SHIPPING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3986, 20 August 1929, Page 2

SHIPPING.

The local wharf should present a very busy appearance to-morrow when, weather permitting, two boats will be discharging their cairgoes. The s.s. Himatangi is due from Tarakohe with a load of cement and the o.v. Foxton which arrived at Wellington last night from Auckland, is expected to pay her first visit to the port with a general .cargo. Much interest will be evinced in the latter vessel. Referring to the “Foxton,” the “Auckland Star” says: — “While finishing her fitting out alongside the 'Central wharf the new motor vessel Foxton, which has been 'built for the Canterbury Shipping Company, has attracted large numbers of men and boys, the wharf edge being generally lined by a row of loungers or people who are taking their lunch hour stroll. Great interest is taken in the rigging, for the Foxton carries a certain amount of sail. Built for the West Coast trade, in which dirty weather can be met with, she is extra strong, nothing flimsy or yacht-like about hull or fittings. In the deck houses and elsewhere a good deal of Australian hardwood has been used. In the old days kauri would have been used, but it is not as plentiful as it was when Auckland was a great boat-building port, and it is now getting quite as expensive as teak. Talking about the rigging, it is remarkable that, although Auckland does not rig one craft in a twelve-month in these days, there never seems any lack of the requisite “artists” to do the work. It is most interesting to watch what these riggers can do with rope, yarn and a marine spike, the cunning knots they can contrive, and the neat job they make of everything, no ends of yarn showing and the man whose skill is confined to trying a “granny knot” on a lumpy looking parcel never ceases to admire these deft and tarry-handed fellbws,”