FERRY SERVICE.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16426, 21 January 1919, Page 6

FERRY SERVICE.

» — MAORI LEAVES WELLINGTON. (special to "the press.") WELLINGTON, January 20. ' Only at the last moment was a crew found for tlio ferry steamer Maori tonight, and the ship will not ma}ce good time on the voyage, because she .will be under two-thirds steam. 1 Owing to having less than the complement of firemen some of the boilers were cut out. The shipping people do not believe that there is any real shortage of firemen in this or any other New Zealand porti Much is being made of the matter of the poorness of the accommodation provided for the men. At first this complaint was made only about the Maori. The secretary of the Union said the other day when the trouble first occurred that the accommodation on the Mararoa was distinctly better, and that ,in consequence • men wero more willing to ship in this steamer, but in Lyttolton the firemen of the Mararoa made it a ground of objection that the quarters were bad. fhe complaint has been made more often of late because New Zealand seafaring men have had some opportunities of seeing the sort of quarters being provided for the crew of some of the more recent of the American ships. In these ships the. men are undoubtedly better quartered than the crews of Now Zealand ships.