NEW SHIPPING LINE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 233, 25 May 1932, Page 7

NEW SHIPPING LINE

COMPANY'S SCHEME LUXURY STEAMERS FOR SOUTH ISLAND SERVICE. ' LYTTELTON TO AUSTRALIA "Luxury liners" now running between England and South America will be used on the new South Island to Austrqlia seryice by the Southern Paeific Shipping ' Company of New Zealand Limited, according to Mr. H, V. Johansen, managing director of the company, Two of these vessels, with only first and second-class accommodation, are to be secured, and a weekly service will be run, he saicl, in an interview in Christchurch. Lyttelton will be the terminal port and vessels will leave for Sydney and Melbourne alternately. The company had searched the world for the most suitable type of vessel and had had the choice of 132 offered, said Mr, Johansen. The two tp be secured were of 8500 tons, could do 17 Jcnots and were twin-screw oil-burners. The vessels were the most modern of their kind, designed for giving speedy and comfortablefl travel for passengers. The vessels woujd be repainted white on arrival in New Zealand and renamed, prohably as the Alameda and the Astoria. Later a third vessel would be' secured as a standbyto take over the running when one of the regular liners had to Iay up for overhaul. .

Ihe company desired to provide qujck and convenient travel between the South Island and Australia at a reasonable cost and in comfortable vessels. Vessels would leave Lyttelton each week and travel via Port Chalmers and Bluff to Sydney and Melbourne alternately. Tourist Traffic. Leaving Lyttelton on Friday the passengers would land in Sydney the following Wednesday, making the ! whole journey by sea. It would be possible, however, for Canterbury passengers to travel to Bluff on Sunday by the railway and go aboard there on Monday morning. This service, he was sure, would be a great convenienee to South Islanders wishing to travel to Australia, as it disposed of the necessity of a journey to the North Island before embarlcation. It would also appeal, he was confident, to , many Australians coming to New j Zealand, particularly as in the sum- I mer it was the intentipn of the i company to divert the vessels to Milford Sound to enable passengers to visit that popular resort. Out of the new service New Zealand should gain much in the way of tourist traffic from Australia. Useful contacts had been made with agents all over Australia, and it was certain that when the company began operations many travellers to New Zealand would be diverted to its route. In addition the company would provide a eargo service that would be of great adv&ntage to South Island importers, who would be able to secure goods from Australia direct, instead of having to meet the delays and expense associated with transhipments from the North Island. Thl company was a New Zealand j enterprise. The crew would number about 600, and all would be bought in the Dominion, entailing nn expenditure of about £100,000 a year. Sir Charles Statham. Speaker of the House of Representatives, is a member of the directorate, and Mr. W. Chambers, managing director of Chambers and Company, Australia, and Mr. W. H. Swanton, managing director of William Crosby, Pty., of Australia, are other memhers.