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HOLYHEAD AS A PORT OF CALL

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THE ANCHORING.

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THE ANCHORING. The throb of the liner's propellers could now be heard over the water as she com- menced to go ahead again, and the "Ma"- netic," like a guiding fairy, led the way to- wards the Breakwater Lighthouse, the "Cedric" following close in her wake, in the patient manner of a stately mother who wishes to yield to the beckoning of her sel- fish child who has made some discovery which cannot be enjoyed alone. Well with- in the shelter of the breakwater was an area of untroubled water, and towards this the great vessel made her way; her passing of the breakwater head being marked bv loud cheering from a large number of people who had assembled there, the welcome being returned in full measure by the thousand or so passengers on board the steamer. At 11.20 precisely Captain Bartlett dropped anchor, and the "Magnetic" and "Edith" approached, the former on the port side. and the latter on the .starboard. At 11.30 after the ship's doctor had sung out, "All's well," the party which had come out from Holyhead on the tender were able to get aboard the liner, but before that they had exchanged greetings with those aboard, the latter leaning over the taffrails on the port side and taking a most lively interest in the proceedings. The first thing which was seen on the liner' was a long line of men, over a hundred, in white tunics, who had been told off to deal with the baggage and mails. All the work was accomplished without a suspicion of "rushing," the per- sonal effects of the passengers being first placed on board the tender, after which the passengers stepped from the liner to the "Magnetic." The Royal Mail steamer "Ulster," from Kingstown," was passing at the time, and seemed quite a small vessel in comparison with the "Cedric." Small boats from the shore put off, and clustered round the ship which towered up above them like a great mountain, while even the "Edith" and "Magnetic" were devoted to comparative insignificance by the liner's proportion. THE CROWD. J To people who delight in watching crowds the next few minutes were full of the deep- est interest. Not far from two hundred passengers had elected to go ashore at Holy- head, most of these being American holiday- makers and business people. Amongst the crowd, however, were two or three Japan- ese visitors, who had come by rail from the Western coast of the U.S.A. to jjoin the "Cedric," and were on a business trip to the land of their allies. Here and there one could detect a person of unmistakably Teutonic appearance, and several there were who were living examples of the Yankee, whose typification on the stage is the de- light of English playwrights. These brusque but genial specimens of the hustling Amei- ican looked and acted as if they were going to allow no grass to grow under their feet while they were in the old country, and they cheerfully opined that "if things went on this way they were going to get about quite nicely." A good number, if not the majority, of the persons who debarked weie ladies, and in watching their practical. cool-headed way of looking alter nem. and their belongings one ceased to won at the increasing number of Englls^ men who are captured by the gills, fron "over there." Not that they were compar- able with the fair ones of this country in looks; but rather that they gave the im- I pression of being people who would get the thing they wanted, and get it <luickly. There were" several children aboard and these seemed rather to gneve at leaving the Whip where they had spent a happy week, foi on the big liners a child has a most pleasant time if the weather be good, as he or she is the petted of all the grown-ups. Stewards went in and out amongst the passengers dis- tributing postcards of places on the L. and N.-W. system, and principally of North Wales. GLAD OF IT. Our representative had conversations with a good number of the passengers who de- barked at Holyhead, and learned that it was not until Friday last that the possibility of landing at Holyhead was mentioned to them. A large number at once signified their willingness, nay, their anxiety, to bo amongst the first to land at the new port of calf a decision which none of them appat- ently regretted. Several instances were brought to ndtice of the great value which the call meant to some of the passengers m time-saving. One gentleman was hastening to join his wife at Oxford, to celebrate the sixth anniversary of the'r weddmg and it; was only by the call at Holyhead that he was enabled to meet her that day. All to whom our representative spoke expressed their pleasure at the new system. and ox- pressed the hope that the W hite Star Com pany would adhere to Holyhead for .his pur- pose. GOOD-BYE. A minute or two before noon all the trans- fern had been competed, and chorus of whistles the "Magnetic left the sheltering side of the great liner and steamed shoreward. Then there was such a waving of handkerchiefs and shawls, such a calling out of good-byes and good wishes, distri- buted both singly and collectively on ail the people on both of the ships. Many of the ladies introduced into Welsh waters a- remarkable call, not unlike that of a be1- gull and somewhat reminiscent of a far en fog siren. As the tender glided gently away the sounds became fainter, and gradually died awav, though the waving of handker- chiefs and hats was kept up until the pas- sengers on the "Cedric" lost. their individu- alities and became merged in a dark line topped with white. Within a few minutes the "Cedric" was swinging around and as the tender rounded the Admiralty Pier she could be seen moving out of the harbour c.n her way to LiverpooL ENTRAINING. Preceded by the "Edith" which had been loaded with the heavy baggage with great speed, the tender made her way to the Sta- tion Quay, where three trains had been mar- shalled in readiness for the passengers. Near the George IV. Arch a large crowd had gathered, and a cheer was raised by them as the vessels passed, a kind of subdued, "don't forget it's .Sunday" cheer, but never- thelesa one which shewed how welcome was' the visit of the "Cedric." At the station there was no cheering, but there were many smiles of welcome. Rear Admiral Burr, C.M.G., M.V.O., had come round in his steam launch, and was an interested specta- tor, and there were also present the chair- man and members of the Holyhead Council, who had been invited by Commander Hol- land to witness the entraining. The "Magnetic" was alongside at 12-10 p.m., the preceding work having been ac- complished in fifty minutes from the time of the anchoring of the liner, which is ten minutes quicker than the time shewn by the supporters of Holyhead in the recent cam- paign in favour of Holyhead as a mail port. On the up-railway platform (within M feet of the London special) were placed about half a dozen "searching tables," on which were placed the packages in initial letter order brought over by the passengers in ol der that the Customs officers, who included the local collector of customs (Mr Mcllgrom) and his staff, with assistant* from Liver- pool, might scrutinise them. The clearing was gone through very rapidly, and with no unpleasant results. Though there waS bustle, there was no confusion, and in a re- markably short space of time the late voy- agers were comfortably ensconced in the luxurious dining car trains which wereal- most royal in their appointments and staff Xg. It is interesting to learn that the catering, which was under the charge of Mr Miall, of Euston, was of an e^oe"ent actert and was earned out by a staff of about fifty men. Luncheon « **rved on the trains as they sped to London, THE TIMINGS TO LONDON. The London special, which the statical at 12.152 on a ^ute& the Eu& km, t oned to take 5 hou^lO t journey beimg aotuady done m 4 » m mutes. The second, txa n, on che adjoin.ng "down" platform then took t he rem ^ung passengers and lugguage, following 17 minutes later, and arriving at Euston just 17 minutes after the first. This is con .de ed a, record 'for heavy trains—over 400 touts each. These trains were of the newest type American dining eail saloon stock, be ng fill? length and of max imum we:ght—the first of this class, in fact, ever dispatched from Holyhead. The Shrewsbury passengers left bv the ordinary one o'clock Irish mail ttrain, changing at Chester, and those for the Welsh ivratering-plaoes travelled the same way. The special for Liverpool left at 1.17 p.m. and reached Lime street at 3.45 p.m., which was also a smart ruiu The speed of the Londan trains was not so much more note- worthy than that of the Irish mail and ex- press tra.n which run between Holyhead and Lonoon daiy, most of the trme ga ned (3o minutes) on these "runs" being due to the fact that no stops were made. The first train was drawn by two passen- ger engines ofthe "Experiment" class and the seoond Iby two of the "Precursor type, all being practically turned out of Crewe works th s year. The toual number of paesengers who landed at Holyhead was 177, of these 161 being for London and beyond. Th -rty-two bag's of London and Continen- tal ma-its were landed here, 17 bags havng been discharged at Queenstown, and 25 being taken on to Liverpool. The Cedric" is a 16! knot vessel of 680ft. in length, 75ft. beam, and 21,085 tons gross reg ster. Her draught is 34ft., only a foot le-5s than that of the largest Cunarders. She left New York on June 12. and arrived at Queenstown, on Saturday, after a passage of 7 days 3 hours 54 minutes to Daunt' Rock lighj/ vessel. She had on board 295 first 269 second, and 341 th'rd class passengers, of whom 294 were landed at the Irish port. THE PLANS. The whole of the local arrangements were under the persona; supervision of Comman- der Holland, the L. and N.W. Company s marhne superintendent, and >ohe manner in whiich they were carried out is an eloquent testifmoniai to his remarkable capacity for organisation; a talent wlTch he has had great opportunity of displaying during his naval career, when he filled important posi tions as transport superintendent at Durban and elsewhere. He was assisted by as brainy and hepful a staff as could be wished for, and the most valua-ble as?-iswmoe was given by Mr Joseph Jones, the local gtat on super, intendent, who has had exceptionally good experience of this class of work under the late Mr Thee. Shaw, formerly superinten- deatc, of the Liverpool detract of the L. and N.W. Company. The working of the speoia. tra:ns was, of course, arranged by Mr vVaxner and his able colleagues, and the fine record establahed d'd infinite credit to ther untiring efforts, Special postal fac lities were given, and these were under the superintendence of the aifole and energetic postmiast-er at Holyhead tMr W. Evans). Mr T. Slater was in charge of the telegraphic arrangem^ts. Mr Hohbs act'ng on his behalf on boar<jRie "Cedric,'4 and the speed with wtrch the exceptional rush was dealt with deserves special men- il'on. Mr Evan Roberts took charge of the mails on the liner and ashore, and! under h s guidance they were dealt wifch in a, smart, 'workmanlike manner. THE MAGNETIC." The tender Magnetic," almost immedi- ately aiÍteT the departure of the first train. It'tt for Liverpool. She had been brought down from tftie Mersey on Saturday in 5h 30m., Mr E. R. W|i'li"ams, chief officer of the s.s. "South Stack" (L. and N.W.) bringing her rousid and! acting aj8 harbour pilot on Sunday. She a 13 knot boat, and very steady. FRiEtSS COMMENTS. Following are gome of the- o.pin onu of the daily Promts on the change:—1 -1 IRISH DAILY INDEPENDENT." The White Star Company have tried what they cad an "experiment, but judging by the spirit in wh ch they speak of this "ex- periment." it may be assumed that in due course they wili use Holyhead as a port of embarkation as well as disembarkation. LIVERPOOL JOURNAL OF COM- MERCE." The feeding in Liverpool, we believe, will be that if any change of the kind is to take p ice, it should be in favour of Holyhead rather than any of the other parts which have for some time past been coquetting with a view to a share of this business. FREEMAN'S JOURNAL," DUBLIN. Holyhead's bid for some attention as a port of call for American liners has been successful to the extent that the White Star Co. have begun, by way of an experiment i,t i6 said, to land London boun £ passengers at the WVsh port. The departure affects Liverpool', to which city under the old sys- tem these passengers would have been car. ried, but ijp 'also touches tihe interests of Queenstown. «s Holyhead has for som^j years pa.st figured as one of the rivals of the Ireh port. LIVERPOOL ECHO." Under exceptionally favourable conditions the Cedric. from New York, landed a portion of her passengers ai, Holyhead on Sunday. and the company which eonttois the railway traffic at Holyhead spared no effort to forward thearri valli post haste tto their destinations. The difference in landing time as between Holyhead and Liverpool is small, a.nd, indeed, i-napprecia,ble when it is remem- bered that speed is non made the strongest po'nt r4 the White Star North Atlantic servitot "LIVERPOOL DAILY POST." Holyhead, under the powerful ægis of the White Star line and of the premier railway corporation of the world, must be reckoned with as a formidable rival as far as passen. gers and, mails are concerned. The outlook is not a cheerfuil1 one for Liverpool. It would seem as if all the elements were can- sniring to gradually blot iti out as a great stat''on on the ocean highway, and to leave f' £ > stranded high and dry in the back waters of Atmn^ic passenger traffic. "DUBLIN DAILY EXPRESS." The most surprising: thing which has oc- curred in connection w th the Atlantic carry- ing tradie since the White Siar Line took their livers to Queenstown has been, the .adoption of Holyhead as a pofr, of call for the disembarkation of mails and passengers. The system was introduced on Sunday under splendid weather conditions, and though it was in the nature <?f an experiment, every- thing worked with ihe most cmnpJelte suc- cess. e% I I- COMMANDER HOLLAND. DAILY CHRONJCLE." 1 This innovation was carried out most suc- cessfully. and a-l the passengers expressed } their gratification, at the arrangements, which enabled those for London to reach the metropoLis live hours earlier than they otherwise would have done if the liner went to Liverpool. IRISH TIMES." There are certain obv-ous ;tu\uni-ages in the scheme. From Holyhead passengers can reach London in five hours, the time which, even under favourable conditions, is *e^y to elapse before the Lner is saieiy berthed at Liverpool Under many conditions the savmg i« likely to be very much greater H, therefore, ithe liner reaches Holyhead a'-> noon, her passengers may be certain of be Jig at their destination, i,f that. be London, North Wa.<es. or Western Midlands, at a fime when, under present caiidlitaoas they would onlv just) be d .sembarking. But, if it. arrives later, at. 5ix in the afternoon, tor instance., the passengers' on y chance of saving a, night- will .be in d seinibarkation at Holyhead. To a very large number of people such a eervice wou d therefore be of gre.st.. advantage, wh'le it would not. seriously yioominode those whom, it* did not direct.y assist. WHAT OF THE FUTUR-E? In the course of an interview on Sunday, Mr H. Concanon, assistant general manager of the White Star Line, taio "The first difficulty we have had to con- s'der is that. the Liverpool steamers in our service have very often, been detained for want of water, and instead of being able to get passengers away in the afternoon, or evening, they have had to spend a night on board the eihp. and Ksvs on-'y been a.ble to proceed to London the -ext morning. Holy- head Is 72 miles shor. of the Mersey, and ( there is no quest.on of tide or bar, and under ordinary .circumstances passengers landing there mi ght be n London a most as soon as the steamers could get to Liverpool. Or, in cases where the see '.am* ariive in LiverRooI'a;te at might, the passengers land- ing at Holyhead might be in London 16 or 17 hours earlier. Then, atgain, circumstances alter on sai-ing dates. We milght want to sail on Thursdays, Fridays, or Saturdays, according to the conditions of our business. In the ordinary days of the week two steamers are allowed to berth at the Prince's Landing, gtage at once. But the Dock Board state that, this is impossible on a Saturday o'.v.njr to the coasting and excursion traffic. Therefore, this call at Holyhead, whiie in the shape df an experiment inwards, may have a very far-reach ing resulir. outwards also, because it might be considered desir- able to embark passengers from London and elsewhere on the west-bound trip at Hoiiy- head, where the London and Nort.h Western Railway are wiping to afford every facility. For the present, at any rate, there is no intent on of interfer ng with the Queens- i town caili, neither ie there any idea of the steamers of the company leaving Liverpool fo far as cargo and overhaul are concerned. But if the Holyhead experiment- be a suc- cess. it is within the bounds of possibility that all the passengers for different parts of England and for the Continent may be 'landed there in the future, and a' lso a very large percentage of the outward passengers ma.v be embarked, tthere. This is a matter to which the managers of the White Star Line will give special1 consideration." CUNARD AND FISHGUARD. There is a. rumour that Fishguard may be utilised, by the fast. Cunarders. To London from Fishguard occupies about five hours, whereas a steamer takes seven hours or more longer to get from Fishguard to Liverpool. The Great (Western Railway Co. claim that a. remarkable saving of time can be effected in reaching London if passengers are landed at Fishguard. WHITE STAR LINE'S PROFITS. The directors of the Oceanic Steam Navi- gation Co., Limited (White Star Line), Mr J. Bruce Ismay (chairman), the Right Hon. Lord Pirrie, K.P., and Mr Harold A. San- derson, in their report for the year 1908, presented to the annual general meeting of shareholders this week, state that the aé.- .counts show a profit on the year's working of £e99,9U 10s 2d, to which should ibe added the balance brought forward from 1907, amounting 00£319,448 lls 9d, and interest on investments £6,300 2s 6d, mak- ing a tota.U of J3625,690 4s 6d. After de- ducting debenture and general interest, di- rectors' fees, income tax, etc., and writing off £ 410,882 5s 7d to depreciation of fleet, wharves, and furniture, there remains a bal- ance of £ 111,203 12s, out of which a divi- dend of J375,000, being at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum, was declared on the 19th March last, leaving J356,205 128 at the credit of profit and loss account to be carried for- ward. ANGHOiR LINlE AND HOLYHEAD. Rumours are rife in Holyhead that the Anchor Line intends ispintg the place as a port of call for their steamers. We have the authority csf Messrs Hender- t-oi Bros., Ltd., the owners of the fleet, for stating that there is no intention of the steamers coming to Holyhead. Their vessels, it may be pointed out, sail via the North oi Ireland, and call at Moville. THE S.S. BALTIC." We are officiary informed that the s.s. Baltic" wit-I arrive at Holyhead on Sun- day next to discharge mails and passengers.

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DEATH OF MR. J. W. BOWEN,…

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