DIRECT WOOL SHIPMENTS

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12648, 20 September 1909, Page 2

DIRECT WOOL SHIPMENTS

The benefits which will accrue to this district from the inauguration of direct shipments of wool from Nelson for Homo ports, are not to'be calculated on the basis of tlie advantage that will be reaped by wool exporters only, though that will be very considerable. By shipping direct from ' Nelson local growers will effect a saving of about fpur shillings \a* bale, and those loading '.wpolat various places in.the Bay for 'final shipment from Nelson will benefit to the extenit of from two to three /shillings a bale, as compared with the Charges iupurred in transhipat WelJiugtoh.; "- As the -amount ■of wodl -.despatched from, the district in the season is something like four thousand' bales; ?a quamitity that, may be expected linder the present altered conditions to show* a. large- and continuous increase, it -will be seen that in, future a, considerable amount of money will remain^ in Nelson, for the expenditure of '= which this districthas hitherto enjoyied- no particular benefit. Bftt the' main thing is the; establishment of aa assured direct

service for other than and in addition to frozen meat cargo. The success of the agents of the New Zealand Shipping Co. in securing sufficient wool freight to warrant the company sending two vessels to Nelson for that alone, proves that the farmers at any rate, are alive to the advantages of direct shipping, and if fruitgrowers and exporters and importers generally display an equal nead*iness to lay hold of the opportunities now, within their reach, the burden which has retarded progress in the past will soon be in a fair way to removal. Nelson is very favourably situated to become the dis-~ tributing port for the West Coast, and for the more adjacent towns on the west coast of the other island. Witfli a frequent and reliable oversea service a concrete fact, we are now in a position to command the attention of these places, and if the progress of events be carefully watched and intelligently haaidled, there is no reason to doubt thait the importance of Nelsori as a port, of direct shipment will be enormously enhanced in the near future.