COASTAL TRADE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13909, 12 March 1909, Page 4

COASTAL TRADE.

rj The landing- at tlie Breakwater 1 by the steamer J?imu of a fe*w (lljox^k of butter from Kawkia on [ two or three occasions lately is, if ( , we mistake not, the beginning- of i) a trade connection between the .('two ports which will in the near (; future £tow to lar^e proportions. vAt present most of the trade of JKawhia and Raglan is done with i Auckland, but it lies under the disadvantage of having to be transhipped at Onehunga and railed between there and Auckland, j Butter hus hitherto been sent by steamei to Onehunga, railed to Auckland, and, if intended for export, placed in the freezing work-; there. Then it has had to be j railed back to Onehunga, shipped on board the Coriuna, and brought | past Xew Plymouth to Wellington jtor transhipment into a Home liner. This, it will be realised, is ia rouhd-about and expensive route, constituting a heavy handicap upon the. industry, and there is also the risk of damage by repeated handling and exposure to be taken into account. On the other hand, the two or three small shipments which have come this way have had less handling ard much prompter despatch, while the butter has been in the freezing works within a few hours of leaving the factory. So great, indeed, are the advantages of this route over the pther that it is practically certain that all the Kawhia butter intended for export will shortly be coming this way. Raglan butter also would come if the Northern S.S. Co. were to give regular communication between that port and the breakwater. Probably also we. shall see the wool, flax, etc., exported from both Raglan and Kawhia coming- here for transhipment to Wellington, until accommodation is provided for large steamers at Moturoa, when of course it will be shipped here. At present the exports are small, but Raglan and Kawhia will be the natural outlet formally hundreds of thousands of acres of splendid fertile country, which will be developed in the near future. The Raglan, Kawhia, Waitomo, and Awakino counties comprise over two million acres of land, and when the last returns were collected there were only about 200,000 sheep and 64,000 cattle upon the whole of that large jarea, which will be capable of carrying fuliy ten times that quantity of stock. What immense possibilities of trade are there here ! Moreover, outcropping upon the Kawhia harbour are seams of good coal, which in the process of developing the country there will be large quantities of timber to be milled and exported. The delopment process, too means that stores, fencing wire; roofing iron, grass seed, and so forth will be required in large quantities, and, although traders here are handicapped in competition with those of Auckland and Wellington, they have advantages in other directions, and it would certainly be worth their while making an effort to secure at least a portion of that trade, and so get a connection which will grow into one of great value when the completion of the harbour places merchants here on the same footing as those of the major ports. By the way, we might suggest to the Harbour Board the advisability of making a rebate of dues upon the butter and other produce which may come from the coastal ports to New Plymouth for transship-

ment to Wellington. The Board v ould lose nothing- l>y it, for til* 1 concession would encourage a tiade which it does not at present handle, and upon which it would receive wharfage one way. We mubt look ahead in these matters and endeavour to obtain a footing in a trade which is certain to >■•- create rapidly in the next fe-" years. Before very long we hope the Hrrbour Board will be in a position to provide shedding accommodation at the wharf for transhipments, when local traders will be placed in a much better position to cater for the requirements oi the districts served by Kawhia and Raglan harbours and ihe IFokau and Tongaporutu rivers. It may not be generally known that the Pitoitoi has lately taken considerable cargoes into the last named river, while in the near future it is likely that a large* area of land in the Mokau district will be opened for settlement, and if Xew Plymouth is alive to its own interests it will endeavour to secure its legitimate share of the trade which will develop.