THE FERRY SERVICE.
THE TROUBLE ON THE MAUNGANUI. SEAMEN VERY LOTH TO LEAVE. VOLUNTEERS DO GOOD WORK. Little surprise was expressed in ' Lyttelton yesterday morning when it was learned that. tho firemen . and soamen had left tho intercolonial liner Maunganui at Wellington on Wednesday night. For some days • they had been regarded as a doubtful quantity, and although thfc vessel had cargo on board, no attempt, was made to land it, for fear trouble with them. Sinoo her return- ' from Sydney last week she has mado several trips in the ferry service, carry-. ing passengers and mails only, and it was intended to despatch her from Lytrtelton last night for Sydney, via Wei-/; lington. Though it wae known that her firemen and seamen wore becoming restless, it was not expected that they. would leavo until they got back to Sydney, whoro . they had signed ■. articles. ... . -. Matters wore precipitated on Wodnos- . day night, when tho firemen left the ship in response to the instructions of tho& : Union;; Arbitrationists wore engaged to ,: man the stokehold, but the seamen - walked ashore abcut 3 p.m., One© more, however, .tho loyal masters and officers in the service of the company . who had manned the Maori cheerfully took the place of tbo beaxnen, giving tho big steamer a full complement or deck hands, enabling the ship to take up her running. Sho left Wellington at 10.25 p.m., and though her stokehold hands wore mostly amateurs, theyV shaped very well, and she cut out tho distance in 12} hours. She arrived at Lyttelton at 11.15' a.m., and as she glided alongside,- a. couple of hundred "specials , ' lined up. and heartily cheered the master, and her- cre\v. A well-known master, whoholds an extra master's certificate and a commission in tho Royal Naval Rβ- . serve; woe at tho wheel. Another master, similarly qualified, was working with several others under tho orders of the chief officer forward, while. - other masters assisted in mooring operations aft. A group of grimy. Ar--, : bitration stokers clustered at tbo rail, at the after end of tho ship, and tho passengers, who included a large mqn- • ber of new arrivals from . England, watched tho scone interestedly from". . the upper deck. Dozens of enthusiastic ' grabbed the heaving lines as they were skilfully cost by the master A.B.s, and made light work in handling tbo heavy hawsers. ■ W r hilo the passengers were disembark-"" ing/ the master-deck-hands started discharging mails and luggage etowed on the upper deck, which were passed out through the gangway doore. The Maunganui brought a. very large mail, including many heavy bags and bam- - pers ot parcels. ■ .:" -.-- At 1 p.m., discharging operations were started, the crew working, with a number of tho new lmioniete., Th"o cargo wae turned out in. good style, and the rakee of loaded trucks rent away from tho ship wero cvidenco ofa good aftornoon'e work. . .- The men who joined the Maunganui At. Wellington went to sea almost at five minute*' notice after a. hard day's work on the wharves. When an order was given for the volunteers to be supplied with tea, a numbor of tho stewards - refused, stating that they wero not employed to wait on sailorii. Yesterday . morning they again refused to'serve the certificated members of tho crew,but when the matter was reported to the commander, the stewards were called together and told that they must obey orders or leave the ship. It is stated that several were inclined to hold out. but ultimately they took 4he - advice of the captain and went back to thoir work. It is stated that the firemen and seamen broke their articles in leaving the ship at Wellington, as they can legally only sire twenty-fotrr hours' notice to leave at the final port, namely, Sydney. Tho men have all left twenty-six days' wages duo to them, and it is stated that they havo Tendered themselves liable to punishment in leaving the ship. The* seamen were very loth to leave the ship, and only did so at tho last minntc, becauso of the firemen. One- of the spamen, with a break izi ' his voice, bitterly said that he would make someone sorry for bringing bun out. The Maunpanui landed nearly 300 tons of general cargo, and after taVlr.g and mails she sailed last nifiht for Sydney, via Wellington. The steamer had a fairly large number of passengers booked for Sydney. " A i ■number-of younc "specials" volunteered to serve as trimmers for the trip to Sydney and back. ' ••
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19131128.2.73
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14835, 28 November 1913, Page 7
Word count
Tapeke kupu
745THE FERRY SERVICE. Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14835, 28 November 1913, Page 7
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
Ngā mihi
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.