Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Does this sound familiar? Boat trouble hits holiday travel plans
A letter writer struggles to plan Christmas holidays around an unreliable Cook Strait crossing, this week 110 years ago, as we take a flick through the archives. From the Marlborough Express, December 15, 1913.
Sir, allow me through the medium of your columns to draw the attention of those people residing in this district who are desirous of taking a trip to the Exhibition during their Christmas vacation to the attitude taken up by the Union Steam Ship Company.
Upon inquiry as to whether a boat will leave Picton for Wellington on Christmas Eve as in the past, one is struck with the total lack of information possessed by the local office.
“There may be a boat”; “We think there will be a boat on Boxing Day”; “If there is a sufficient number of passengers to warrant it, we MIGHT get the Wahine over” “Only about 10 people have inquired for a boat.” Such are the replies we met with.
What chance have those people desirous of getting to their homes in different parts of the Dominion to be present at that long-looked-forwardto reunion of the family at Christmas dinner?
Sir, in the past the Union Company has had to run TWO boats on Christmas Eve in order to cope with the traffic; then why in the name of reason are they anxious to take the name of every inquirer to see if there will be a
sufficient number of travellers to warrant ONE boat this year?
It is just about time the Government took over the ferry service across the Straits, as then we should have every attention devoted to the requirements of the travelling public.
ALSO IN THE NEWSPAPER:
One tribute to the excellence of Ugbrooke as cattle-raising country was witnessed today, when an exceedingly
well-developed cow was landed at Blenheim to the order of Mr W. Chandler, the Renwick butcher. The animal gave every appearance of providing first-class beef for Christmas, and had unusual breadth. It would be interesting to know the dead weight of the beast.
The recent flood has had the effect of improving the course of the Taylor River at Burleigh. The stream has been forced into a deeper and more central channel, which is a good deal more acceptable from a river conservation point of view than the old one.
The new railway station between Hauwai and Ward has been named Taimate.
The destruction by fire at Kegworth of two stacks of wheat thatch and one of oaten hay just after midnight on Saturday is a serious loss to Mr A. Rose.