Disappointment, irritation

Press, 17 June 1980, Page 1

Disappointment, irritation

■. The former inter-island steamer service ended on September 14, 1976, when the' Rangatira left Lyttelton for its last sailing to Wellington. ? It had a working loss of $2.8 million in the year to March 31, 1976, and the Government feared it would suffer heavier losses if continued. Nevertheless, the Lyttelton Harbour Board is still going to push for the scheriie. ‘There is room for the service and a need for an alternative to the existing situation,” the chairman'of the board (Mr J. E. Mannering) said. “.The board is disappointed to lose the trade and it is a pity that the pilot scheme was not tried.” ? The Labour shadow Minister; for Regional Development (Mr M. K. Moore) will write to the Minister of Railways (Mr ' McLachlan) asking • for a copy • of. the feasibility study..'/.. '

; “I have my suspicions that this has been announced to take the minds, of the people of Christ-

church off the ‘great airport hijack’,” he said. The member of Parliament for Lyttelton (Mrs Ann Hercus) said that until Mr McLachlan was prepared to publish the full . economic study, he should not make the watersiders the scapegoat. “I am amazed the Socialist Unity Party has riot been brought into it,’ she said? :

The original proposal for a once-a-week service was, and still was full of holes, said Mrs Hercus. “I seriously doubt whether anyone in either tire North or the South Island would regard a once-a-week service as more than an occasion; 1 jaunt. “A ferry service implies a regular daily ferry sailing. Clearly' the Government was not thinking in those terms and their intentions to do something about a. ferry service must be in doubt,” she said. i “This enlightens the problem of Cook Strait ferries in general,” said a spokesman for the South Island Promotion Association, Mr G. M. Asher.

“If we are going to have a Lyttelton-Wellington link it must be economic and not subsidised. A more practical and responsible union attitude is required.

“It is a tremendous disappointment to the association and we feel sorry for the manufacturers and public who would have used the service. Another blow to the South Island.

"lam not'blaming the Minister, in fact I think he is’.right to. abandon the scheme if it is not going to prove economic,” Mr Asher said.

The president of the Chamber of Commerce (Mr F. Crothall) sees the loss of the service as a great blow to the travelling public.

“Because of the high cost of petrol and motoring in general people are not travelling between the North and South Islands as they did in the past. This was one way that could have overcome some of these costs.

“The service is required and we had hoped the pilot scheme would have been successful,” he said. The director of' the Can-

terbury Manufacturers’ Association (Mr I. D. Howell) said the association had always had reservations about the viability of . a Lyttelton to Wellington service, and that the present Union Steam Ship service was under-used. The revived service was to have been mainly • for passengers, motorists ,and some drive-on cargo; , anyway, said Mr Howell.

The only justification for the -service from the point of view of cargo. would have been when the railway line between Christchurch and Picton was washed out, he said.

The president - of. the Automobile Association (Canterbury) (Mr G. G, Turbott) said he was very disappointed at the - decision. If motorists travelled by ferry, instead of; all driving to Picton, then taking the rail ferry, there would be a big saving in petrol. “It reinforces what the A.A. has been saying, that the Picton ferry has to be kept running,” said Mr Turbott. “So now we have to make every effort to see that the Picton. service. is kept going.”