THE HINEMOA FIASCO.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue 7385, 11 February 1902, Page 2

THE HINEMOA FIASCO.

At a timo when what Mr Donald Macdonald called the " street corner generals " are alwayp ready to criticise the doings of JBritieh officers in South Africa, and, indeed, reople in high position in the colony are very free with their advice, the incident at New Plymouth on Saturday is a little humiliating, to say the least of it. A number of men are gathered from various parts to enrark for Auckland, and they get to the breakwater only to find that no steamer is there to take them, and after waiting hours without a word of explanation they are compelled to find the best shelter they can from rain, and wait for twenty-four hours. Someone had blundered, of course, for the Hinemoa to go past instead of calling at the (breakwater, and no doubt explanation will be forthcoming, but the point of the incident is that while such blunders occur in our transport service when there is no great strain on time or resources, we cannot very well afford to throw stones at people who if they blunder have at least the excuse of being under stress aud strain, which make it difficult to provide against accidents and miscalculations.