THE UPPER MANAWATU FERRY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1893, 20 January 1885, Page 2

THE UPPER MANAWATU FERRY.

(To the Editor.) U Pahiatua, 16th Jan., 1885. Sir,—l wish through the medium of your widely circulated paper to draw thei attention of the authorities and the travel-;, ling public to the wretched state of th^ : , Upper Manawatu Feiy and Having occasion to cross the'Fejrj^late.'r' the otner night, I endeavoured, to call-the' . attention, of the ferryman'.By ringing, the . boll, l)iiUfter dismounting '.and climbing« ' piot *rmg : tae-bell without cUmbi%.up, ' .post-on.which it is hungp so. I bacK to _I had ]ejtmy;'hone L ,M(j[.'' • * ■dowß to-tlie- edge-of tho'riv^'wheti-I cooyfcd tod waited about'tKree-diiaiieti (if ; : ' ■an hour, when I was coolly « aid I ' .1' . 'want the punt. Of course I ilia. .So after .. -waiting about another quarter of-an hour''" 'the punt at last arrived. ; On my arrival at the.othe'r side I was asked foi I .doifl&U' fare .which I refused to pay on pne .groiinds that as no double fare was men* ■ V tioned on; the'schedule the fercyinaji" can** 'not claim it. [I found out afterwards, the •reason I was' delayed was thgjtaouier ■'triiveller had arrived at the ferrJSjWtan •liour before me, and after vainly, tpyingto ring the bell or make tlio ferrymw-'hear by cooying he had at last to ford the river" :&t'.ihe risk of his life; but by the time he - had got to the ferryman's house, he-(the ' ferryman) was then ready to demand liis ' -. fare which Traveiler No. ,1 disputed, and -• • I had to wait while th© matter Buithe ferryman insisted on his claim for : ■dibble fare and went so far as td seize my Bridie, which under the circumstateeaJi•considerd was adding insult" to injury • .which in my then state of mind I felt,little "inclined to put up' with, My- object in publishing this is to bring before:'the-' public the disgraceful Btate. of the ferry with all its attendant circumßtanpea.' -The ' bell should be hung on the-|>r^>s'' ; '' thereabouts, where it could begot at. -In | fact thp whole thing is just a specimen of ; the" utter inability of the twO. iCounto'--''' £ Councils, both of Wairarapa E&fc-.aticl' Waipawa, to grasp the idea,of what"' ■ their prflper functions really are.' I am, &c., Traveller >