The Wilmington morning star., 1941-02-18

sioners under such rules and reg
ulations, or through such agencies
as it shall from time to time pre-
scribe, for the purpose of encour-
aging the use Of the. Port OF WILL
mington, North Carolina, by ship
pers and industries within the dis
tributing area of said port; to aid
in increasing the tonnage and car
60 moving through the Port OF
Wilmington, North Carolina, and
generally, within the distributing
area Of Wilmington, North Caro-
lima, to promote and develop the
recognition Of the advantages OF
the shipment Of goods through
said port"
Pursuant to the above authorize
ton, your Board set up the Will
mington Port Commission as an
agency to achieve the detectives
outlined in the above quoted Ian
guage.
III. Personnel
On November 1, 1885, the Com
mission was set up and began its
activities under the direction Of the
following members, appointed by
your body: Messrs P. B. Ruffn.
chairman, Alex Hoffman, B. B.
Cameron, N. L. Foy and G. H.
Dressed. Early in January, 1885,
Mr.. G. H. Dressed resigned and on
June 2, 1886, MI. c. d. Hogue was
appointed to succeed him. No
other changes in the personnel of
the Commission occurred until Oc-
tober /, 1888, when Messrs Ruffin
and Hoffman resigned. On Novem-
Der 16, 1888, Mr.. Hogue was elect
ed chairman and thereafter and in
the same month Messrs. Horace
Pearsall and Hargrove Bellamy
were appointed to fill the vacancies
caused by the resignation Of Messrs.
Rufin and Hoffman. In July, 1910,
Mr.. B. B. Cameron resigned and
in August of the same year Mr.
C. B. Parmele was appointed to
fill the vacancy created by MI.
Cameron's resignation. So at the
present time the personnel Of the
Commission is as follows: Messrs.
C. D. Hogue, chairman, N. L. Foy,
secretary, Horace Pearsall, Har-
grove Bellamy and c. B. Parmele.
During the existence of the Com
mission the average number Of
meetings held has been two a
month and no meeting has ever
been called at which a quorum
was not present.
III. Activities Of The COM
mission.
As stated in the Act creating it,
the purpose Of the Commission
has been to promote and develop
within the distributing ares Of Will
mington, the recognition of the adj
vantages of this city for the i'm.
port, export and coastwise move
ment Of commodities and to in
crease its use by showing to the
industrial sections Of our state the
definite advantage Of shipment
through Wilmington.
This was pioneer work. Never
before in the history of the City,
established in 1886, had any effort,
sustained or otherwise, been made
by the community to build up the
great industrial hinterland of North
Carolina the knowledge Of the ad-
vantages of the use Of the Cape
Fear river and Wilmington in the
movement of their waterborne
commerce. On November /, 1885,
Mr.. J.. T. HERS was employed by
the Commission to "sell' Whining
ton as the natural port for the in.
dustries of this state. Mr.. HERS
found already in the field, and en-.
joying a long established business,
representatives from the competi.
tive ports of Norfolk and Charles.
ton. He had to start from scratch,
and to divert whatever business he
got from trade routes that had long
been used and had become en-.
trenched through tradition and ties
OF business and friendship.
During the course of his employ.
ment, Mr.. HERS has approached
not once but many times, well over
400 potential users of the Port Of
Wilmington. Almost without excep.
ton they have evinced great in.
terest in the development of this
port. Many have begun to use il
for the first time, and many have
given of their time and thought in
a gratuitous effort to suggest and
devise plans by which the port
could render services to an ever.
increasing number of patrons.
Among the new commodities NOV
ing into and out Of the port as 8
result of the efforts of the executive
general agent of the commission arr
the following: Canned goods ant
dried fruits for account Of firms moi
previously using the port, Philippine
cocoanut, China cotton, West 1ndia1
raw sugar, and ~creosote oil.
In addition to this movement O.
new commodities, there has been
marked upward trend in the Tonnage
and cargo moving through the por
since the creation of the commission
as reflected in the following table:
Year Vessel Tons Traffic Valu
1885 ----- 1,38S,756 $56,307,9 SO
1886 --- 1,702,574 $5S,632,60
1887 - 1898 $7o,736,53
1888 --- 2,133,037 $71,492,72
The above figures are taken iron
government statistics. Thee officia
figures Of valuation for years subse