POLICING OF LINERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 16, 19 January 1914, Page 9

POLICING OF LINERS.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —I have no doubt about your being deeply concerned in the welfare of the travelling public, whether on sea or. land. Anyone can, to a certain extent, get away from wickedly inclined persons on a. train, but to do so on board of passenger steamers on the high seas is quite another matter. There is scarcely a single vessel of any description carrying passengers, whether on the coast or intercolonial services, but at some time earns a bad record. Recently I bad occasion to travel ,by the most up-to-date steamer of the Union Steamship Co. on the Vancouver route. So far as steerage passengers are concerned thi3 steamer is badly adapted as regards exercising room. The deck space is almost wholly occupied by massive machinery for all purposes. There are only narrow spaces on each side of the ship -where passengers can promenade, and should there be a full passenger list they are simply in each other's way. The deck is open to all kinds of weather, and the spray dashes over from one side to the other, many getting a thorough wetting in fine weather. What prevents an overhead construction where passengers could sit or recline away from engines and steam pipes I don't know. The amount of' passage-money for a three weeks' run, including stoppages, is quite enough to entitle such passengers to better treatment than they are getting. Another matter I wish to" refer to, but of a more serious nature, is the necessity of an officer being placed on board of all passenger steamers, whose duties will be those of policeman and magistrate. jDuring the voyage referred to I had occasion to complain to the officers about the immoral surroundings connected with some of the passengers, male and female. The conduct of one family I regarded as specially reprehensible. Then again, pickpockets are often in evidence, and vile observations are made quite frequently, for which there is no redress for passengers at the hands of the officers. The chief officer simply charged- mc with being an agitator from Sydney, and, denying that as being my port of departure, he kindly told mc I was a liar, all because I complained of the immoral tone of some of the passengers. He certainly stated officers were helpless in such cases. It is because such is the case I have proposed all passenger steamers should be compelled to carry a government official, whose duty it would be to visit throughiout the ship twice a day to deal with complaints, and mete out punishment according to the offence. There is no reason why one or two rooms for locking up those found guilty of offences contrary to the country's laws should not be set apart. 'A good deal of drunkenness is found on board, caused mainly by passengers going ashore at some port of call. The expenses of an officer would require to.ibe borne by the company, as there is no reason for the country being put to any expense for looking alter the welfare of passengers on board of steamers wkere their owners fail to give that protection needed. Such an officer would have control of the baggage room, which is open to all comers, and consequently liable to abuse. —I am, etc., A COLONIAL.