The Daily News. TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1902. LOADING BUTTER, ETC.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIV, Issue 11, 14 January 1902, Page 2

The Daily News. TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1902. LOADING BUTTER, ETC.

Our Patea contemporary claims for the grading works there a record in the matter of loading butter because the Mana loided 1733 boxes of butter in one hour and twenty minutes. There is no objection to their doing so, but he goes on to add" This pans out at the rate of 2420 an hour. More pretentious grading works reckon that 1000 boxes an hour is quick loading, so that the local works people and the master and crew of the Mana can put a big feither in each of tl»ie caps on their achievement, which we bave reaton to believe will take some beating in any j-.irt of the colony." We should not have noticed this absurd boist but for tbe fact that it evidently aimed at New Plymouth and was carefully copied into the Hawera Star avid circulated by that paper all through i J the Waimate Plains, which is part ot the New Plymouth Harbour District.! The ratepayers there, owing to the distance from New Plymouth, have so few opportunities of judging of the facilities for shipment of * dairy produce at the breakwater that such state- [ ments are misleading. Although no 1 attempt has been made, at the breakwater, to put up a record, butter has, on several occasions, been mg continuously, and including time spent in shunting, the batter is generally loaded at the rate of 10,000 boxes for five hours work. Of course it must be understood the men cm handle the butter much faster when quite fresh atid working for an hour or two only; but at New Plymouth the men have to load the butter after from six to ten hours heavy , work discharging cargo. In tbe case of the Upolu, she generally starts discharging cargo at midnight on Sunday and the men work continuously, with ! shoit spells for meals, for 17 hour?. 1 EVom 400 to 600 tons of cargo have to be discharged, the butter being loaded during the last five or six hours, and from 12,000 to 15,000 boxes have to ba dealt with. It ia just 88 well for ratepayers to know that captains of steamers admit that they get as quick discharge at New Plymouth as in any port in the colony. On s.ivei al occasions five vessels have beeaberthel at the breakwater at one time, aggregating oyer 3000 tons, and over 1000 tons of inwari cargo has been diecharged and railed into New Plymouth, as well as a large quantity of outwrrd cargo dealt with during 15 hours working. While we agree that much is wanting, ratepayers can rest assured that they have good value for the money invested at New Plymouth.