(per press association.)

Wellington, July 31. In the House to-day the Hon; Mr McKenzie read the following letter he had received from Mr Cunningham, of Christchurch: —"lam this morning in receipt of a cable from Berry^ Barclay, and Co., regarding the shipment of pota toes made by me with a view to ascertain practically what the result would be of shipping potatoes to London. The result is unsatisfactory." The cable is as follows :- ' Potatoes have arrived in fairly good condition, but will r iiot nettj you, after paying freight and all 'expenses on this side, more than 22s 6d per ton.' Whether this includes price of sacks I cannot make out from the cable. If it means 22s 6d without sacks, the loss will be about 7s 6d per ton on the inarke.t price at time of shipment. If sacks aye , included the loss would be 13s per ton, .although I only paid 20s per ton for them at country stations, so that it is quite evident we cannot hope to get any pro fitable market for shipping potatoes to England, The many thousand tons that are still in the country induced one to make this experiment, but I could hardly ' recommend anyone to follow my example. The total shipments I have made amount to about 140 tons. I sent them in three steamers and had them stowed in parts of the hold where they ought to carry fairly well. There is so much interest taken both north and south in reference to this matter that I think it would be advisable if you can make this informa tion public through the press."

The "Thirds" Question.
