The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1930 TRUTH ABOUT THE MAUI POM ARE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 946, 12 April 1930, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1930 TRUTH ABOUT THE MAUI POM ARE

IN a special article published by The Sun today, the facts about * the Government motor-ship Maui Pomare are for the first time placed before the public. The revelations of the many deficiencies in the vessel traverse a pathetic chapter of administrative ineptitude and incapacity. Maori superstition seems to be.vindicated in the tale of waste and extravagance surrounding the ship and her operation. As soon as the historic name was bestowed on her, native seers predicted that misfortune would follow such a palpable breach of ethic-s and, in spite of European scepticism, they will see in the present disclosures ample fulfilment of their misgivings. The badly-designed Maui Pomare is today a discreditable monument to the bungling system under which she was brought into being. Her genesis, it appears, was the need of a small craft to do periodical rounds in the Samoa group, acting as a “feeder” ship to the regular trading steamers, and not leaving the group, except for overhaul. Upon this original conception was subsequently grafted a whole knot of additional schemes. The Government tried to settle all its maritime responsibility to the island dependencies at one stroke, and as a result finds itself burdened with a craft that “resembles a miniature liner crammed into the hull of a fair-sized river barge.” A profligate squandering of money lias followed the history of the unhappy ship. Cargoes or parts of cargoes been repeatedly jettisoned through failures in the refrigeration system. Every recurrence of this desperate waste represents a serious economic loss to grower, consumer, and the country as a whole. Samoa can now produce 12,000 cases of bananas a month, and to have the output efficiently handled, shipping space is required for that maximum. Yet the most the Maui Pomare can handle is 6,000 cases every five weeks. In this respect alone the gift made by a benign Government to the island planters and' mercantile interests falls far short of requirements. The overhead costs of operating the Maui Pomare are too great to permit her successful operation on the other routes in her schedule. Her running costs are increased by the inefficiency of her engines, which have had to be overhauled and, in parts, replaced or renewed at heavy cost. The usual processes of “whitewashing” have been employed to cover up the suspected deficiencies in the ship and her powerunit. It will be remembered that when a special committee appointed by the Government made an examination of the ship at Auckland, it pronounced her satisfactory in every way. On good authority it is now claimed, however, that the committee simply did not know what it was talking about. At least one Minister of the Crown has had the experience of the Maui Pomare as a passenger vessel. The Hon. J. G. Cobbe did not enjoy his recent trip to Samoa on her, and he found it convenient to return by the Tofua. Though designed for tropical service, the Maui Pomare even lacks showers. She is cramped, badly ventilated, slow, and a most eccentric sea-boat. All this is the result of having the specifications for a vessel placed in the hands of departmental officers totally inexperienced in handling that class of work. The tragic part is that through the ship’s failure a serious loss of trade is threatened. With the old Hinemoa operating in the Norfolk Island service, a profitable trade connection between New Zealand and Norfolk Island was developed. As a result of the Maui Pomare’s deficiencies the Norfolk Island service has now been discontinued. New Zealand families who settled in Norfolk Island under the implied impression that a service was to be maintained permanently, are left no link with the Dominion save by the roundabout Sydney route. To Auckland merchants the. position created by the withdrawal of the Maui Pomare from the Norfolk running is extremely serious, hut their repeated protests have met with no result. The value of the trade was already over £23,000. It represented not only the amount exchanged on the commodities sent to the island, but also a considerable sum paid in wages on goods made by New Zealand craftsmen from New Zealand materials. All this trade now goes back where it originally came from—to Sydney. There appears to be no remedy, unless the Government lias the courage to admit past errors, and write the Maui Pomare off £S the failure she has proved herself to be. In the face of the disclosures made today by The Sun, there may be the usual official attempts to explain away the vessel’s failings. But whitewashing and evasion cannot escape the telltale figures exhibited in the running and maintenance costs of the Maui Pomare, nor can they answer the conclusions reached after a thorough and impartial investigation of the position, and it would be as well to hold another and this time more searching inquiry. To right the matter it seems obvious that the ship should be sold, for junk, if necessary, before she involves the Dominion in any more costly experiments and disastrous loss of trade. If it cannot afford another ship, designed this time on sound lines, the Government should hand over such services as it can to private enterprise, and acquire some suitable vessel to carry on the others. The Tutanekai will be released from the lighthouse service by the arrival of another steamer at the end of the year. Viewing the painful sequels to the enterprise under discussion, taxpayers will piously hope that the new steamer will not be another Maui Pomare.