The Union Steamship Company's office at the Port, Nelson, is situated close to the wharves and shipping. The building is of wood and contains a public office and manager's room. A considerable amount of business passes through the branch, more especially in connection with the Customs. Mr. A. C. Walker is the officer in charge. A full and authentic history of the Union Steamship Company appears in the Otago volume of this work; pages 400–403.

Captain Henry Robert Price, who has held office as Wharfinger under the Union Steamship Company at Westport since March, 1890, was born in 1848, in Warwickshire, England, and was educated in his native land. As a youth, he went to sea, followed a seafaring life for many years, and became a captain in 1876. Captain Price landed in Dunedin by the s.s. “Coptic,” and soon afterwards settled in Westport. He married in 1875, and has one daughter.

Vinsen, photo.
Captain H. R. Price.

Captain Felix Black, formerly of the s.s. “Hesketh,” belonging to the Blackball Company, was born at Belfast, Ireland, in 1851, and was brought up to the sea on the Arrow Line, trading between Glasgow and Canada. Captain Black now (1905) has his home at Broadway Terrace, Wellington.