THE LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17814, 13 July 1923, Page 14

THE LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE.

In the course of * brief chat with; an "Oiigo Daily Times" reporter on Wednesday, Captain John Bollons, of the Govern-, ment eteamer Tutanekai, stated that he had had 30 yeans' experience of the- Now >Zear land ooasta, and one great advantage here was that vessels in travailing"' up and down the New, Zealand coast, except when standing oat to sea, travelled fore and: aft—that is, vessel* invariably ran » parallel course, thero being no need to cross each • others path, herring to his early, day* in sailing vessels in the 'North Sea, Captain. Boilona said that otf the Irish coast, in the St. George MraiU, and in. portion of the iNor.th Sea, vessels, crossed each other's pathe at all angles, which necessitated a very careful look-out. Sneaking of the work oi the tutanekai, the captain, said that very few people realised the natuxa of the worJi in which the-vessel is engaged. When.thex of leaving for the 'northern lights uses they fondly imagined, to themselves a bag of flour, a bag' oi coal, a box oi general goods, and a tin of kerosene being left at each island, and were not aware that usually several tons of opal and stores of various kind* were left at each island. Again, they did not realise, that the Tutanekai carried the lighthouse keepers who had been transferred from lighthouse to lighthouse, and this entailed a considerable amount of work, as each keeper. * carried several tons of goods- with him. There were also some 80 buoys round the .New Zealand coast which had to be attended to, and, with the work of overhauling... the lighthouses, it meant that those .oh jbbard the Tutanekai were rarely idle. On the reporter suggesting that a trip' round the islands would be a Very good holiday, Captain Bollons remarked that though he had been travelling round the Dominion for a number of years and that the '• work was hard, day after day and night after night, he was fond of it and still regarded, it' as a holiday. Some years ago the late' Mr E; 3. Seddon had had-a trip of six weeks on the Hinemoa, when she was the Government lighthouse steamer, and he had enjoyed the trip immensely, and,he had said that no one could realise the work carried out by the stout little vessel' till he had experienced the pleasure of a trip himself.