A BUSY TIME

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 147, 19 December 1927, Page 11

A BUSY TIME

ON WELLINGTON WHARVES

RECORD FOR LARGE SHIPS

Not for some considerable time has the port of Wellington been- so heavily taxed to accommodate all the overseas and coastal ships arriving as it was today. On. Saturday there was a far larger number of vessels in than usual, but with yesterday'a and to-day's arrivals the total has risen to very near a record. Although not actually a record from the point of view of total tonnage, the Harbourmaster (Captain J. E. Dawson) stated this morning that the tonnage of large overseas ships at | present at "Wellington establishes a record for large ships for this port. The total number of overseas ships at Wellington, or due to arrive to-day, was thirteen. This included the lonic (12,352 tons), The Tamaroa (12,345 tons), the Cumberland (10,937 tons), the Norfolk. (10,946 tons), the Hororata (9594 tons), the Tongariro (8729 tons), the Turakina (8665 tons), the City of Lyons (7063 tons), the Pacific Transport (4490 tons), the Tahiti (7898 tons), the Canadian Seigneur (5757 tons), the Gisla (3549 tons), and the Rimutaka (8893 tons). This imposing array, including both passenger liners and freighters, makes a total of 111,128 tons. In every department of the HarbourBoard there has been a demand for careful and well-balanced management, but in nono so much as the harbourmaster's. The pilot staff has been busy throughout the day arranging the berthing of the steamers, and the wharfingers in handling the huge volume of imports and exports, las well as the big mails and large lists of passengers arriving by the Tamaroa and the Tahiti, the former from Home, and the latter front San Francisco. The wharves presented an animated scene tins niorn.irig, but everywhere was testimony.to the careful management of those in charge in the orderly manner in which this lieavy traffic was handled. But for the bad weather 5605 tons. more would have been added to today's total by the arrival of the tanker Silver Shell from Singapore, via Auckland. It is probable that the City of Lyons for Southern ports, the Turakina for London, and the Pacific Transport for Nauru Island, will leave Wellington this evening, and this well relieve the congestion' a little for the arrival of the Silver Shell and the Marama tomorrow. Added to 'this total is that of the coastal ships and others laid up at Wellington. The mosquito fleet has been very active during the last few days, and will be for some time to come, but owing to the continual arrival and departure of these small ships it is hard to compute their' total tonnage for to-day. It must be very near 150,000 tons. For the next few day 3 Wellington will be a very busy port, as most of the larger ships will be working cargo for three or four days, and the coastal ships transhipping it to and from other ports.