Many fast passages were made to New Zealand by the clipper ships which in the early days flew the house flags of the Shaw, Savill Co., New Zealand Shipping Co. and other lines. During this period many of the ships were running light and bringing on each trip from 300 to 500 immigrants, who came out under Sir Julius Vogel's scheme of colonisation. Many mis-statements have appeared in the papers when referring to the time occupied by these noted old ships, and there has been more controversy over the time in which the Loch Awe made the record run to Auckland than over any other vessel's performance, and all of the correspondents writing in the "Auckland Star" and "Herald" have fallen into the same error. Only recently a correspondent who claimed to have been an officer on the ship made the same mistake as many others by stating that the run was done in 73 days. the Loch Awe was a vessel of 1053 tons, commanded by Captain Weir, and the time actually occupied on the voyage was 76 days six hours.