LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 106, 28 January 1908, Page 4

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

r. the.. -wanganui trip. . ■ Sir,—in'.justice to tho long-suffering public 1 trust you will seo your way to publish tho , following facts about tho Wanganui River .trip. Considering the high prico charged-for; tho trip, it is timo tho'company was forced to givo at least a semblance of true value. Tho facts aro these:— ■■■■■■■■~ On Janflary,l6, at 6.45 a.m., forty-two passengers arrived on the hanks of tho river at' Tauiriaruhui: two motor canoes wero m attendance, but could only take the. ladies, the gentlemen having to walk about 1 a milo. Tho river being'now somewhat, deeper, all hut seven got into, tho motor canoes. ' Thoso seven were put into a Maorii canoe, which was not water-tight, and very .soon had ,six. inches of'water.in tho bottom. Most of, thounfortunates; myself iiioluded, got' wet feet and wet clothes.'., After travelling'thus'for, some miles, wo wero.all ablo to get into.tho. motor canoes,, which took us down to -a motor-launch. ' This launch .was not'' big enough to hold us all, .so ono of the, canoes continued ,tho 'journey with ' us. '' On tho uiotor-lauuch there wero only a few wretched stools capable of seating apqut ten .passengers, the rest having to stand. ones, however, found kerosene tins and buckets' to ! sit- on 1 So we travelled till. wo. reached . tho House-Boat, where we 'had, luncheon. What a 1 luncheon I' Stewed steak, and kidneys (which everyone knows is a rehash of yesterday's meal) and prunes aud rice—price, 2s. : '6d I And ono unfortunate waiter to look after forty-two people 1 After lunch, -five miles from the HOuso-i lioat, wo met tho,steamer which was to tako. us to Pipiriki; on! board Were sixteen unfor-! tunato passengers, who. had. started tho day .before vrom ripiriki for tho House-Boat, 'l'hoy had spent tho night on'■ the river/ bank near ,a- Maori camp, ,simply bccauso tho.. steamer had not enough coal to tako them any further. Thero was plenty of coal "at, tho-House-Boat, but-no ono on board took the troublo ,of going tho paltry five miles' to get coal, Tho captain of the oil-launch : coolly ordered us all back to tho House-Boat. .That wo woro to lose two days by so doing was of no importance to him—our timo and conveni-, enco mattered nothing—but ho found to his astonishment that thero were a few oil board who were not going to suffer inconvenience without tho company having to pay, heavily for it., Wo.told him plump that we'would sue tho company for loss of time if wo-did not mako our Connections, aiid that wo" would not pay for our board and lodging so long as •wo wero detained against our will, as. tho trouble was caused by his gross indifference and carelessness. It wa3, tliereforo, decided to go back to tho House-Boat, and get coal,. and we all spent from 2 to 6 p.m. on tho river sido witn nothing to eat ,or drink. SVo got coal, and weroolf again by 6.10 p.m. Wo travelled till midnight, when wo put up for tho night about sixteen .miles from Pipiriki; From 12 to 3 a.m. was spent round a camplire—only ono cup of tea and three biscuitseach wero given to us. At - 3.30 a.m,, wo moved on to Pipiriki, which wo roaclied at 6.30, only to find that s the boat'Jor<Wanganui had, left. Begrimed and dishevelled,--.wo. rushed to break, our eighteen hour's' fast at tho hotol.<' Half ail'hour later wo started for! Wanganui. Needless to say, tho' lunfor-! tunato crow had been going for something like two days and two nights almost without cessation. Wanganui was reached at 12.30 p.m. " ;. Such, a state of affairs is truly ,to bo regretted, for the scenery is magnificent— far superior, in fact, to tho Rhine —and woro the, excursion run in a competent manner oven tho monstrous charge'.of £2 : 155. might bo overlooked.—-l am, etc., ,\ \, ' OWEN O'CONOR. .' Welliiigton, January 22, 1008. ,