RAPID GROWTH

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 125, 28 May 1937, Page 15

RAPID GROWTH

THE X.P.M. SERVICE

NEW TRADE ROUTES

VESSELS BUILDING In view oi' the inauguration o£ the South Pacific service by the X.P.M. (Koninklijke Pakctvaart Maalschappi). with the motor-ship Maetsuycker, it is interesting to recall some of the early history of the X.P.M., now one of the world's great .'hipping companies. The X.P.M. inaugurated an interisland service in the Netherlands East Indies in about 1890, with six small vessels, which were used to supply feeder services to the main ports in the Netherlands Indies at which overseas foreign vessels loaded cargoes for the various European markets. Later it was found necessary to have vessels available for the carriage of passengers, and from then on the company has increased its fleet until it owns at present 134 vessels, besides, which three new 15,000-ton liners are at present being built in Holland. It is expected that they will be completed about the beginning of 1938. Although at first essentially a shipping company, plying between the Netherlands East Indies and the British possessions such as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States, about 30 years ago the X.P.M. inaugurated a regular monthly service between Australia, the. Netherlands Indies, and British Malaya. It was found very soon that a happy interchange of goods could be made between these countries. Australia needs the raw materials produced by the East, such as tea, coffee, kapok, rubber, rattan, spices, whilst 'the East requires flour, butter, biscuits, preserved fruits, and a limited ■ quantity of frozen meat. About 25 years ago the ' company started 'a regular fortnightly. service between Singapore, Hong' Kong, and the Chinese coast. , Eight years ago it started a monthly service; to East and South Africa, and about six years ago a service through the Pacific Islands. Their latest venture is the New Zealand service, the South Pacific Line. The X.P.M. is now a vast organisation, owning its own dry docks, machinery shops, and wharves. The;, head ! office is in Batavia, where there are four directors, while two more directors are located at Amsterdam. FROM BLACK TO WHITE. It was recently revealed that the | Maetsuycker, which was painted white when she visited Wellington, was black when she left the builder's yard. She was repainted at Batavia. The suggestion that the Maetsuycker should be white, like the Nieuw Holland and the |Nieuw Zeeland, was made by the Australian artist, Mr. John Allcot, I when he was given the difficult task of painting an imaginative picture of the vessel In Wellington Harbour before he had seen even a photograph of her. After he had made a rough sketch of the vessel with the aid of plans and specifications, he asked the Australian manager of the line what colour the vessel was to be painted. He expressed the hope that it would be white. By this time the Maetsuycker, painted black, was on the way from Rotterdam to Java. The head office of the company, in Java, was consulted by cable, with the result that Mr. Allcot was instructed to depict the vessel in white. When the Maetsuycker arrived at Batavia, she was completely^repainted .in three I days. Mr. Allcot's painting of : the vessel has been reproduced as a souvenir and copies have been distributed extensively in Australia, the East Indies, and New Zealand. The painting was reproduced on the menus at the official luncheon on the Maetsuycker when she arrived in Wellington, and was much admired by the guests. The painting has been highly praised by the commander and officers !of the vessel.