The Wanganui Herald. [published daily.] MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1909.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 12936, 29 November 1909, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald. [published daily.] MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1909.

NELSON AND OTHER SMALL PORTS. o In the current number of the Weekly Pits-, is y piituie ot a big Home liner lying at the Nelson wharf. Many moie will go to Nelson it Nelson keers alive to its iuter&sth. No doubt Nelson, looknig- forward to the day when the Midland Railway is completed, expects the amount i of its exports to increase by leaps and bounds. But it may be pointed out to i Nclnon that there is such a thing as a j differential railway rate. Consequently j many exports which, under equitable cir- j (uimstances. would be shipped at Nelson, | will be dragged to Lyttelton, because the rates to there will suit many up-country towns better than the rates to Nelson. \nd that, spite of the fact that Nelson is their natural, perhaps their nearest, port for direct shipment. As work will, m consequence, be more plentiful on the Lyttelton wharves, the number of lumpthere (with their wives and families) will increase, while those at Nelson won't. Vnd as the Christchurch aud Lyttelton warehouses will get increased business, there will be an increase there of clerks, itoreinen, and general hands and their wives and families. But these people won't increase in number in Nelson. All this means that Lyttejton and Christchurch will go ahead while Nelson won't. And the chances are that Nelson will go back, because many goods which already go there now, will be attracted to Lyttelton. by the differential railway rate. That means less work for Nelson wharf lumpers who (with their wives and fainilico) will leave for some place where it is more, plentiful. The Nelson carrying firnid, and warehouses, and shipping firms will find less business, consequently some of their clerks, and 6toremen, and other hands will have to emigrate too, taking their wives and families with them. All of which means loss of population to Neison. And loss of population means less busine&s for shopkeepers, some of whom may have to close, and leave Nelson too. Also the dairy farmers, and the orchardists, and the market gardeners, and the poultry keepers will find their market grow less, and some of them will have to sell out and leave, taking their wives and families away. All of which will be disastrous to Nelson City, and to Nelson Province. What applies to Nelson applies equally to New Plymouth, Napier, Wanganui, Timaru, Oamaru, and Invercargill. They will be starved in order to bloat the big cities. And Nelson, New Plymouth, Napier, and Wanganui, and the rest of the email ports may reasonably ask the Government whether it is in accordance with the principles of Liberalism to deliberately embark upon a railway policy which, while tending to congest work, business, and population in the big cities, tends also to the decay or stagnation of the smaller ports and the country surrounding them.