The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, JAN. 24, 1891. The Wanganui River

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 91, 24 January 1891, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, JAN. 24, 1891. The Wanganui River

Every settler or resident who has 1 the true interests of this coast at heart will be glad to learn that the Government have arranged for a weekly steam service up the Wanganui river as far as Pipiriki. Messrs Hatrick and Co., who have already done so 1 much to advance the shipping inj tereste of th%port of Wanganui, have : undertaken the responsibility of supplying a suitable steamer which will be built in England, we understand, far from the meddling of local Government officials who did .60 much, by there tinkering, to stop the steam service inaugurated some few years ago, by their " absurd stipulations and conditions." The Government, for their part, have undertaken to clear the shallows of the rapids of I obstructions so that unless under . very exceptional circumstances the steamer could ply all through the year. ;©ur > contemporary the Wan- ; ganui Herald says, the cost of opening seventy miles of the river will be ; less than it would cost to make a single mile of railway, while the cost i of transit will be less per ton than is charged for half the distance by rail. It is anticipated that all the wool from the Muriuiotu country which now : finds its way to Napier will come to Wanganui from whence, as a natural : consequence, all tho stores required : by the settlers in the Murimotu will be drawn. Of course this is only a hope ; which may or may not be realised. What Wanganui has really to do is . to create new business altogether by encouraging settlement and making communication easy with the port. \ Taking a part of the trade from another;pTace is very second rate progressatany time, which does real good : to no one. By the time one steamer ; is running the necessity for a second ! will already begin to be felt from ; the natural expansion of the local trade. Messrs Hatrick and Co., • deserve well of Wanganui and it will be to the interests of the business ;people of that town to give loyal support in their new enterprise.