilities offered, and the effect should ultimately be to cheapen transport costs. In one sense one of the results of the coal strike last year was to add to the Dock Board’s revenue for a period, increased dues on vessels and their cargoes accounting for a considerable sum, but the real effect of the strike was to hold up other industries, with the result that the gain “ must be set against the large unascertainable loss of dues on ordinary merchandise, particularly the export of manufactured goods.” Another effect was to hold up or delay certain extension works which had been planned for carrying out during the past financial year.

Liverpool, as far as the docks are concerned. is ready for the trade revival, and everything will be done to maintain and expand the great docking facilities she possesses, that she may ship for the home populations and meet the requirements of the world.