PAPAROA.

Wairoa Bell, Volume V, Issue 198, 19 May 1893, Page 2

PAPAROA.

[fkom otje own coeresposdext]. LIT he Notice Board forwarded by the Manager of the N. IT. Steamboat Co. to enlighten the darkness of the people of Paparoa in the matter of the time of departure of steamers still remains nailed up at the Post Office. It is really surprising the amount of information on the above subject which the public obtain from this board. Its announcement, which we notice, regardless of time or tide always remains the same, is as follows : Nobthekn Union Steamboat Co. , Ltd. Notice. Steamer leaves Paparoa for Helen sville on .... (blank) next. At.... (blank) And below-, presumably as a guarantee that the above information is correct—direct from headquarters, you know —appears conspicuously the name of R. R. Douglas, Manager. And so the hoard remains, a monument to the business-like tact of those at the head of the Company’s affairs. Never has the manager taken the trouble to wire the time of the boat’s departure since the notice-board was sent,, excepting for the first week or so, the result of which I described in my last letter on the subject. But now let us retrospect a little. At the time the amalgamation of the Companies took place, the service here was as follows-The Kina, running to Pahi and Matakohe, arrived here on Tuesday morning ; the Ethel, connecting- with the Port Albert boat, arrived on Thursdays. This was probably the most convenient arrangement that could be made, leaving as it did, a day or two’s time between the trips, and a convenient space between the arrival of the mails, which accordingly reached here on Tuesdays, 7htttsdays, and Saturdays. (Shortly after the new manager took office, the trips were altered, and a new and complicated time-table, came into vogue. The reason of this I know not, unless it was an exhibition of the new power at the head of affairs. However, the large steamer was fixed to arrive on Monday, and the Ethel on Friday. The result of this stupid management was to lessen the convenience of the two trips, jumbling all the mails together into three or four consecutive days, Mails now arrived on F> idays, Saturdays, and Mondays, leaving us of course from Monday till the following Friday with no means of communication by letter. Things went on in this way for some time, but soon the ‘ powers that be ’ in connection with the Company saw fit to again change the arrangements. This time the steamer days' were thrown close together, the Kina or Minnie Casey arriving on lues day, and the Ethel running to Paparoa on Wednesday. This was seemingly a more idiotic and ridiculous arrangement than the last. Why on earth could not a reasonable interval have been left between the trips, instead of jamming them together in this insane fashion F Matters would not have been so bad had their boats been punctual to their time ; on this phase of the question I have dwelt before. The inconvenience which it caused is easily imagined, more particularly to those living at a distance. I have known piersous to come down frhm the Homestead settlements, five to eight miles distant, to go by the steamer, or to meet friends coming by it—for whom they would bring horses—and who on getting here would find perhaps that the boat, advertised to arrive by the mornirig’s tide, would not be in till evening ; they would consequently either have to return home, and make another journey, or hang about the village all day, till the night’s tide. Frequently persons have bad to turn out of bed at an unearthly hour in the morning, or late at night to meet the steamer. The unfortunate post-master suffers considerably through all this. Members of the pub' ic, who seem to have an idea that he is an authority on the subject, come thirsting for information ; and ho, in common with the other storekeeper, is continually badgered with enquiries which they are powerless to answer, and as they are but human, their feelings at such times towards the Manager and. his system cannot be amiable. The inconvenience resultant from this muddling and bungling is, of course, shared by all the districts surrounding which are visited by the boats. The captains and crews of the boats are also sufferers. They are, I presume, powerless to alter the arrangements of the Manager, and though willing to oblige the settlers, have to come in for a share of the growling. In audition to this they have long hours and comparatively little sleep, so that their lot is not an enviable And this, Mr Editor, is the way in which The Northern Union Steamboat Co have served the settlers since they took the running of the boats. Are they deserving of support ? And now after months of such child’s play as I have attempted to describe—after months of such abominable mis-management »b I hope few communities

are subjected to, in the matter of steam communication. the nJd time-table originated by Mr Gow is to be reverted to Some common-sense is to be at bisf d. ? ?pls»vWl. It is to be hoped that f ~ Compare v-:\\Vlny up a. stock of this invaluable om ui • ’::y in tin ha ! •nice for use in compiling lirne-raoies iu inure.