TRADE AND PROGRESS.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 September 1924, Page 5

TRADE AND PROGRESS.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. GOODSHED CONGESTION. COMPLAINT OF DELAY. The quarterly meeting of the Tara* naki Chamber of Commerce was held last night, Mr. Gordon Fraser presid* ing over an attendance of over forty members. The president opened the meeting by welcoming the new members, and explained that the meeting had been called especially for the members so that they could bring up any matters they wished and comment, adversely if they desired, on the operations of the council. Criticism, he said, was just What the council wanted. He then briefly reviewed the activities of the council since the last meeting, full accounts of which had appeared in the press from time to time. Members would know, he said, that * proposal to provide extra police at New Plymouth had been rejected by the department, but the chamber would take further steps to find out particulars. Tfio question of a survey of Mt. Egmont had been brought to the notice of the Government, and it seemed probable that something would be done in the near future. The immigration committee had been thoroughly satisfied with the experiment of bringing boys from England to learn farming and had decided to bring opt 5(? more next vear. The New Plymouth Harbour Board had taken the chamber into its confidence regarding the new loan proposals and projected works, and *he representative of Armstrong, Whitworth, Ltd. (Colonel Greenbough) would be arriving in New Plymouth on Saturday night to further discuss the proposals. With regard to a slot telephone at the Breakwater, the department had stated that it could not instal one unless a sum of £3O. the estimated annual toss on the installation, was contributed, but the chamber intended to make further inquiries. A ROAD MATTER. Mr. Benoni White raised the queatjon of metalling the Lower Mangorei Road. For twelve years, said Mr. White, settlers on the road had petitioned the County Council on frequent occasions to have a small section of road, 181 chains In length, which extended from Avenue Road towards New Plymouth. metailod. The council, however, had turned .a deaf ear and nothing had been don», in spite of tho fact that thousands of pounds had been collected in rates from the settlers on the road. In very wet Weather the mails could not get through and people travelling from Lower to Upper Mangorei were forced to take a circuitnon* route via the Avenue and Junction Roads.

The matter was eertainlv one of Interest tn the chamber, said the chairman, and would be considered by the executive. “Could not some action be taken In regard to the railwav goods-sheds?” asked Mr. Holm. The delay in handling goods, he said, was becoming more serious a* time went on. Only recently there wns an instance of a coastal vessel leaving the port on a Friday and the goods were not available at the goods-slieds until the following Tuesday. Tn view nf the fact that the Harbour Board did not contemplate the erection of sheds at the port for another five years, the Railway Department should, in his opinion, be again approached about providing more shed accommodation either at the present sheds or at Morley Street. He would suggest that the various chambers nf commerce in other parts of Taranaki should bo asked to co-operate in the movement.

Mr. W. J. Penn advocated further negotiations with* the Railwav Department first, on the grounds that the department could not act before as it did not know what tho Harbour Board’s intentions were. The matter was left to the council for consideration. OTHER BUSINESS. Mr. J. T. Griffin raised the quest Inn of the excessively high charge on imported chaff levied by the Harbour Board. This matter was also referred to the council. Mr. R. H. Quilliam delivered a very Interesting and instructive address nn the bankruptcy law and it« opera Hon In New Zealand. By comparison with the English law, Mr. Quilliam pointed out what he considered wore serious defects in the New Zealand system, and advocated action by the chamber in order to have the law amended to give better protection to the creditors and to provide for more exhaustive inquiry Into the affairs of the bankrupt. At the conclusion of his address Mr. Quilliam was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. The members of the chamber then adjourned for refreshments.