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Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 18760, 26 December 1930, Page 8

Traffic on the railways on Christmas Eve and again yesterday was very heavy, all the expresses carrying full complements. The influx of visitors to Timaru this year is reported to be as heavy as last year, but it is noticeable that the larger number are from the south. Sufficient supplies of fish to meet the demand were available in Auckland last week. Satisfactory trawling operations were conducted in the Bay of Plenty, while fair yields were obtained in places on the West Coast. The portions of the Hauraki Gulf which are not restricted by the Government regulations are still unworkable. The usual spectacle of a huge waterspout was seen from a farm in the vicinity of the Hawera golf links last week by a party of workers busy haymaking. A dense black cloud was observed hanging low over the water at a distance estimated variously at from three to five miles out. Suddenly the dense mass was seen apparently to swoop down on the surface of the sea, and when it rose, draw up a huge funnelshaped column of water, which attained a great height and then burst suddenly. The spectacle, although common enough in tropical latitudes, is of uncommon occurrence on these coasts, and is the more remarkable in that it was seen so close to land. The gradual invasion of the old-time resorts of peace in England by the tripper and the char-a-banc was mentioned with regret by Dr. A. L. Singer, who returned to Gisborne recently from Home. There were left within range of bus travel from London and the other large centres of population, few resorts in which it was still possible to enjoy the rusticity of the old English countryside; the last surviving retreats were all off the main highways. Llandudno, which he remembered from his boyhood days as a quiet holiday place, where nigger minstrels on the sands were the most raucous element, was now over-run with trippers, travelling in char-a-bancs and apparently oblivious to the features of the resort which formerly made the strongest appeal. To expect service of the older type was to court disappointment. All round the coast of England and Wales the same conditions existed, at seaside towns known of old for their quiet and peace. Even down in Cornwall, where the roads were steep and the scenery less appealing to the tripper class, the huge buses were forcing their way into the country lanes and making life intolerable to all but the most tolerant of tourists. The whole of the coast was becoming one vast promenade.