Inter-island service

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33094, 8 December 1972, Page 12

Inter-island service

Sir, —Your leading article was timely, coinciding as it did with the announcement of increased fares on the Rangatira. You mentioned the huge wage bill as being one of the reasons why the Union Company is losing money on this service. Could I suggest some others? What about the number of shore staff employed in unloading vehicles? I am certain there are far more than necessary. Is there feather-bedding aboard this ferry, as there appears to be on the Picton vessels? Another reason for the increas-

lingly evident unpopularity of the service is the feeling one has of being unwelcome as a passenger. Why are we woken at such an ungodly hour and pushed off the ship with such unseemly haste? However, I believe the most important reason for the lack of patronage is the unreliability of the service. One never knows whether or not the captain has the crew’s permission to sail.—Yours, etc., FLYING. December 1, 1972. [Mr L. M. Fairweather, Christchurch manager of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Ltd, comments: “The Rangatira arrives at Lyttelton after night crossings from Wellington at approximately 7.00 a;m., which is necessary in the interests of passengers with onward travel to make, whether by their own car or by rail, from Christchurch. Also a later arrival would not permit sufficient working time in port for the ship’s turn-round on her return to Wellington. The Rangatira makes a total of 10 trips between Lyttelton and Wellington and return per week and throughout the year her over-all record of reliability is excellent.”]