800 PASSENGERS ABOARD THE RANGITATA

Chronicle (Levin), 25 August 1947, Page 8

800 PASSENGERS ABOARD THE RANGITATA

AUCKLAND, August 24. Her deeks crowded with handreds oi young Britons eagerly studying the ga.teway to their new laud, the New Zealand Shipping Company's liner Rangitata arrived at Auckland from s London on Saturday as a symboi of a new developinent in the history of th.» Dominion, . the renewal "after many years of large-scale inunigration. StrlJ fitted-wifh her trqopship aecomnioda tion, the liner carried exactly 800 pas sengers, more than 80 per cent. ot whom were people from Britain who intend to settle in* New Zealand. The youth of most of the passengers lent a note of. conlidence in the ontlook among the travellers. in addition to 118 Government assisted immigrants, al! single men and women aged between 20 and 35, there were many others of iimilar age or in the prime of life, anu New Zealand beneiited by the arriva! of about .130 children who played cheer-t-'ully near their parents or solemnly watched the scenes ashore. The dialects of eounties and cities of Englan-1, .Scotland and Wales merged aboard the crowded liner to form a symphony completely British. There was only a nandful of aliens, several of them Italian girls .icining their New Zealand husbands or fiances, In spite ot' the clothes rationing all the passengers were smartly dressed and thOir appearance and manner was the subject of pleased comment from New Zealanders who boarded the liner before she berthed. "We had a good trip out with only about 24 hours' rough weather," said the Rangitata 's eommander (Captain G. Kinnell) after the liner berthed. "We have got a full complement, and L am glad to get them all here safely. ' ' A member of the first party oi' English public schoolboys to come t-j New Zealand in 1924 (Mr. H. J. Newson) returned with liis wife and family jf one son and two daughters. Mr. Nqwson returned to England a number of years ago but subsequentlv decideil to set.tle here. The family will live with relatives in Taranaki. An announcement that a modified Lincoln boniber would visit New Zealand in October was made by Squadron Leader J. J. McDowell, M.B.E., of the Royal New Zealand Air Poree, of Auckland, on his return from Britain by the Rangitata. Squadron Leader McDowell came to New Zealand a year ago in the Lancaster Ai\es which made a tour of Air Force establishments in New Zealand and Australia, to give de tails of developments in navigational aids, and he has since been instructing at Hhorebury Navigational School. Squadron Leader McDowell -was oue of the small group of members of three New Zealand Serviees who returned from Britain on the liner. They included the last two members of the New Zdaland W.A.A.C. in the Unitecl Kingdon, Sergeant K. F. Colson, of Auckland, and Staff Sergeant II. A. S. Ileatli, of Palmerston North, who had been serving on the New Zealand Army clerical staff at Halifax House, London. The claini that he is the last lancecorporal in the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force was madq by Lance-Corporal G. C. R. Hay, of Wellington, who returned from provost and general duties in the United Kingdom with his wife and twin daughters. The first New Zealander to be granted a bursarv at King's College, Cambridge, under the wartime scheme in J 9-45, Flight Lieutenaut D. Tudliope, D.P.C., of Auckland, returned aftei completing the degrees of bachelor of arts and bachelor of laws. Before the war he was in the office of the Crown Prosecutor at Auckland and was a

■itudent at Auckland llniw'sity College. A prominent New Zealand fighter pilot, Wing Commander R. D. Yule, D.S.O., D.F.C., Royal Air ' Force, oi tnvereargill, returned with his wife and two children for a short period oi leave before taking an appointment at the Royal Air Force Headquarters at Singnpore. Iie had been absent from the Dominion since 1938 and served in the Battie of Britain, witli the Tactical Air Force during the invasion and later with the Air Staff Policy Department at the Air Ministry. One of the first six members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces to joi'h - the British paratroopers, Captain A. R. klcNeil, of Lower liutt, returned with his wife and young son. Captain McNeil went overseap with the Seventli Reinforcements and was seconded to the British Army in the Middle Easi after serviee in India mnd Siam. He has spent the past nine months on paracliute instruction in Britain. A large staff of officers from the Department of Labour and Employment set up an offiee on board when the ship arrived and_ gave innuigrants deLailed instructions about their employ ment and transport and accommodation arrangeinents and issued them with ration books. Mr. J, V. Brennan, officer in charge of the immigration division of the Department, welcomed the immigrants on behalf of the Minister of immigration (Ilon. A. McLagan). Mr. A. P. Postlewaite, president of the Auckland Returned Serviees AsSociation, -met returned serviee inen and women in . the party and ansured them of a welcome to any Oi the association 's branches in New Zealand. The Mayor of Auckland (Mr. Allum) also went aboard and welcomed the party.