"IT'S AN ILL WIND"

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 36, 11 August 1939, Page 7

"IT'S AN ILL WIND"

THE PORT BOWEN

WANGANUI'S HARVEST

Undoubtedly it was an ill wind, no matter how lightly it may have been blowing, which brought the Port Bowen ashore north of the entrance to the Wanganui Harbour, but, like all ill winds, it has blown somebody some good. . Many hands are employed in the task of salvaging the vessel. To rebuild it would cost the owners of the ship at least a quarter of a million, so if she can be saved at half that it will be money well spent, says the "Wanganui Chronicle." There is a big demand for ocean-going freighters for world trade and she can ill be spared. Her cargo is exceptionally valuable, the meat alone being worth more than £30,000. Saving that is well worth while. Nearly all the money involved in the cost of salvaging cargo and the vessel itself is being spent locally. Waterside workers have drawn good pay so far and more money still will circulate as the result of expenditure lon labour. Building a two-way staging on which to run motor • lorries to the ship's side will not be done by a mere flick of a single pound note. It will cost money, and a Patea contractor and his employees will benefit. COST OF THE TUGS. Four tugs were in action when the Port Bowen first went ashore, and as the cost of the Terawhiti to the stranded Indrabarah, in 1913, amounted to £120 a day, £200 a day for each of the four at Wanganui would probably be a modest estimate. The carting of frozen meat to Imlay is being done by a local contractor, and a Wanganui stevedore firm has charge of the unloading operations. Normally, the task for that.firm, would have been the loading of a quantity of cargo into the holds of the ship, but the ill wind has resulted in the unloading of the whole cargo, a much bigger and longer task. Abnormal road and tramway traffic has been encouraged by the stranded steamer, there having been visitors from many parts of the North Island to Wanganui. One Waikato family spent a weekend here specially to see I the vessel, breaking a journey via the Parapara Road to the Wairarapa. Hawke's Bay, Wellington, and New Plymouth visitors have been noticed among those who have made a pilgrimage to the beach in search of all the latest information. Wanganui photographers, bakers, butchers, greengrocers, restaurants, and hotels have all had some direct benefit from the stricken ship. "JEALOUS WELLINGTON." "But how jealous Wellington is," a Wanganui man remarked facetiously. "Many Wellington citizens have been coming to Wanganui daily to see that stranded ship. At first the belief was that it would be a nine-days' wonder, here and then gone, but since the ship is still ashore Wellington looked' for the proverbial red herring to draw across the scent. &nd what happened? Wellington landed a whale. But what care we for that? The longer the whale stays on Wellington's beach the more people will leave Wellington to come to Wanganui to see the Port Bowen." So even the ill wind that caused a whale to be washed ashore at LyaJ Bay blew Wanganui some good.