A BUSY HARBOUR STAFF.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14830, 22 November 1913, Page 12

A BUSY HARBOUR STAFF.

(PRESS ASSOCIATION" TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, November 21. During the strike many deserving tributes have been paid to the harbourmaster and his stalf of pilots. All tho time they have been kept particularly busy, and in handling the big liners no accident of any kind has occurred. Even during tho busiest period, when boats were taken to and from tho wharf each day, and when the weather was inclined to bo boisterous, there was no serious hitch. To give some idea of the amount of pilotage which has been so successfully coped with, the harbourmaster supplied a reporter with figures for six days, from the sth to tho 12th inst. Of course no work was done on the Sunday. These figures are somewhat . surprising, for they show that during the week mentioned more oversea vessels were handled than during an ordinary busy month. For the week there were no fewer than forty-four removals, and the gross tonnage dealt with amounted to 374,397 tons. For the purposes of comparison, the figures for last March—a busy month — were referred to. The books show that during March the tonnage was 306,579. The figures for the week exceed those for the month by 67,818 tons.