R.M.S. ROTORUA

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 210, 14 December 1910, Page 7

R.M.S. ROTORUA

GREAT CROWD TO SEE HER BERTH. SOME HORSE PLAY. Wellington, Monday. "My opinion of her?' Well, absolutely the finest ship that I have ever been . in," said Captain Sutcliffe to a Dominion representative yesterday, when he was asked as to what he # thought of his new charge—the New Zealand Shipping Company's largest and latest boat, the Rotorua, which arrived here yesterday. "The most remarkable thing about her," he continued!, "is the entire Absence of. vibration. She is as steady as a rock, and I could .not conceive anything better. All the way out she behaved splendidly. Any motion? Well, you see that photo-frame leaning against the wall there? It has been like that ever since' we left London. Why, one does nor know one is afloat 6n board this ship." Inquiries among the passengers elicited the same sort of comment. One said, "Before we left Home we were told all manner of things about the usual ordeal of the Southern Ocean, but you may take it as a plain, unexaggerated statement that no matter how rough the sea. was the ship hardly had a move in her." ! The incoming of the great steamer was no ordinary scene. Hours before , she rounded Point Halswell the Queen's Wharf was like Willis or Manners Streets on a Saturday night, and, when a representative of the Tyser. Line —the Nerehana—came slowly round the point ■ and bore up for the King's Wharf, hum- j ■' dreds of people made off in that direc- j ! tion, thinking that it was the Rotorua. i ! When the huge floating palace slid into' view, thousands of eyes were on her, and she was well discussed as Pilot Hay- : ward brought, hgr.in. _ OVER 4000 SIGHTSEERS. The Harbor Board officers were outs in full force, and-there was also a fairly : largo- f Ofltlngent..of police on duty on ; the wharf, an' 3 tnjey were required,' for ] by the time tb.B'-vessel was tied up a ', crowd estimated at between four and I five thousand people had assembled. This j surging mass was divided into three sections, the greatest number being at the head of the cross tee and the smallest at the end. As soon as the gangway was let down the crowd at the south end broke loose and made one blind rush for the steps. Simultaneously the other barriers gave way, and soon there was a throng of men, women, and children > all struggling and heaving in ont solid mass. It took four stalwart con-' stables, assisted by the Harbor Board officials and some of the ship?s company, to hold the narrow entrance from being stormed by a rather sportive and somewhat ungoverned crowd. For a long time it was quite impossible for anyone to move, and passengers on board who wished to come ashore were unable to <lo so for fully two hours after the ship i was berthed. Im its way also it was a great sight as seen from the deck oi the liner —the hundreds of pretty colorings in the ladies' hats, combined with) their light summer dresses and the dark-5 er mass of the great swaying, surging crowd. ' REGRETTABLE INCIDENTS.

One regrettable incident in the crowd was the conduct of about a hundred or more youths who, whenever passengers, especially lady passengers, prepared to descend the gangway, cheered vociferously, and gave vent to badinage. Of course, the passengers from Home could only regard these demonstrations with open-eyed astonishment, and, most probably, one passenger was voicing the opinion, of the majority of his fellowtravellers when he said: "If this is what tlie general public of New Zealand are like, I think our early impressions of the class of people whom we thought inhabited this part of the globe were not far wrong, after all." Another most deplorable incident was that owing to the arrangements on the wharf and the consequent blocking of all traffic, one passenger, who is in a dangerous condition of health, Mid who, by the doctor's orders, should have been removed to a hospital ashore as soon as the ship berthed, was unable to be taken to the ambulance in waiting sim-( ply because the crowd, seemed to have) the upper hand. As late as 9 p.m., tww and a half hours after the ship had berthed, one lady on the upper deck was! heard to state that she would far rather stay on board all night than land at all. ■S!he had been unable to get ashore sooner owing to the behaviour of the gang of youths alluded to. As for the Uotorua herself, it may be mentioned that she is a ship with combination engines, and during a talk with Mr. J. 11. TCvavns, the chief engineer, it| was learned that everything hud worked very satisfactorily indeed on the wayout.. "In fact," said Mr. Evans, "the engines gave not the slightest trouble, and we came all those miles without a stop. Pretty <»ood for a brand new ship, is it not? Our consumption of coal was flo tons a day, and we knocked out 13.4 knots an hour, too. So you can see she is a really good ship."