THE LYTTELTON FERRY SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 70, 17 December 1918, Page 4

THE LYTTELTON FERRY SERVICE

CHRISTMAS BOOKINGS. It needed but a few minutes to make tho hour of six last night when tho Union Company's ferry steamer Maori left Wellington for Lyttolton. Teh firemen were needed to complete the complement, but they were not easily found. In the end the company was put to it to engage ten men on the men's own conditions, to take the ship south, rather than cancel the trip to the inconvenience of a largo number of the passengers. These ten men will leave the Maori at Lytteltou this morning, and it is considered doubtful whether ten new hands can be engaged by to-night. If men cannot be obtained there will be no pas. 6enger steamer from the south to-morrow. Owing to the difficulty in obtaining crows the Union Company announces that all tickets are issued and bookings made subject to full crews being obtained to man the vessels. The uncertainty of steamers maintaining their running to time-table is such tlmt the company will only book passages from day to day—i.e, on the day on which vessels are set down to sail. Tho Pateena is ready to re-enter the Wellington-Nelson service, but is hold back by the want of a crew, to secure which efforts have been made for a week. Judging from the many persons besieging tne Union Company's passenger department yesterday morning it is appnr ent that tfiis year's holiday traffic will .bo very heavy, perhaps as big as in pre-war days. The resumption of the Maori on tho ferry run yesterday was the signal for a rush for berths on the Lytteltou steamers during tho holidays. So busy wero the booking clerks that for nearly all the morning the demand for tickets was being made by travellers, who stood rows deep. As a means of stemming tho tide for tho day it was later announced that bookings for steamer sailings later than Wednesday could not be made that day.