CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY TRAFFIC

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14854, 20 December 1913, Page 6

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY TRAFFIC

STEAMERS A2.D TRAINS FULL. In spito of the unsettled stato of industrial affairs, duo to tho strike, thero seems to be every prospect that tho Christmas holiday passenger traffic will be very heavy this year. The rush has already set in, and the express trains to and from tho South aro severely taxed by the large crowds travelling. The Lyttelton-Wellington ferry service fs also having to face heavy demands on the passenger steamer accommodation. The Wahine which left for Wellington on Thursday was a full ship, all her available accommodation being booked full. The little steamer Pateena which has been filling the gap caused by the laying up of the Maori has been placed on the WoHington-Picton-Nel-son service, and the Maori has resumed her running in tho ferry service. Sho brought a very largo crowd of passengers from Wellington yesterday. , Enquiries made at the local office of the Tourist Department by a "Press" reporter show that there has been a * very heavy rush of hoiiday traffic this •week, which is very noticeable after the slackness of the past few weeks. Since Monday, several hundreds havo booked passages to Auckland, where the Exhibition is proving a big attraction. There is also a big holiday exodus to Queenstown, Stewart Island, and other Southern holiday resorts, and "a number of people are going to Milford • Sound, and the Franz Josef Glacier. > Mr G. W. Coutts Moon, officer incharge of the local Tourist Bureau, states that his staff havo had a very busy time during tho past few days, and there is every prospect of the r_K_ oontinuing for somo time to como.