Gaming profits used to buy liferaft for Tuhoe

Press, 26 October 1989, Page 3

Gaming profits used to buy liferaft for Tuhoe

By

RUTH BROWN

The profits from gaming machines have paid for a $9200 liferaft which was presented to the motor vessel Tuhoe yesterday. The owner of the Pier Hotel at Kaiapoi, Mr Ray Neville, gave the money from a charity fund of profits from the hotel’s gaming machines.

The 20-seat inflatable raft is the last piece of life-saving equipment needed for the 70-year-old Tuhoe to meet the Ministry of Transport marine service’s requirements for carrying passengers. The M.V. Tuhoe Preservation Society spends $16,000 a year on ship maintenance, which is paid for by the Tuhoe’s scenic trips each weekend.

The president of the society, Mr John Thompson, said it had had no hope of buying the raft from cruise proceeds. The 35m ship, which was renovated and put back into use in 1982, needed the additional raft for its trips to Lyttelton every two years to receive maintenance checks. Previously it had hired a raft.

The Pub Charity Trust is a nationwide programme set up by the Internal Affairs Department. The Pier Hotel made $74,000 for charities in its last financial year from gaming machines.