GENERAL NEWS

Wanganui Chronicle, 23 February 1949, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS

Rotary Club Thanked. ‘As a member of the London Rotary International Club I wish to express my thanks to the Wanganui Rotary Club for its wonderful gesture ;n forwarding food parcels to England over a long period,” said Commissioner Hugh Sladen, of the Salvation Army, yesterday. He was the guest speaker at the club. He said the Wanganui Rotary Club was known all over England as the result of the parcels, and people there were deeply appreciative of the gesture of goodwill and mead* liness. Return of Yacht After a cruise of three weeks in Marlborough Sounds, the Wanganui ocean-going yacht Maputu, which carried a crew of four, returned yesterday. The skipper, Mr A. Berg, described the trip as uneventful, but several incidents occurred during the cruise. The yacht encountered its share of stormy weather and on Sunday night conditions wer e rather unpleasant, because of the high wind. The yaent was then at Port Hardy, at the northern end of d’Urville Island. On on e occasion during the cruise a sail was blown out in a gale- Mr Berg carried out the duties of skipper, navigator and wireless operator, other members of the crew being Messrs A. Herring (mate), D. McLean and G. Cathro. Shortage of Coal Unless a collier replaces the s.s. Holmlea in the near future, a shortage of coal is likely among industrial users in Wanganui. Th e Holmlea, of 553 tons register, was bound from Greymouth to Wanganui at the weekend when she developed a serious leak and was towed into Westport by the tug James O’Brien. The vessel had 600 tons of coal from West Coast mines for discharge at Castlecliff and is at present alongside th e Westport wharf undergoing examination by marine surveyors. None of the shipping agencies with colliers trading to Wanganui had received advice yesterday of a replacement for th e Holmlea.