Tongans return to Lyttelton

Press, 12 January 1977, Page 10

Tongans return to Lyttelton

An almost audible sigh of j relief was heard from Christchurch second-hand I furniture dealers last week, when the little Tongan freighter Kemphaan arrived at Lyttelton to replace the I Frysna. For a while it had seemed that Lyttelton had seen the last of the Tongans, when the Frysna was diverted on, Ito the Tonga-Auckland [Onehunga run. leaving [Christchurch dealers with a surplus of Victorian thunder [boxes, antiquated washing: machines, battered tallboys, and tired armchairs, which! Tongan crews have so regu i | larly taken off their hands, j As well as the water . i melons hawked on the wharf I for beer money, a regulat i ifeature of the Frysna’s visits] to Lyttelton had been the! crews’ accumulation of] [doubtful-looking bric-a-brac I Ito enhance their island! !homes and in which to store! 1 : their winter woollies. But since the Tongan-based , 'Warner Pacific Line bought the Kemphaan last year/ 1 from Australian interests], trading in New Guinea, and! put her on the South Island] run, it has been back to,] business as usual. Unfortunately, the Kem-ij phaan’s first visit to Lyttel-li ton has not been all beer] and bedsteads, so to speak. ’ The vessel is by no means!' new, and mechanical break-L downs have extended het scheduled one-day stop-over to a week. i But according to het j master, Captain Sione Fang-ij atua, who was formerly the]i mate on the diminutive Ata. • which used to call regularly I j at Lyttelton, the Kemphaan 11

should sail by Friday, at the latest. ARRIVALS NIL DEPARTURES hotuku <2.22 p m 16.221. l apt. D Lochhead. Napier IU.S.S Slraat Colombo '2 38 pm). 6179 Auckland fGuthiey). I nion Sydney Capt R. Pugh Williams. Melting ton A' S.S.i. EXPECTED ARRIVALS iJames Cook. sea. today Megantic. Wellington. tod»> Coastal Trader Dunedin, tode Coastal Ranger. Wellington, todax Erne, Marsden Point. .January L*. Karepo. Tauranga. January 14 [coastal Ranger, Wellington, January 14 .Kotovsky. Auckland, .lanuan 14 i Major Sucharski. Dunedin. Jamiary 14. Atheh iscount. Mauden Point, January 14 [lion York. Wellington. January | Akibomo Marti No. 73, tea, January 15. Vishva Vikas, Wellington, January 15 [Coastal Ranger. Wellington, January 16. ! Holmdale. Chatham islands, January 16 | Coastal Trader. Auckland, January 17. projected departures James Cook, sea. today . Bela Mondo. Japan. tod»' Coastal Ranger, Wellington, today. , Coastal Trader, Auckland, today Khudozhnik Vtubel. January 13. Erne. Dunedin. January 14 Coastal Ranger, Wellington, January 14. Kemphaan. . January 14 Kongsfiord Napier, January 14 Spaamekerk, Dunedin. January 15. Athehiscount, Tauranga, January Coastal Trader, Dttnadin, January 17. Coastal Ranger. WelUnfton, January 17. VESSELS IN PORT Malaysia Fermat, Cashin Quay No. 1. Bela Mondo. Cashin Quay No. 3. Kongsfjord, No. 2 East. Kemphaan. No. 3 East Spaarnekerk, No. 3 West. Karetu, No. 4 East. Kliudozhntk Vrubel. No. 7 East. U.S.N.S. Bland, G.P.E.