The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 1922. THE GREEDY CAPITAL.

Southland Times, Issue 19478, 30 March 1922, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 1922. THE GREEDY CAPITAL.

Some time ago we drew attention, to the effect of a new system of showing the statistics of outward shipments from New Zealand ports, and we showed that the changes made at the instance of the Government Statistician’s office would swell the export figures for the four main ports at the expense of the other ports of the Dominion. The satisfaction with which Wellington greeted this departure was positive proof of the effect of the Government Statistician’s move, because Wellington will probably benefit to a greater extent than any other port, by having included in its figures as shipped from its wharves cargo which was loaded into vessels elsewhere and was not touched by any Welling; on hand. The Government Statistician’s reply to our comment waq that this system was used elsewhere, and that other statistics would show what each, province produced. This does not meet the objection that if the port of final departure is to be credited with all the cargo carried by the vessel the actual loading ports will be deprived of credit, and the final port—Wellington benefiting by this system more than other ports —will acquire an artificially inflated reputation. Under this system a vessel which loads 100 tons at Wellington as her final port; or even does no more than complete bunkering, will swell the Wellington statistics by thousands of tons. The danger in this changed system is real, because there are all too apparent signs that the interests in the main ports, in. Wellington particularly, are maintaining with unwavering persistency, an advocacy of the “main port only” idea, which means, of course, that outlying harbours are to be cut out of the itineraries of ocean-going vessels, and the districts they serve are to be compelled to submit to transhipment charges. Traders in Invercargill know what this means. This town, and through it the whole of Southland, is suffering from the penalty now to the extent of about thirty shillings a ton on the whole of the cargo imported from Britain and America, and if Wellington can get its way the position will be even worse. In a few years the capital will begin to quote its inflated figures to show that the outer ports have so little interest in oceangoing trade that liners should not be permitted to go there. In a rather less brutal guise this view was put forward at a recent meeting of the Wellington Harbour Board by Mr G. Mitchell, who condemned what he was pleased to call the “flat rate anomaly.” Mr Mitchell argued that because Wellington had spent large sums of money in providing shipping facilities, freights on cargo to be discharged at its wharves should be lower than those ruling for other ports. The Post report# his remarks in this fashion: This was only encouraging the development of small harbours, where the natural conditions were not suitable, so that the shipper might save the cost of railing produce to the main port. It seemed to him that they were not getting a fair deal from the shipping companies, who, in charging a flat rate, were loading on to the efficient harbours the lo® from the small ports, where produce had, perhaps, to be lightered out. The board should take up the matter, and approach the shipping companies, .as the board, was losing trade by the system. Here is a clear statement of the greedy policy of grabbing trade for the capital’s harbour at the expense of people situated in other parts of the Dominion and contributing more to the actual wealth of the Dominion. If Mr Mitchell’s arguments are sound, there should be no need for any port other than Wellington, but the cost of transhipment of imports and exports would. /K’in t. aerioua Jhing a

ion in the long run. Mr Mitchell might suggest that Wellington has a bigger post office than Otautau, and should, therefore, have its letters conveyed to London for a lower charge. Mr Mitchell’s remarks were seriously debated, the opposition coining from the shipping companies’ representatives, but their reception should be enough to put the harbour boards outside of the main ports on their guard, lest the greedy capital grabs, through the meat pool or otherwise, a gourmand’s portion of the country’s trade, and asks Southland, amongst others, to pay for the capital’s gluttony.