AUCKLAND-WHANGAREI PASSENGER SERVICE.

Northern Advocate, 30 August 1919, Page 4

AUCKLAND-WHANGAREI PASSENGER SERVICE.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —The distance between Onerahi and Auckland is about 80 miles. The trip is done pe r s.s. Manaia, in about 7 hours; return fares costing 325. This particular service calls for special notice. The sam e distance is covered on the Australian coast in just half the time, and at less than half the cost. A return of the exact or average number of pasj sengera carried yearly is perhaps f not available, but from the news- ! paper lists it is shown that roughly 600 weekly, or 30,000 annually, is about the figure. The steamer Auckland at 10 p.m. (a most inconvenient hour). Next morning passengers are wakened before day- > break and landed on the wharf at ! Onerahi. Here they stand for per- | haps half an hour guarding their I luggage until the arrival of the train —on a cold, bleak pier are men women and children, and often invalids, exposed to the severest weather without either shelter or a place to sit down. From Onerahi they are entrained like sardines, arriving in Whangarei at 6.50 a.m., when the town is deserted and. closed, and presenting a most unattractive and cheerless appearance and impression. How often we meet with strangers coming in search of a home amongst you in the great "Winterless North," but returning the same day. One cannot imagine any other civilised community with a population" of (I believe) 14,000, tolerating such an obsolete system, when with a moderate expenditure, such as proposed by the Harbour Board, the district could enjoy an attractive and comfortable service. How the board's proposals will affect trade and the Auckland houses I am not permitted to say, but for Heaven's sake get a move on between your town and Auckland, for life is getting too short to spend it on board the Manaia.—l am, etc., A KNIGHT OP THE ROAD.