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.. Foremen's Protest.

I — ! HIGH WATER AT L-ANELLY.…

Llanelly : Its Place and Prospects.

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Llanelly Its Place and Prospects. 0 (By J. Rees). j Reprinted from "the "Shipping World." The more marked the advantages of a small port to its particular district, the better its chances of success and pros- perity. In the case of Llanelly, the chief of t these are:—The demand of the large steel works of the town and district for material, in the shape of pig and scrap iron, which go to the manufacture of the tinplate bars, that, rolled out thin and coated with tin, make tinplates, the. staple industrial product of the town; the shipment of the tinplates coastwise, chiefly to Liverpool, to make up ocean cargoes; the import of timber for making the boxes in which the tinplates are packed, and of pitprops for the mines of the district; and the shipment, up to 1,000-2,000 ton cargoes, of coal, chiefly anthracite, and of the highest quality, from the western parts of the South Wales coalfield, the railway rate upon which to Llanelly is lower than, to any other port. Otherwise, there are large and important home demands, which can be met in the cheapest way at the Llan- I elly docks. v I Effect of the War. Under normal conditions, carriage by water is cheaper than by rail, but the War has temporarily upset this ruling economic consideration, as it has very many others. The requisitioning of ton- ) nage for war purposes has meant that j nearly all traffic during the war period has been railborne and the port, in con- sequence, has been heavily hit. But with the release of the coasting tonnage left, j and the provision of fresh to take the place of that lost, the old and natural conditions in favour of water carriage will be restored, and the port gradually regain, and increase, its trade. Llanelly's Advantage. Llanelly is less favourably situated sea- ward than Swansea. Unless it paid bet- ter, a vessel would go to Swansea. It pays better, however, to go to Llanelly in dealing with traffic in the direction noted. It does not in others, and Swansea has its natural and legitimate field of action in them. The coming trade will be ample for both. But in Llanelly's special field, it pays better, that is, on anything like a largo scale, only by taking into ac- count, as should be done, the profits upon the business of a voyage frorff point of origin of a cargo to its destination. A Good Suggestion. I In order to make it possible to work out this wider and more profitable out- look in practice, the owners of the cargo, imported or exported, should also be the owners cf the ship, or at any rate, hold such an interest in Llanelly-owned boats as would give them the first call in their charterings. A start at this has already been made in the case of coal, very much I to the benefit of the port, and, one would naturally presume, the profit and benefit j also of those of its users who are follow- ing this line of action. The steel people may find it worth while following roit. They can command steady inward cargoes for their works, and there is always an assured return cargo of coal available. The True Commercial Aim. There is another point that may be worth considering at the present junc- ture. The true commercial aim is to reap the profits in the whole sequence of the manufacturing operations of an article. In the case of tinplates, this has been re- cognized, and to great advantage, for the tinplate and steel interests are already closely allied, if not the same, but the pig-iron has to be produced elsewhere, and the profit of its making lost—as well as its carriage to Llanelly added to manu- facturing costs. Blast Furnaces. At different times projects for the es- tablishment of blast furnaces tp produce the pig locally, for the use of the steel works, have been mooted, but the in- ability to deal with the most economical boat carrier, say of 3,000 tons, going isome considerable distance for the iron ore, together, in less degree, with the ab- ) sance of a good coking coal, have been too much for the maturing of the schemes. The possibilities of dealing economical- ly, by more frequent voyages in smaller boats to France, in bringing over the Lorraine ores, may alter the outlook in favour of blast furnaces at Llanelly, leaving only the coke problem to be faced. Iron ore imports would then, of course, take the place of those of pig-iron. I Post-war Prosperity. I Here, then, is a chance for one with a touch of organizing and co-ordinating genius to make his mark and money-and I the triennial election of Trustees, this month, will give him an early opportuni- ty of getting on the ruling port authority —the Harbour Trost. If he does no turn up, there is still ample justification in the less wide field for anticipation of excellent post-war j prosperity for the port and harbour. Safe and Expeditious Port. Mention has been made of its being less favourably situated on the Burry Etstuary than Swansea is with the deeper I water of its bay. Whilst this is relative- ly true, Llanelly is, nevertheless, a per- II fectly safe and expeditious port for ves- sels up to 800 or 1,000 tons on nearly all the tides of the year. On higher tides, I vessels up to 2,000 tons can come and go with ease and safety. I An old standing detriment, lack of sufficient depth of water in a short stretch I of channel leading from the Estuarialone j to those of the three docks of the port, has been wholly done away with as the I result of the maturing to complete suc- I CetS, during the period of the War, of a scheme of tidal training undertaken by' the Trustees, and which took six years to carry out. I Improved Channel. The whole channel from sea is excel- lently lighted, the last finish being about to be given the system by the recent de- cision to place a leading light on the Burry Holmes, the eastern and channel side of the entrance from the Bristol Channel. This has been a matter dis- cussed for many years, and a new kind of light has now made it practicable. Llanelly has thus excellent prospects. Its waterway is good and safe, within the demands of a good coasting port, a fact proved by the clock-like regularity with which the regular coasting traders, to Liverpool and elsewhere, have run for many years. It needs "go" to carry out fully, and this should not be lacking, for the Borough motto, "Onward, Llanelly," re- presents the spirit of its cheery and kind-hearted people.

I TOOK TOO MUCH SPIRITS. I

HIS FATHER'S COFFIN. I

I Late Sir Stafford Howard

Llanelly Cinema. i

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ISporting Gossip I

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NEW DOCK STARS R.F.C.

Education Committee.

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