High freight costs threaten Chathams

Press, 15 July 1983, Page 4

High freight costs threaten Chathams

The future of the Chat- £ ham Islands is in danger of t being killed by high freight £ costs, according to the Chatham Islands county chair- 1 man, Mr A. W. Preece. i s He said yesterday that i transport from the Chat- I hams to the mainland must s be improved, otherwise the islands would become virtu- r

ally left on their own and be treated as something separate from New Zealand. Without the air and sea links, the Chathams were isolated, he said, but present services were strangling the island’s economy, even with heavy Government subsidies. - As examples, Mr Preece referred to the Holmdale,

which made runs only once monthly. Two crews were kept on throughout the year to run an antiquated vessel which was not suitable for anything else but the Chathams run. Mr Preece said the weekly aeroplane flight was usually not enough to carry all the freight required and often children could not get home from their schools on the mainland for holidays. The airline, Safeair, was not prepared to put on extra flights to cope with demands for seats and freight space. Mr Preece said the Chathams had to be treated as an integral part of New Zealand to break down the isolation and not remain as “just a place mentioned at the end of the weather forecast.” The key to the future of the Chathams would have to be to offer more than a “peasant type of existence” for residents. A public meeting will be held at the Chathams tonight at which transport will be a major topic. Freight costs are a big factor behind moves to shift the Holmdale run from Lyttelton to Napier, a move opposed by a Canterbury delegation now on the islands.