FIFTY YEARS AGO

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 21 February 1935, Page 8

FIFTY YEARS AGO

Mr J. Kerr s steam yacht Tainui having recently undergone a thorough overhaul, including considerable improvements to the machinery, her owner invited a manlier of friends to take a rim in the Bay in her. Starting between 14 and 15 o’clock (we may as well commence at once to adopt the new designations of time) they travelled up the Boulder Bank as far as MacKay’s Bluff, then turned round and returned over the samj course, Covering tiie measured mile under a pressure of only 601bs of steam in 8 minutes 18 seconds. Not satisfied with tliis cruise they then steamed acress towards the Moutero Bluffs, and whilst performing this journey, the guests drank the health of their entertainer in bumpers of champagne of which lie had provided a liberal supply. It is no exaggeration to say that in the Tainui Mr Kerr possesses one of the smartest little crafts of the kind in New Zealand waters. She :’s equally a credit to her owner and to her builders three Nelson young men. Our telegrams have constantly announced of late tile successful running of excursion trains in other parts of the colony. Wherever the experiment lias been tried the trains have been largely patronised, and it is almost time that the travelling public in Nelson should have equal facilities afforded them, with those enioyed by residents elsewhere. Perhaps if the local officials weie» not so swathed in red tape, but were allowed to exercise their own discretion now and then, the railway in Nelson might be made more of a public convenience than it now is. The Kennedy returned from her trip to Havelock tins afternoon. About 35 excursionists availed themselves of the opportunity of visiting that picturesque spot where they anived early yesterday morning, or rather were landed about, a mile from the wharf, the tide at that time being too low for the steamer to get any nearer. The Kennedy took ill a- quantity of flax and other produce, and left again in the evening with the intention of calling' at | Maliakipawa. to take in wool from Mr | Cullen’s. There was so thick a fog | however, that she could not even feel j her way along, and she bad to wait for several hours. Ultimately she found her way to Maliakipawa.. took the wool on board and sailed for Nelson at five o’clock this morning, arriving at 2 p.m. A correspondent of tile Wanganui “Herald” says:—“l hear that the New Zealand flax lias not flowered this year. It, certainly has not in our district, and if it has failed to do so in Wanganui, it is the first time such a thing has occurred since the country was colonised, and is a- very strong proof of the cold and late spring we have experienced this year.