ON THE WANGANUI

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 403, 11 July 1928, Page 12

ON THE WANGANUI

HISTORIC STEAMERS MAY CEASE RUNNING

SETTLERS PERTURBED

(THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, To-day. The alarm with which Wanganui River settlers view the prospective closing of the steamer service which, founded by the late Mr. A. Hatrick, has served them for 40 years, was put before the Ministers of Lands and Public Works (Messrs. McLeod and Williams) by a group of Wanganui citizens yesterday. The steamers form part of a picturesque and once profitable fleet which at one time engaged in a traffic war with an opposing concern, and won out. Terms in the will of the late Mr. Hatrick set out that the service should be discontinued, and the business as a whole closed down, if it failed to yield a certain return, and the trustees have now no option but to execute these stipulations. As a result, the steamer service, traversing an historic and beautiful waterway, will cease to operate after next December, leaving settlers in leagues of steep and roadless country without any means of access, unless the Government, which now has the matter under consideration, can agree to grant an increased subsidy to the River Trust or such other concern as may be organised to acquire Hatrick’s steamers and plant.