IN HER WAR-PAINT

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2238, 26 August 1914, Page 6

IN HER WAR-PAINT

RED FUNNEL FLEET'S DANDY LINER METAMORPHOSIS OF THE MAUNGANUI Slap : dab I Slap-dab! Merry brushes are still. being plied everywhere about the troopships, which have rapidly assumed' an appearance quite unlike themselves. Grey paintT-mau-o'-war grey —is everywhere; hard on, semidry, or wet; and lucky is the individual who can mako an inspection, however casual, of one of the ships that are- to convey His Majesty's forces aoross the seas, who escapes a smear. The grey cloak that is being adminis-; tered to the troop-carriers is strangely dwarfing to the eye. The Ruapehu, as she lies in the stream, doos not look 'nearly as bulky as she did with her top-hamper picked out in glistening white paint, and even some of the old ■ ' 'salt-junks" about the waterfront found it hard to believe that tho "grey blob" in mid-harbour was actually the New Zealand Shipping Company's big liner. Stem Hue of War. Great as the change effected in tho Ruapehu and other deep-sea steamers has been, one has to turn to the Union Company's swell liner Maunganui to get a real shock. A few days ago this palatial liner—the dandy of the intercolonial service—was a thing of pride and joy. It was a jewel case, replete with almost every comfort that could be fashioned for man afloat, its broad white decks being a perfect marine parade, its brilliantly-decorated and furnished saloon and lounge the acme of luxury and- decorative art. Gone is the green and gold, gone is the glistening enamel white of the top hamper, gone the dainty polished furnishings, and plated fittings. Grim-vis-aged war has frowned over, the earth, and the shadow of its evil beetling brows is a dull uniform grey—grey boats, grey steel walls,, grey smoke-, stacks, grey' hull—everything a grave, dreary grey, creating a wild desire for a dab or two of some brilliant hue that will reflect something of the joy of life —a desire that ha 3 te bo sternly fettered, and sunk five-fathom deep' astern. These are ugly days, and ugly business is in 'hand. Grey is the right colour for troopships—the wrong colour for anything that savours of levity. The Quakers found that out centuries ago. The Horse-Stalls.' Quite a number of people who should have known wero quite ignorant that the Maunganui lies in port. She slippod away from Sydney to Newcastle quietly last week, arrived quietly last _ Saturday from the coal-port, and is quietly losing her identity, at the Queen's Wharf. Where gay groups of passengers have promenaded, or played wonderful games of cricket with a string ball, are now a regiment of horsestalls. These ; are just wooden stanchions, side, back, and roar rails, aud'a-kicking-board underfoot, to be surrounded' with tent canvas sides. The lot of tho troop-horse on ship-board is not a pleasant one, even though he be an upper-deck passenger. For his own protection he must only be given a 2ft. Bin. stall,-and ho must stand there in fair weather or foul, from Pencarrow to the Nore. ■-, About sixty horses are being accommodated on the promenadedeck, which only leaves room for those with the feed and water-buckets ,to promenade conveniently; The fqrchold has been converted info a stable, where on each deck accommodation is provided for .hundreds more horses and the wherewithal for their sustenance. ■Vanished Cabins de : l.uxo. Deck oabins have been • despoiled of their handsome fittings, including the handy wash-hand-basin cabinets, and three board bunks: are displacing the two wirc-wovo berths that nave made a life on the ocean wave more endurable than it otherwise would'be. Down below the inside two-berth cabins have been stripped, and . six bunks—plain boar'd within and painted white without—built against the partitions. Th« outer (and smaller) two-berth cabins arc to accommodate throe. Tho handsonif saloon and lounge has so far been lcfl intact, -but the airy smoke-room, on the boat-deck, is being transformed intc quarters for tho men. Aft, a mound of potatoes was swallowed by the gaping hold, when wore already stacks of cases*, of jam bags of flour, sacks of oatmeal, bags o' sugar, and tho hundred and one article! of plain food that voyaging troopers wil consume —after the first day or two si sea. On the harbour side a grimy col lier was ejecting her cargo into the ca pacibus' bunkers of the newly-flcdgec troopship, and all. round -and every where the hammer's noisy clatter, an< the' monotonous slap-dab, slap-dab o: the painters' brushes, as they.smea: ■ the ship, from stem to stern, fron masthead light to Plimsoll, with thi grey pigment of war. ■,

INTER-EMPIRE TRANSPORT

"CARRY ON WITHOUT INTERRUPTION." (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) Wanganul, August 25. The Chamber of Commerce to-day passed the following' resolution:— "That in the interests of the Empire it is imperative that trade and commerce shall be carried on without interruption j that in viewof the assurances given by the Admiralty and the Secretary of State for the Colonies as •to the security of British shipping on the high seas, there •is no apparent reason why inter-Empire transport services should not bo carried on with regularity equivalent to that obtaining in times of peace; that (having regard to tho effective insurance guaranteed by tho Navy there is no justification for tho imposition by the insurance companies of heavy war rates; that the Government of New Zealand bo asked to consider.the practicability of cooperating with' the Imperial _ Government and the Governments in other parts of the Empire in a scheme, to guarantee shipowners against the risk of the seizure or destruction of their vessels (such guarantee to hold good until tho Admiralty proclaims it to be unsafe for British merchantmen to put to sea), and to cover all ships that have cleared port prior to tho date_ of such proclamation; that this meeting affirms its belief that, such a scheme would ensuro 'tho resumption of intorEmnire trade under virtually normal conditions, and by so doing also ensure tho maintenance of commerco and industry in the several countries of the Empiro as under ordinary circumstances plus tho large amount' of business diverted from foreign countries, thus providing tho fullest possible measure of employment, minimising tho distress which _ must otherwise, bo occasioned by tho dislocation of trade, and affording tho world the unexampled spectacle of a nation undisturbed by the rigours of war." A copy of the resolution is to bo sent to all chambers of commerco and to Ministers.

The French Poor Law Department recently advertised for lon inspectors to call at Paris theatres and check the ro. ccipts so as to make sure 'that the taxes due to tho department wore correctly calculated. The number of applications for these ppsla was 7120,