OLD TIME SHIPPING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 34, 17 March 1914, Page 4 (Supplement)

OLD TIME SHIPPING.

THE FAITH OF A PIONEER. The „ history of Kaiapoi as a port can be but little shorter than the history of Canterbury as a' settled province. The/e was Lyttelton as ,the port of Christchurch .district,, .and .Saltwater Creek as the outlet for the great northern plains. For the "Waimakiriri there remained the richest district df them all, according to the knowledge of the time. The Waimakiriri spent its force rather differently i then, and the . bar kept a fairly even depth in those days.. They .say-, that as many as eighteen ships have lain, alongside ■ its wharf; and in those days the "Liverpoor of the S,outh ; Island", was a boast that could justify by.,lo<?al comparison even its own absurdity. Take the story of .Mr John Sims, one of. the most, substantial residents of this mo3t substantial district. - His memory goes back to 1858, and there were vessels plying there then, none of them 'Mding/a 7 shortage of' return cargo. The Flirt, the Annie, the Triple X, the Pearl, the Spray, the Emerald, were Lytteltcm-owned, but they found their trade in Kaiapoi. They brought round merchandise, and at first they took "back wool. The fat lands behind came into play, and the wool gave place to the produet of the

plough. Kaiapoi supplied to Lyttelton, Auckland, Nelson—it was the ' 1 go-ahead country" that met the others*'needs. As an example, in tliose d&ys, as at present, places could grow -field beans, such as came from the 'old 1 s£aori run. The river was kind theii" and the tJara ran up to. where the factory now, past the present suspension bridge, past the Marideville Hotel.' Mr Sims does not remember, he says, but he thinks the river may have been narrower then. "The railway away with this track," says' Mr Sites, "after it had interfered with it, until I took it up after some years." Mr. Sims began as a coal merchant, and opened up the

bour Board should have looked, after the river;, it should have;' removed snags, and made an attempt to dredge, to guide, to deepen the" stream. Nothing was done, apparently, but the enterprise of the man and;the richness of the district behind made little of these things. To the coal trade was added' the? timber industry. There sailed up the river the Janet, afterwards at Cape Campbell; the Ohio Belle, wrecked oh the bar at night because someone blundered and she came in an hour and a-half before full tide, drawing seven feet, and took the bar where the channel was notj the Bock Lilj*, of. 70 or 80 tons, perhaps the best of them all. Then the -ships .that the sailormen of to-day know —the Emma Sims, the Amelia ■Sims, the Joseph Sims. But the Amelia Sims came to Kaiapoi only once, and tlien not for trade, but to attend a christening. Until 'six years ago, Mr Sims kept in the. trade tq his port. AlwaySi there was plenty of loading, in,wards i and outwards, sftid at a price less .that of the train. He faced, the difficulties of the river and the lack of men who knew and could manage it.. Now. he rests amongst his. flowers thinking of the past times,, what was aind what might have been. Fifty-six years' knowledge of the place has given him a splendid confidence in its .resources. '' The time will come when Kaiapoi

will be the place for the small manufacturers.'' The opening for trade is there, he.'is assured. lajg^with water frontage is available, jthe district must needs import, and it has much return cargo to * Local patriotism is justified here, it seems. The very grass that gro\rs So heavily outside on the -road is evidence of the fruitfulness of the land. All about the island/ he says, it is the same. Kaiapoi Island will grow more than elsewhere, and the. day will 1 comewhen Kaiapoi shall be the port of its own district.