CONCENTRATING EXPORTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13265, 20 April 1907, Page 7

CONCENTRATING EXPORTS.

HON. R. McNAB'S PROPOSALS. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, April 18. A leading shipping agent, .who has been in erviewed, stiongiy supports the Hon. R. McNab's view t-ilat the exports should bd concentrated at the large ports by means of railway lines. He points out that very heavy expenditure is necessary in equipping the smaller harbours to accommodate the ocean liners. He said that there was not the slightest prospect of steamers loading at fine port only. The liners now call at about eight ports, and! the heavy harbour dues have to be added to the freight, which would be lessened, if only four ports were used. He points out that in Australia, with a much larger population, the liners call- at four ports. TIMARU OPINIONS. Some inquiries were made yesterday by a "Herald" reporter, among local business men and representatives of shipping companies regarding the Hon. R. McNab's proposal to concentrate the shipping of exports at central ports, and the following is the result:— \ Mr J. P. Newman, chairman of the South Canterbury. Chamber : of Commerce, in expressing his opinion on the matter, said that there did not seem to be any likelihood at present of a realisation of such a scheme' for shipping the products of the colony. As. far as he' could see, ,' nothing would ba! gained by such a move. Rates of freight upon all classes of cargo were practically down to tha be-dro'ck, and further reduction-seemed almost out of the question. : Comparing the rates of freight between "Australia and England, and New Zealand and England, Mr Newmari said that the present rate was the same for wool and mutton, and very little more on grain shipped from the two countries. . If any reduction was mads, at all,\ it could not be on the carriage of the latter class of cargo. At present there was. a good deal of fluctuation in freight charges on grain, rates were low when no cargoes of mu.ton or wool were offering, and when there was sufficient for the home-going boat to fill up with mutton or wool, the shipping companies- would not take grain at any price. At other times, i they preferred taking a cargo of grain to sailing empty, and then the freight was very low. An instance occurred last year, said Mr Newman, of a cargo of grain being shipped from the Bluff at the very low rate of 7s 6d° per .ton. This was, of. course, exceptional, but for those who were shipping : grain Home, freight was to be had on an average of frbmi2sto 15s. j -Again, from .the shipping company's point of yisfw, Mr Newman did not £bink they-could: make- any further, reduction"' in their, He was not certain of" the exact cost,* but. the handling charges alone must run*.into at least 5s per ton, so that on a cargo of, grain at the prevailing rate, the company would not'clear much Beyond a shilling -or rtwo. Still, they probably considered half, or even. a quarter, r' - loaf better-than no bread, nT>d accordingly accepted grain when no other cargo was forthcoming. Returning to Mr McNabs remarks, Mr Newman said that it. did not appear to him that " it would pay New Zealand infinitely better to concentrate its trade at its chief ports." There was nothing to be gained by so doing, and much to .be lost." Such a procedure would . involve a . great deal of expense- in handling; and storing would also be necessary in a, good many cases. If the Government were- prepared to reduce their railage charges to practically nothing, or to carry goods free of charge, T irr "order that a J system"of concentration could be t adopted,'then the question of altering the port of shipment might be considered. Under ruling conditions, the idea was absolutely impracticable* and any merchant, of experience- would simply laugh at the Minister's proposition. In his own opinion, Mr McNab. was lacking in practical experience, and was hardly in a position to speak on the matter at. all. Mr. H. Eaton, local manager for Dalgety and Go.'s, and agent for tire- Shaw, Savill' and Albion Company, did not consider the. remarks of the minister .worthy of much' attention. He could only regard them as the utterances of a man who knew very little of the: practical side of his subject. It was quite absurd to talk of fur ; ther reductions in freight on goods of any description. As a matter" of fact, none of the companies were., building up fortunes for their shareholders: Their annual dividends rarely exceeded 5 per cent., and the companies' were forced to expend almost the whole of their profits in providing vessels to meet the increasing competition. The only grumbler at the ruling rates of freights'wiis the" speculator, who bought up,/the -farmers''.' produce; and .shipped; it Home, simply oh a- speculative line of business. Such a man as this was continually crying out against excessive freight, and there would be no satisfying him. It wa# very frequently stated that, if the freights were reduced, the? speculator would pay- the fcp-mer better .prices for his grain,' bat such would:jpqt be.:the case. The speculator .r\vaa'v;an: 6ufPan-out .speculator/'and he- -would pocket- every penny he could get. The farmer, on the other hand, very seldom ran the risk of shipping his grain to England, and when he did so, he no complaints about excessive rates. Mr McNab's suggestion was, in Mr Eaton's opinion, merely a political. move—another instance of the Government seeking to get a finger" into every man's pie, and he thought that such a system for the shipment of cargo would prove neither successful nor practicable. . Another local manager of one of the; largest shipping companies trading to this colony, was somewhat diffident of expressing any opinion on Mr McNab's remarks at all. The question of adopting such a proposal would be decided at his head office, and the branches would act according to the decision arrived at by the head office. He could say for himself, however, that there did not seem to be anything to commend the proposal. Were the system of concentration at one point adopted, gre;it expense would be involved in forwarding cargo to the centre either by rail or coastal steamer. But he did think, in fact, he was almost certain, that the present profits made by his company were not sufficient, to. enable them . to reduce their freight enough to counterbalance the extra ext>-nse incurred by the extra' handling. . Mr F. S.. Candy, manager of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company, when asked to what extent the adoption of such a system would affect the frozen meat industry,l suggested an obstacle to the project, which must either prevent it altogether, or result in the closing down of the local freezing works. '' Mr Candy said that the mutton killed afid frozen here, must, unless Timaru were made a point of concentration, be railed or carried by steamer to Lyttelton or Port Chalmers. This . was quite out of the question. 'No company could afford- to place vessels fitted with refrigerating chambers on the coastal services, and' no frozen mutton could be carried 100 miles by rail without being more or less damaged. Under these circumstances, there was no need; to give the matter any further consideration. Mr Bardsley, secretary to the Harbour Board, said he had not given this matter

much attention, but, ■ giving . liis first impression, it was that the Hon.. Mr McNab had not given the subject mature consideration. So far as Timaru was concerned, it seemed to him to be impossible to reduce homeward freights by so much as would pay either railage or coastal freights to -byttelton. Ihe Minister's remarks might apply to certain of the smaller ports,' but it seemed impracticable to concentrate economically such bulky produce as frozen meat, wool and grain, in such quantities as wer? shipped a l . Timaru. If the idea was to i educe ■ the railage rates to effect the object referred to, how were tb-a railways to pay? They returned some 3s per cent, now, and' with reduced rates this rate must fall. The Harbour Boards who had expended large, amounts of capital in providing harbours for large Home-going steamers, would not allow their most- valuable trade to depart from them without a struggle. Timaru, for instance, last year made a gross -profit of 69 psr cent-., the profits Were annually increasing, and »the Board had an obvious defence in the reduction of (lie charges should it ever', bs. required. At present. the rhtes from" Tinnira ' were the same as from the larger i)orts", a nd it was •not probable that tbey' , wordd be made relativc-ly higher. With the continued development of the district "and consequent increase of exports, there, would be increasing reason for the Heine-going ships calling- at Timaru. He thoughtthe Timaru Harbour Board need not fedr that their efforts to make a first-class port would.ba thrown away by any arrangement to concentrate exports for the Home trade at a few ports. ' . Mr Baynes,-engineer to the Timaru Harbour ]2oard, did not regard the Minister's proposal with any concern. In his experience, he had found that the better the harbour facilities the bigger were the boats that called. "Deepen the harbour a foot, and the companies will send boats idrawirig thres feet more than before." The way in which a proposal to adopt such a system should bB mot was by increasing harbour facilities, and there need then be no douV.s. as to whether shipping companies would make -the pert a port of call for their vessels. . ; ■>■ : -