Test Drawing Big Gisborne Traffic To Auckland

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23316, 27 July 1950, Page 8

Test Drawing Big Gisborne Traffic To Auckland

Traffic on the highway between Gisborne and Auckland tomorrow will probably reach the same volume as that recorded in connection with the final test match on the occasion of the last Springbok tour of New Zealand. Rugby enthusiasts, delighted with tire performances of the British Isles team, will flock northward to see the last of the test scries, regardless of the fact that the All Blacks already have clinched matters by winning two tests and drawing one. Most of those who travel to Auckland for the big fixture will move by private transport. Two Railway Department Road Service buses have been contracted for by groups of intending-tra-vellers. but other bus services and taxi proprietors have made no special arrangements for trips to Auckland, and National Airways Corporation is providing no special planes for Rugby patrons. All public transport agencies have received numbers of inquiries as to the prospects of special trips, but factors in connection with match reservations and accommodation in Auckland _ were too complicated for bus and taxi services in general, and air-traffic conditions now prevailing were unsuitable for Gisborne patrons. To organise special trips by aircraft, N.A.C. officers would have had to draw aircraft from other centres and return them there after the match requirements were fulfilled. This would entail a considerable amount of non-paying flight, and fares for the special trips would have had to bear a portion of the cost. In the face of these difficulties early inquirers for air transport apparently decided to concentrate upon surface transportation. Many Gisborne parties will leave early tomorrow for Auckland, but will stay overnight in Hamilton, Cambridge, or other centres from which it is possible to reach Auckland during Saturday morning. They will thus exploit the accommodation facilities of the lesser centres, returning there on Saturday evening after the match and continuing their homeward journeys on Sunday.

Other travellers who were able to secure accommodation in Auckland will be better placed, especially in regard to early arrival at the gates of the match ground. There is every prospect that late arrivals will have difficulty in securing even good standing-room at Eden Park.