Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, SEPT. 14, 1929. OUR SEA COMMUNICATIONS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15318, 14 September 1920, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, SEPT. 14, 1929. OUR SEA COMMUNICATIONS.

Tlie amiouhcement made last week that the steamers Monowai and Mokoia are to be withdrawn from the East Coast passenger -service and replaced by cargo carriers is one that can scarcely be received Svith complacency. Gisborne suffered/ patiently throughout, the war. -period an immense amount of uiseomfoi'ts/apd' disability owing to the 'in-' freqSiemfy of its sea communications, but it yflts hoped that when shipping was rejeas_d from Imperial commission we should' see a restoration of pre-war time-tables and , that . something would be done_ to relieve the isolation of this important part of the Dominion. When. the general manager of pho Union Steamship Company visited- Gisborne a 'few months ago^ opportunity was taken by Chamber bf Commerce represen/tatiyes to lay before him the inadequacy of the existing service, and a promise was extracted that beforo very long we ■-'should' have a better service.. At the /same time Mr ( Aitken enlightened the deputationists very considerably on the 'difficulties experienced m the running of ' -ships, and particularly emphasised the. I coal problem. The promise that he' made is 'to be: fulfilled by the replacej ment next month of the Arahura by the .' Mararoa, a vessel with mere spacious 'accommodation, but the advantage thus [gamed 1 will be nullified if, as now an 7 nounced, the Monowai and Mokoia, which hitherto have proved- considerable aids m relieving ., traffic congestion, are withdrawn. At the same time the Company gives the best of reasons for the step decided upon— the boats are not paying., It is an. open, secret that for a considerable . time past, the Monowai has .■beeif yun at a. loss. To those J who see full holds of cargo and shakedowns for: - passengers all over the ship this seems j incomprehensible, but one has > only to i watch the running of such a steamer, 1 and to consider the difficulties ex--1 perienced iri • keeping a time-table, to j understand where the losses .come m. In , days gone by, the Monowai, Mokoia, and other vessels of/ the fleet were able to /maintain a round service from Dunedtn /to Auckland arid back once a fortnight with the . utmost regularity. Now owing to port delays, due to the difficulty m getting men to handle the cargo with anything. like the former efficiency, the roUrid trip may take three weeks .or a, month, whilst aIL the working exI penses,, coaling, providoring; etc., have enormously increased. The Company is also faced ,liko everybody else, with the difficulty of securing adequate supplies,, of .coal, owing to the go-slow policy of 'the miners, and this has, been, a strong factor m its latest decision. Whilst admitting all that, the Union Company is up against in., running steamers m these crazy times, we feel that it should be asked to make- some better provision for 'Gisborne traffic than can possibly be afforded by the utilisation of one passenger steamer only m. the Auckland-Gisborne-Napier run. It is impossible for 'the Mararoa to improve on the present time-table : indeed, with greater cargo capacity, it is quite- likely sho may have to cut out ono ot tlio two. trips to Napier m order, to. get her freight iaud-

_ - — — - d. Gisborne, m such a case, would aye one connection north and one south ach- week. Tliat is utterly inadequatethe interval from Friday to Wedesday is excessive and a great handicap a the place. If it were possible po relace the Ripple, now making a weekly Vellaigton-Napier-Oismorne run, with a ' teanicr such as the Mapourika, of mOf* 'eneraus passenger *iccommodatio% ,' Iternating with the 7 Mararoa bet7re|>n" lisborne and Napier, we should sayVthc', equirements of Gisborne would be very dequately catered for, and if represent ations were made by the Chamber 'of Jommerce perhaps something of thi3 : ature could be arranged, between th£ k hipping companies interested. Th^ landicap, of course, is the state of, .the' Hsborne harbor. The Ripple represent** he limit of size of vessels which;, caii nter the river, and to employ a larger mat would mean transhipment charges* »n all the merchandise to be landed her© -no inconsiderable item- in the boosting ipof the local Cost of living. Altogether jnl * s a very difficult problem to know ho%. o cater for the requirements of the Gisr lorneV trade, but we feel sure that ;SSY ,he summer -comes on and the horm^ly novements of population set m, it will )e found that the Mararoa alone is aofc mfficient to cope with the' traffic, J and ih'ess great public inconvenience,- is fo )e- avoided some other vessel will haye ;o be employed m the Gisbome-Napier erry. PUBLIC HEALTH 'CONTROL. . • It is unfortunate that the conference )f local body representatives held yesterday was not able to frame some reply ivhich -would represent the united views if the district on the Public Health, Bill now" before. Parliament, for such com> ment and criticism would have carried -. v much greater weight than the separate' representations now to be made by the various local bodies; ' The" opportunity was also " let . slip of presenting to the . Uovernment and .to Parliament the opinion which everybody present at the meeting held that Gisborhe and the East Coast should, be/ constituted. „a . separate health district. Though, . sis •■ the chairman ruled, this did Ynqt comequite within the order of , reference ,©f the conference, being outside the. terms of the Bill, nevertheless it_ is not often, that our local bodies' delegates get together, and it was quite open to thertfy. we take it, to make .separate representa-- - tion on th's or any other matter affect-, ing the public health requirements of tha.. district. The district is quite . largeYY ; enough and important enough to sjtand alone, and,-: for reasons of efficiency "/aa V well as natural disinclination it objects" ; .-. ta being tacked on to Napier for. various purposes of -local government, bttV.u^ 6^ our local bodies^ take every opppfimiity to protest b６cracy at Weiiing^tfta will not alter the situation.* So , f ajp •-&&' the Bill is concerned, we take it fiioin the discussion that the weight of opinidji 'seems to be that the control of publicr health matters should not be deleg^d. to each local body, for that would me&n a great amount of overlapping, unneces- . Bary expense, and probable inefficiency, but should be controlled by one central authority for each district. Mr. Mcdiskie's view that hospital boards shot-Id be invested with wider powers and made the controlling authorities, would meet | the. situation but for "the known fact that |it takes some hospital boards .all t^liir , ' time to run the institutions already^in" their charge; We should think that inj a district like this, extending from WafifOa to the East Cape, there, should be/; a , local Board Of Health, presided, over t>y the district health officer,' a\ medical man, with wide powers, who- wbiild?^e permanent chairman of . ihe Board, and composed of j>he .chairmen and : eitjier . fapo or three members; of each/ Hospital Board. The Health officer an^ inspgc- V tors, m oi'der that they may 'speak .and actNvith greater, authority, free fifcn". local influence , m 'such matters as ' the enforcement of sataitarv measures-' 'and - the demolition of buildings sliould -he' Departmental officials ' with special qualifications and training for the pdsitions they' occupy. A Board so established would be capable? of exetcismg all '_ necessary functions and. dealihg efficieritlv with every emergency. ' v "y