Plea to restore ferry

Press, 26 March 1980, Page 10

Plea to restore ferry

Westport reporter

The South Island spokesman for Social Credit (Mr E. O’Connor) has welcomed the possibility of a restored ferry service between Lyttelton and Wellington. Mr O’Connor said the service should never have been discontinued before a suitable alternative had been found. South Island manufacturers and primary producers had suffered not only from the disruption of the Picton ferry service but also from the problems the Railways had had with the Christchurch Picton line. There should be no major problems for the Lyttelton Harbour Board in providing a rail terminal link. It would help ensure continuity in transport between the two islands, he said. Mr O’Connor said a passenger service should also be reinstated as a fuelsaving measure. Motorists would not have to drive from Christchurch to Picton to get their cars over Cook Strait. The advantage of any new service would be only illusory if a real effort was not made to iron out the industrial problems that had plagued the Picton service and which would spill over to a Wel-lington-Lyttelton one, he said.