THE FERRY SERVICE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14976, 23 April 1909, Page 8

THE FERRY SERVICE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Will you kindly allow me a small portion of your valuable space to draw attention to what appears to me a gross injustice committed by the Union Steamship Company? Doubtless yo,u know that in holiday seasons the Union Company can hardly cope with the passenger traffic between Wellington and Lyttelton, and viceversa. They therefore issue tickets for more accommodation than the ship! are provided with, and to meet tho deficiency erect eiuergeuoy berths, in inferior parts of the vessels, and charge exactly the same for these as for the ordinary accommodation. Complaints are met by the remark that the accommodation is passed by the Customs officer. Then let that officer be compelled to travel ten times between Lyttelton and Wellington in the lower deck steerage berths in the s.s. Maori. If the stifling heat, smell and noise of the propeller does not qualify hini for admittance to a lunatic asylum it must be because he is deaf, blind and without the sense of smell. AVhat is 'the democratic paternal Government doing to allow its supporters to be penned like so many gee.se (the public is the goose that lays the golden egg) in the hold of the Maori or aiiy other conveyance of the Dominating Navigation Trust- of New Zealand? . The accommodation on the Maori is not equal in the find-class to the second-class outside New Zealand, and the charge is Is 9d per hour, against lOd. Tlie second-class accommodation ought to bo rated fifth-rate, ns compared with the White Star boats thira-olass to Australia, and the prices compare as Is Id per hour to about sd. Occupiers of inferior berths should pay inferior prices, l and as the Government, interfere in so many things, why do they not protect the sea-travelling public aud encourage competition?—l am, etc., A FOREIGN TRAVELLER.