The Christchurch Star. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1930. TRAIN FERRIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19240, 29 November 1930, Page 8

The Christchurch Star.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1930. TRAIN FERRIES.

PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. Gloucester Street and Cathedral Square CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND. London Representatives: R. B. BRETT & SON NEW BRIDGE HOUSE. 30/34 NEW BRIDGE STREET LONDON. E.C.4.

HANDLING and transhipment constitute so large a portion of transport costs to-day that any peep into the future, such as the Chamber of Commerce was given on Thursday evening, has a value in directing attention to the trend of transport methods. The world to-day is intent on reducing handling costs to a minimum, and the idea of huge containers, in which goods would pass in bulk from producer to consumer, may yet extend to the frozen meat trade, in which New Zealand is vitally interested. But it is a question whether this development would lead to the suggested concentration of overseas shipping at one main port which would be fed by train ferries from subsidiary ports. It is more than likely that the smaller ports will find it increasingly difficult in future to secure visits from overseas liners, owing to the keener bid for business that the railways are likely to make iff feeding the main ports, but it is unlikely that a train ferry will be established between Lyttelton and Wellington. It is much more likely that the first train ferry will connect Picton and Wellington, linking up the railway systems of the two islands by the shortest possible sea route, and thus giving effect to the recommendation of the English railway commission that the South Island main trunk line should be completed as the most urgent work in the Dominion. There will certainly be a greater concentration of business at main ports in future, and that fact may give a new lease of life to the railway system, at least for long-distance traffic.