The Patea County Press, (With which is incorporated The Patea Mail.) "Be Just and Fear Not." MONDAY, 26th SEPT, 1898. WISE COUNSEL.

Patea Mail, Volume XI, Issue 109, 26 September 1898, Page 2

The Patea County Press, (With which is incorporated The Patea Mail.) "Be Just and Fear Not." MONDAY, 26th SEPT, 1898. WISE COUNSEL.

That the present activity of the local Chamber of Commerce has done, and is doing, much good cannot be denied, ard in this connection the suggestions of Mr E. A. Adams at last meeting were very far from the least useful propositions that have been brought forward for discussion, The question before the Chamber was one of direct communication with Auckland via Manuhau, upon which of late the Chamber has been carrying on considerable correspondence with the northern capital. The principal objec- : tion raised against inaugurating the direct trade was the absence of return cargo, and it was just here that Mr Adamsbrought forward his suggestion. It was stated, from enquiries made, that some hundred tons of Auckland goods come into port each month, and Mr Adams suggested that the Northern S.B. Coy. be communicated with to ascertain if arrangements could not be made to instal a fortnightly service, at spring tides, by getting the boats which now carry on the weekly WanganuKManukau service to call at Patea on their way to Wanganui and discharge the Patea share of their cargo, and take in any cargo there may be for Auckland or Wanganui and then proceed to the latter port to complete its discharge and reloading. Although this might not be a perfect service, it must still be admitted that it would be a vast improvement on the methods at present extant for the carriage of Auckland goods, and would present no serious difficulty whatever in the matter of the Wanganui trade, but rather the reverse. It was stated at the meeting that the Karbo ur-master—-for many years captain of

steamers plying in this west coast trade- had given it as his opinion that vessels of the class now in the Manukau Wanganui trade would experience no difficulty whatever in working the Patea bar and river at spring tides, and such being the case, it would appear that the inauguration of such a service as that suggested by Mr A damsispractically devoid of difficulty, and the delay in the Wanganui trade would be too small to require attens tion, as in all favourable weather the boats would be able to come in, discharge say fifty tons of cargo, and go out on the same tide ; more especially as the chief cargo brought by that service would be of a description easily handled, and consequently quickly discharged; while the boat being thus ligffiened (and properly trimmed) would be in still better condition for taking the bar when going out than when coming in, and so be exempt from any risk. We are quite with Mr Adams in the opinion that return cargo will present itself in the near future, when a regular service is inaugurated ; but that it must not be looked for in the direction of live stock, as held by some members of the Chamber, the sea trip round the cape as compared with the Waitara-Manu-kau service putting the route practically “ out of the running ” ; and, again even supposing that the return cargo is slow of growth—though, of course, it is not easy to see why it should be still the delay to a vessel, bound from Manukau to Wanganui, by calling in at Patea would be so very small as to be beyond the necessity of calculation or consideration. We hope the Chamber of Commerce will pursue this question in the direction indicated by Mr Adams, and we have no doubt that much good will result to the port and district by the establishment of such a service.