SHIPMENT OF DAIRY PRODUCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 July 1925, Page 6

SHIPMENT OF DAIRY PRODUCE.

The statement made to the News last evening by Mr. H. D. Forsyth, Taranaki s representative on the Dairy Control Board, that the board had no intention of cutting out New Plymouth as a poi t of call for the new, regular and faster shipping service, but had practically decided to establish a shipping office in New Plymouth as well as in Wel- , lington am] Auckland in the North Island, will be received with satisfac ■ tmn by the whole of Taranaki. It had •been reported, on fairly good authority, that the board had decided upon concentration at the two large North Island ports. This would have been a retrogressive move and one that would not prove to be in the best interests of the industry. For some years past Taranaki has been exporting nearly a fourth of the total dairy produce of the Dominion, and to continue to send It to Wellington to be unloaded and transferred to- another ship for London would be to defeat the very object of the Control Board, which is to reduce handling and save time and money. A far more businesslike course Is to arrange the shipping so that the- boats can call fortnightly at New Plymouth, pick up the province's produce, and complete loading at Wellington and sail direct for London. . Similarly, in the South Island, boats could call alternatively at two of the three ports (Lyttelton, Port Chalmers and the Bluff). As a matter of fact, the latter port would probably ship more dairy produce than Lyttelton, just as Taranaki would ship more than Wellington were It to drain, as it should, the territory nearest to the port, but the produce from which, with Taranaki’s, now goes to swell Wellington’s total exports and give it a fictitious position as an exporting centre. The New Plymouth Harbour Board has given proof, by berthing and working the Port Melbourne recently, that the harbour is capable of accommodating the largest of the produce boats aud giving them quick dispatch, which, of course, will be demanded by the Control Board. In order to speed up the shipping service and to place our dairy produce on the English market at the earliest possible date—which Is essential if we are to secure the highest prices—an end must be put to the present haphazard system of dawdling around the coast of New Zealand for weeks at a time in quest of meat supplies. Meat must give way to dairy produce, the total value of which is now three times greater than the other. The Control Board ds pledged to this improvement, and we feel sure that it would never seriously entertain the idea of cutting out the port of one of the chief dairy centres such as New Plymouth. The news that a shipping office is to be established here would serve to show that the board is arranging for dairy produce steamers to call at Moturoa regularly. This means that Taranaki will not only be assured of a better and quicker steamer service tor its exports, but also of the establishment of a more regular- and frequent steamer service from the United Kingdom—another distinct advance and a source of considerable convenience aud assistance to Importers and the publie generally.