CHRISTCHURCH CARGO.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19805, 18 December 1929, Page 11

CHRISTCHURCH CARGO.

The 2uo tons of Christchureh-eon-signed cargo on the ship was made up as follows:—Cartons of macaroni, hags or plaster, oast's of canned fruits. cases of dates, cases of dried fruits, bags of onions, a ease of tobacco, bags of marble chips:, boxes of lemons, drums of oil. and general. The canned fruits comprised the largest Christehurch consignment from Australia, and this will mean a serious loss to < 'hrist.-hurch retailers, as the Australian price is lower than that of Californian fruits. Fortunately most of the dried fruits have already come to hand. When the vessel arrived at Bluff on Sunday she carried 21* passengers and 10S7 tons of general cargo, also 1-t' l bags of New Zealand mail. The Bluff portion of the cargo amounted to 140 tons, and the ship was due at Lyttelton to-morrow. Upon discharging cargo and disembarking passengers she would have sailed for Wellington on Friday, and ; left Wellington on Saturday for Mel- J bourne. The bulk of the cargo was for Wellington. : MAILS NOT INTERRUPTED. The wreck had uo effect upon the de- \ livery of mails, as all mail matter was ' landed at Bluff. There were six bags : of first-class matter for t'hristehureh. | and these were brought up by the train arriving in Christehurch' at 7.-7 a.m. on Monday. Newspapers arrived at noon j yesterday, together with twelve parcel j receptacles. Thus the mail deliveries j are not inconvenienced by the disaster. ■ There were four bags of mail and 25 I parcels for the North Island, and these • are being transported in the usual way. j The mail contract provides that the | mail must be lauded in New Zealand at i the first port of call, which is Bluff, and j then sent overland by express train. As j the Manuka was only half-way between . Bluff and Dunedin when the wreck oc- : furred. the letter mails arrived in I Christehurch 17 hours beforehand. j MAHENO MAY REPLACE j MANUKA. | "l have not had time to give the ; position full consideration as yet, but ; immediately upon my return to Wei- i lington Cabinet will consider the whole j matter." said the Hon. Mr de la Per- I relic, Minister for Internal Affairs, to o representative of Thk Press last j evening. "My idea is that the Maheno should be placed on the service, with j more frequent running, for I cannot sec | where we will get another boat in the j meantime. It is a most unfortunate j thing for the new service, considering j that the boat was on her second trip in j the Melbourne-Bluff run, and the tourist | traffic will surely suffer to some extent." Yesterday morning Mr Perrelle I called upon" Mr N. H. Falla, chief traffic, ! manager of the Union Company, who is j visiting Christehurch. and Mr W. H. j Price, the Christehurch branch manager, I to discuss the position. The Miuister J said that it was regrettable that dis- | aster should have occurred at the in- ! ception of the service. He felt certain, j from conversation with Messrs Falla j and Price, that everything possible was ' being done by the company for the j passengers and crew. The whole thing , would be considered at Wellington, j when the questions of tourist traffic and , the Government subsidy to the company j would be gone into. There was no \ doubt that the company would do its j best to meet the position. i Referring to the replacement of the \ vessel, Mr Price said that he was un- j able to make any statement. "The j whole thing,'' he said, "lies with the ; head office in Wellington and is now ' under consideration." ! DESCRIPTION OF THE VESSEL. The Manuka was a twin-screw vessel of 453-4 tons, and was built in 1903 by Denny Bros., shipbuilders, Dumbarton, for the Union Steam Ship Company. She was 308 ft Tin in length, her beam was 47ft 2iu, and her depth 31ft lin. She has been engaged in the intercolonial run practically ever since she was built, and on many occasions haß relieved on the Lyttelton-Wellington ferry run. The Manuka's sister ship, the Moeraki, was built first, mid both vessels were constructed fo supersede the Mararoa, Talune, and To Anau, according to Mr G. Irvine, of Christehurch. For many years the Manuka Mas under the command of Captain Neville, and later Captain Clift. She carried on the Melbourno-Hobart-Wellington run for some time, deflecting at various times to the San Francisco run. As far as Mr Irvine knew the Manuka had never had an accident. SHIPS HEAR WIRELESS, CALLS. . i The wireless operator on the Wahine intercepted part of a message tat 1 a.m. yesterdr.y from the Awama station, and the steamer Kaiwarra. After giving the Kaiwarra instructions the message stated that the Manuka had gone ashore south of Nugget Point. The Kaiwarra was not in time to serve any purpose by going to the rescue, and so continued "on to Port Chalmers. COMEDY COMPANY ON BOARD. The new American Comedy Company, under contract to Sir Benjamin and Mr John Fuller to play a series of comedies in New Zealand, was included in the Manuka's passenger list. According to advice from Dunedin, all the scenery and effects have been lost. The season was scheduled to commence in Dunedin on Boxing Day, and the company was due in Christehurch after the Jim Gerald Company. Included iu the 18 members of the company are Miss Leona Hogarth, a popular and well-known American stav, Misses Mollic Raynor, Mary Curtain, Lucille Lisle, and Eve Dawnay, and Messrs Leonard Dayle, Wryley Birch. ' Norman VVister, Compton Coutts, Regiualdald Roberts, John Warwick, and Jack j Settle. j The Christehurch manager of Fullers 1 j Theatre, Mr Irvine Elston, thinks it I likely that it will be possible to obtain j new frocking and scenery by the next boat from Sydney, in time for the opening in Dunedin. MAYOR'S OFFER. The Mayur of Cliristeliui ch (Mr L | K. Archer) told a representative ot j The Press last night that he would be j pleased to receive anv gifts ot money j or clothing for those ot the .Manuka's , passengers or crew who might he in i need, and to forward them to those j WHIPPET DOGS ON BOARD. Two racing whippet doa>. .-unsigned to Mr G. S. A. Biheliff. of Kioearton. w-ere on board the Manuka. They were recently purchased for Mr Biltciiff "l Melbourne for £2.3, and were not insured.