Page 2 Advertisements Column 3

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 369, 1 June 1928, Page 2

CALIFORNIA’S MAIDEN VOYAGE.— Mr. P. A. S. Franklin, president of the International Mercantile Marine Company, on his return to New York from the Pacific Coast, to which he had travelled in the California, the new turbo-electric liner of the Panama-Pacific Company, on her maiden voyage, declared himself highly satisfied with the vessel’s performance. There was no vibration whatever, he said, and the fuel economy proved to be greater than was expected. As to the new ships spoken of for the line, he stated that if the trade with California continued to grow as it had been glowing, weekly sailings would be necessary. The Virginia, sister ship to the California, is now under construction at Newport News, and will be added to the service early in 1929; a third ship will follow. The one unsatisfactory item of the California’s voyage was the heavy outlay in respect of toils charged at the Panama Canal. The California had to pay tolls amounting to 14,918.75 dollars on her transit of the waterways, which Mr. Franklin considers to be an inordinately high amount.