Ohinemuri Regional History Journal 27, September 1983
Mrs. Connie Broadmore, a daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Jim Silcock of Paeroa, writing from Wellington has vivid memories of the "Taniwha" and its passenger service from Paeroa to Auckland in the first quarter of this century. Mr. Silcock was agent for the Northern Steamship Company for many years.
Mrs. Broadmore has a model of the "Taniwha" - "a faithful copy of the little Ship" destined for our Museum. She writes, "I have as well a kerosene lamp like some of those strapped to the long tables in the saloon and a pair of binoculars also from the "Taniwha" which, I trust will eventually be given to your Museum". Of cargo she says "To have a stack of gold bricks in an empty room of our house overnight was not experienced without a certain amount of tension emanating from our parents" and further "The Saloon of the "Taniwha" will be a nostalgic memory for many Paeroa people over 60, 70, 80 years of age. The red plush curtains round the walls, drawn to hide the bunks made up for passengers to sleep on overnight to Auckland, the red serge tablecloths with the heavy fringes, the white starched tablecloths which appeared for tea and breakfast, the plump and motherly stewardess in her immaculate white starched uniform with the stiff bibbed apron, the smell of the tar and the gleam of the brass, the little narrow gangway to the deck, and the thud of the engines, just through the wall of the box-like bunk one slept in for the eight hours it took to reach Auckland where one was awakened by the silence as the engines stopped and all that could be heard was the lapping of the water against the sides and the squeaking of the ropes on the deck above - all these things spelt "Taniwha" in the 1920's and 30's".