REMAKING THE MARAMA.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 230, 28 September 1929, Page 11

REMAKING THE MARAMA.

WORK NEARING COMPLETION. LARGE EXPENDITURE. AUCKLAND'S INCOME INCREASED. For over six weeks now the platter of chipping hammers aboard the steanmr Marnma at the. Central Wharf lias made a din along Quay Street. Sonic there are. of over-delicate hearing, who have roundly complained of the din. raising ruffled heads from their accounts to ask. '"How can a man work with that noise going on?" Others have rather enjoyed the brisk clack-elack-claeking, with its underlying rhythm of swift movement, and will miss it when the ship resumes in the intercolonial service next week. While the Marama has been in dock during the past three days the Centra! wharf has seemed strangely quiet and the normal sounds of'cargo work echoed loud in the sheds. Undoeking yesterday morning, the ship adjusted comnasscs at the dolphin and returned in the afternoon to the Central wharf. Most of the chipping and painting, however, was finished in dry dock, where her underwater parts received attention. This work is always left until late, so that the ship wi'.l make her first voyage after overhaul with her hull clean and smoothly coated with fresh paint. Even with the best anti-fouling compositions. it does not take long before the hull of a steamer begins to bear its crop of tiny barnacles and wisps of seagrass, which, in their accumulated effect, reduce speed very materially. A Stripped Ship. Much work lias yet to be done abotml the vessel, and that speedily, for slio must be ready for sea by October 8. Soon she will have to be reassembled, as it were. When she was withdrawn for overhaul, the first thing done was the removing , of all the carpets, linen and furniture —the trimmings, as they are called. As she is now the Marama is changed beyond recognition. She is gutted as if by fire. Long corridors devoid of carpets echo to every sound: the cabins are cold, cheerless cells of steel, unlovely to behold; the saloons whose beauty made meal times a delight are wide, dark vaults, mercifully dark, for the gleam of a light shows.the painting and gilding all scarred and fouled by daubs of anti-rust composition and the smoke.of acetylene burners. Even the pantries arc as bare as Mother Hubbard's cupboard. All the stores of delicacies that so tickled the palates of the gourmets during fine weather and revolted their stomachs "when stormy winds dkl . blow" have been carted away. One way of getting rid of the rats is to starve them out, the survivors of this long famine surely being only the most ruthless cannibalsand murderers many times over. Down below the waterline the engi- | neers have been busy overhauling their | engines. All the machinery has been taken to pieces, the wear on bearings and pistons measured to a thousandth of an inch, steam pipes renewed, glands rechipped, burnt firebars from the furnaces replaced and hundreds of bolts loosened, tested and tightened again with that invaluable little tool of all tools, the spanner. The engines are now prac-. tically, ready ;f or sea again; The ■ vessel crossed the harbour to the dock on Wednesday morning under her own power, and yesterday she manoeuvred round the dolphin quite satisfactorily. Her engineers carefully watching to see that new parts were running smoothly, reported "0.K." Big Expenditure. Exactly*'how the vessel will be restored no one quite knows. Orders are awaited from Wellington, where _ the head office of the Union Co. is considering alternative schemes of decoration. Possibly some entirely new idea, from one of the classic periods of decorative art, will be adopted, and furniture to match will be designed. At present there is enough furniture ashore being reupholstered to equip a big hotel, but this may be scrapped, or transferred to another vessel. As soon as the plaiis arrive from Wellington the artists, furnishers, carpet layers and: upholsterers will set to work, a quieter but not less busy crowd than the noisy shipwrights. By overhauling the Marama here the Union Company has added many thousands of pounds to Auckland's income. How many thousands is not yet known, as tho most expensive work, the furnishing, has yet to be done, but it will bo well into tho double figures. A host of artisans lias been organised to "polisii her up," and even the wages account cannot yet bo assessed. Practically every trade lias had, or will have, a share in the work, and by indirect routes a little of the money spent has found its way into every pocket in Auckland. Sydney usually gets most of the work of overhauling ships, owing to the better facilities there. The trans-Pacinc liners were overhauled at Sydney recently, but Auckland is now getting its share. Following the Marama the Maunganui is to come to Auckland next month to lay up for overhaul, which will be quite as big l a job as the Marama's.