PASSENGERS BY ARAWA

Chronicle (Levin), 5 April 1946, Page 5

PASSENGERS BY ARAWA

— Press Association

INDIGNATION AT CONDITIONS

By Telegraph-

WELLINGTON, April 4. Expressing indignation at the condi tions under which a number of passeng ers carried from Austraiia to Nev Zealand in the Arawa were compclied to travel, Mr. R. G. Nelson, managindirectbr of Reliance Films, Ltd., said that, hefore the Union Steam Ship Com pkny had booked their pasages, it hac; been made clear that they would be travelling under troop conditions, and they had signed a declaration accepting but Uone had had any conception oi what they would meet. "Wheri I werit on hoard at Mei bourife, I was met hy a steward who told me to take my bags down to 04 deck," said Mr. Nelson. "I was then advised to find a bianket and a pai Liasse. I was one of 60 men on tht deck. Four hundred Australian troops had just left it. It had- not been furnigated and the hlankets we had to use were those they had heen usmg lor the whole of the voyage to Austraiia. Abont half-an-hour after I got there, Dr. Udie, of Central Otago, refused to sleep there and said he was prepared to give a cer- 1 titicate that it was unfit for men to use. ' He was at once moved to the saloon j class. This was the first any of us had ! heard of there heing .a saloon class j Nothing was said to us at the time of | booking in Sydney that it existed. "Lverything was chaos on tlie deck I We were sleeping on the floors and j tables. We sailed at midnight. ..The j next morning there were no toweis, ana | for the more than 150 pa'ssengers who | were travelling Under the same condi- j tions there were only seven wash basins | and five lavatories. Somecne went to j the first officer ahout toweis and we j were given one face towel for eaeh : person, which had to serve for all pur- i poses fpr the whole of the trip. Our : food had to he fetched from galleys and ! eaten from tables on our deck without j tahlecloths. It was just tenrihle- — just , slops — and half of us could not eat it. "UNWELCOME GUESTS" "After further complaints had been| laid, the officer commanding the troops | on hoard appeared with the first officer j afid an orderly. We were called to Order and the firSfc officer addressed us. He told us that, so far as he was concerned, we were unwelcome guests. The | ship had not wanted civilian passeng- 1 ers. We would have to appoint an ora- j erly, he told us, who would have to I t'etch our food. We would have ta get organised, make our own beds, loo„i after our own meals and keep the place clean. There would he an inspection every morning at 10.30. After that we established a roster for getting food, 1 sweeping and washing up after meals. We were issued with soup plates and j meat plates. The forks, knives and ( spoons were rusty. When we went on board there was a bin for sweepings which had been left full by the depgrc ing- troops. We asked' for it to he re-l moved, but on Tuesday it was stili there. We sailed on Saturday and it was crawling with maggots. It was near one of the tables we had to eat tneals from. It was reported to the ship's headquarters and they said they would remove it, but it was still there yesterday, so we threw it overboard. ' ' Mr. Nelson said that the Kiwi soi diers on board were approached by tiie anthorities to assist in attending to the passengers, but they refused. The Kiw, men themselves had struck eariier on the voyage for better food. ' ' We did not wish to carry these people in the first place, ' ' says a state ment issued hy the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company, the owners of Uie Arawa, in reply. to Mr. Nelson. The statement added that the passages were arranged hy the Ministry of Sea Trans port. It had heen clearly understood by the passengers, who had made a declara tion of acceptance, that the conditions under which' they would travel would be the same as those afforded Service per sonnel. They were required to clean their own quarters, make their own beds and he issued with utensils for eating. These passengers had heen granted pas sages under Grade C, for which only a low fare was paid. Regarding the complaint ahout the condition of the hlankets issued, the company's statement says Mr. Nelson's remarks were not in accord with information it has received. The company was only acting for the Ministry of Sea Transport and the passengers would not have heen embarked had it not heen for extreme pressure on the availahle accommodation. So far as the company was aware, the troops had been quite happy on the voyage.