The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, APRIL 9, 1902. A BARRICADE WANTED.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 385, 9 April 1902, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, APRIL 9, 1902. A BARRICADE WANTED.

Any person who witnessed the departure of the Gisborne representatives of the Tenth Contingent from the wharf on Sunday evening last must have been impressed with the necessity of the Harbor Board providing a barricade, which could bo erected upon such occasions in order to keep the crowd from interfering with the working of the steamer. The Waihi reached the wharf a few minutes before five o’clock, the advertised time for the departure of the last launch, and a scene of bustle and confusion took place in connection with the landing and embarkation of passengers. To reach the gangway of the steamer one had to force one’s way through the crowd, and cabmen, mailmen, and others could be seen hustling one another in their efforts to get through. All this trouble could have been avoided

if the Harbor Board, as in other places, had provided a barricade which could have been erected an hour or two before

the steamer arrived. The police as a rule do their best to keep the crowd back, but it is too much for them to control such large crowds as sometimes assemble on the wharf unless they are assisted by the Harbor Board. The public for their own safety should keep back from the edge of the wharf when a steamer is being berthed or taking its departure, as one never knows the moment that a rope may snap and a serious accident occur. During recent years several such accidents ha' e occurred in different ports in New Zealand attended with serious loss of life. Probably after such an accident has occurred in Gisborne the Harbor Board may awake to the sense of its responsibilities and provide a barricade.