N.Z. SHIPPING

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 125, 19 January 1932, Page 2

N.Z. SHIPPING

— ^ EXCELLENT PROGRESS CONCLUSION OF PERIOD OF VERY SLACK TRADE. ENTERPRISE OF SHIPOWNERS. Despite the serious slackness in trade, which has affeeted praetically all lines, the year 1931 . in the, wqrld of s^pping 'has not beerixwithout its redeeming features, The enterprise of shipowners and the ; unqu'endhable spirit of the British mercantile marine have kept the flag of progress moving, even if perhaps a- little slowly, and pessimism has not been allowed un.due rein. The sea has again taken its tbll of life and tonnage, but the casualtie& have lrot been of outstandihg seriousness. Wellington will remember 1931 mainly by two notable arrivals at the ' port. ' On the morning of 16th Octoher there steamed up the harhour the handsomely equipped and ■ speedylooking turbo-elec1s.'ic . ferry steamer Rangatira, of 6152 tons, on h'er first tjrip in the Wellington-Lyttelton, service in place of the old favourite,

the Maori; and in the dying hours of a heautiful" summer day on December 28, two diminutive Dutch tugs toWed in the imposing baftleship grey form of the Harhour Board's 17,000-ton capacity -floating dock, appropriately named Jubilee in bomniemoration of the 50th anniversary of the boai'd's inauguratiori. The Rangatira on the one hand Pepresented the last word in comfort and mohility at sea — seen at her best when steaming "with a bone in her teeth'— and the dock on the other hand seemed bent only ott reaching a resting place where it would remain for the convenience of the sea-going craft in times of overhaul and repair. Having brought these two additions to the port, 1931 cannot be said to have passed in vam. New Luxury Liners. i Among notable launchings of the year were those of the Canadian Pa- ; cific liner Empress of Britain which, ; on -her maiden trip, in June, crossed Ifrom Cherbourg to Father's Point in the recol'd time of 4 days 12 hours 30 minutes; the Matson liner Mariposa, which was launched at Massachusetts on July 18 and will enter the Pacific passenger trade early this year ; and

the P. and O. liner Strathnaver, and with her sister ship, the Straithaird, will run in the company's service between Australia and England. The shipbuilding industry received possibly the biggest set-back that it has ever known when it was announced early in Decemhcr that work had been suspended on the giant new Cvnarder, the construction of which was well under way at the Clyde. With a length of over 1009. feet, a tonnage of 73,000, and a speed of about 30 knots, the new vessel was expected to regain for Great Britain the supremacy of the Atlantic passenger service, captured about 18 months ^go by the German liners Bremen and Europa. At the present time it appears douhtful whether a similar vessel being built in Frar.ee will be comfl.'.ted without interruption, and the vvhole matter of the construction of great luxury liners is one which is jaasing shipowners much concern. Reversioit to Old Routes. One of the most interesting fea-:-.ures of the year's trading hetween ^he Dominion and the Old Country has been the reversion to the old sailing ,;h'p routes, homeword via Cape Horn, >,r.d outv/ard via the Cape of Good H vpe, in prefevence to the Fanama Canal route. When the canal was thrown open for traflic in 1914, much was made of the extent to which it Irew New Zealand closer to the Moth•r Country, hut the saving in time — about three or four days — has not proved sufficient to counteract the effect of an adverse exchange rate which has raised the cost of using the canal above the amount saved by the shorter voyage.. Now modern liners "run the easting down" over the course followed by the windjammers of past years. Several smart passages were made iuring the year hy ships on various -:outes, but the one of most interest in this part of the world was the achievement of the Monowai (ex P. and O. Razmak) in regaining for the CJnion Steam Ship Company the trans Tasman record which had been lost two months earlier to the Matson steamer Malolo after having been held for 25 years by the Maheno. The Monowai arrived at Wellington xt ;1.47 p.m. on Sunday, 25th January, I after having' made the voyage from ; Sydney in 2 days 18 hours 43 minu- ; tes, at an average speed of 18.34 1 knots. The Malolo's record was made an the previous November in the | course of a pleasure cruisc of the j Pacific, run in accordance with a preiarranged schedule.

Fewer Passengers. A .marked falling-off in passenger traffic was evident during the year, and various steps were taken by the shipping companies to meet the position. In some instances the accommodation was re-arranged to provide for the "tourist" and "cabin" classes which had already replaced the second and third classes in other parts of the world ; in the intercolonial service the Marama was withdrawn during the winter months, and the Maheno from the Melbourne trade indefinitely; iuring the winter the smaller steamer Kaitoa relieved the Arahura, in the Nelson ferry service. Finally, on Christmas Eve, it was announced by the Union Steam Ship Company that fares on the intercolonial steamers were being reduced. An important development in the trans-Pacific mail service was th.e reentry into the Auckland-Sydney trade in July, after an absence of 24 years, of the Matson Line's steamers. Few shipping matters have caused as much controversy as resulted from this step, and vigorous representations were made from some quarters to persuade the Government to step in, hut the Government's attitude seeiffs to have been that the issuq was too wide to be dealt with even by Australia and New Zealand acting alone. Generally considered to he a counter to this American competition, tlie ittcorporation was announced in the f ollowing month of ' a company under the name Canadian-Australian Line, jointly owned and operated . hy

the Canadian Pacific Eailway Company and the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Ltd., to take over the trans-Pacific liners Aorangi and Niagara. Coastal Ships Lost. Two shipping casualties oecurred in New Zealand waters during the year. On May 1 the coastal steamer Progress, after lying disabled during the preceding night with a broken tailshaft, was dashed on to the rocks at Ohiro Bay and broken up, four men losing their lives that day and another dying subsequently as the result of his experience. On October 10 the small motor vessel Kotiti left Westport for Foxton with seven men on board, and has not been seen since, although the dead body of one of the men, some of the deck cargo, and pieces of wreckage identified as parts of the missing vessel, came ashore. Other mishaps which fortunately were not attended with loss of life involved the overseas liner Port Hobart, which touched a submerged object off Turakirae Head on April 2; the coastal vessel Kini, which had a ■similar experience between Wellington and Napier on the night of April 10; the Pakura, which beeame stranded ; on Tora Landing on the East Coast on November 7; and two coasters, the ; Breeze and the Storm, which both ! struclc submerged objects while bound for Lyttelton on the misty night of December 17, the Breeze temporarily being aground. In addition the motorship Hauraki grounded while being berthed by a pilot at New Plymouth

on February 21. Except m the case of the Breeze, which is to be sunk by ! gun-fire, the ships were not too severely damaged to be repaired, although the Hauraki spent an excep- : tionally long time in the Calliope Dock at Auckland. On April 23 the > Opihi arrived at Lyttelton with part ' of her cargo on fire, but no great ■ damage was done. Ships well known to New Zealanders which ended their careers during the year included the Tutanekai and Mararoa, which were seuttled in Cook Strait in February, and the Home liners Ruahine and Corinthic, which were sold to shipbreakers. In addition 'the freighters Kaituna and Kamona were sold to Eastern huyers.