ON THE ULIMAROA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 171, 22 July 1931, Page 10

ON THE ULIMAROA.

PASSENGERS FROM SYDNEY.

LIFE IN THE SOLOMONS. SHIP'S PURSER TAKEN ILL. A day later than usual, owing to the fact that she was docked, the Huddart, Parker steamer Ulimaroa arrived from Sydney this morning. She brought 108 passengers, as well as mail and cargo. Average weather conditions were experienced crossing the Tasman. On the day that the steamer left Sydney the purser, Mr. T. Crane, was taken ill with appendicitis and was forced \r remain in his bunk. He will probably be operated on in Auckland. Mr. Crane is a highly-popular officer among travellers. He has been on the ship for a number ot years.

When the Ulimaroa left Wellington a fortnight ago a man stowed away, and he was not discovered until the vessel was at sea. He was handed over, to the police on arrival at Sydney, and was ordered to be returned to New Zealand by the ship on her present trip. Among the Passengers. Mr. A. W. Corry has returned after a' three months' holiday visit to Australia and South Africa. Conditions in South Africa, he said, were nowhere near as bad as' in the Commonwealth. In Capetown, he understood, there were not more than one thousand men out of work.

After three and a half years as assistant medical officer at the mair hospital at Tulagi, in the Solomon Islands, Dr. K. R. Stevenson has returned to New Zealand for a month's holiday. An old Oamaru boy, he will next go to the Gilbert Islands' for duty in the Government medical service. Malaria, he said, was about the only sickness among white people living in the nd his

work was almost confined to the natives. Owing to the low price of copra some people in the islands were complaining. There was little excitement in the the natives having been quiet for four years, but there was no monotony

about the life. Golf

and tennis were the popular paetimes. Moving pictures and other entertainments were unknown.

Mr. Baildon Returns.

"I, am very glad to get back to Auckland, for I would not like to live in Sydney under the present conditions," said Mr. George. Baildon, formerly Mayor of the city. Mr. Baildon was recently appointed the New Zealand representative ' for Messrs. D. and J. McCallum, Ltd., and he has been on a business trip to Sydney. "I have been away only three weeks, and I would not like' to make a very definite statement as to the position in Sydney," he said. Conditions, as far as New South Wales was concerned, appeared to be very critical. The Premier, Mr. Lang, seemed to be the "best hated man in Australia." Business people were very perturbed as" to what his next move would be. Much comment was heard concerning the 10 per cent primage duty and 6 per cent sales tax imposed by the Federal Government. The position of the working man, who ,was taxed 1/ in the f and was faced with an increase in the cost of living, was very hard. One thing that struck a visitor from New Zealand most forcibly was the large number of empty business premises and .houses. The general opinion of people in Sydney was that there would probably be an election at an early date, and they looked to that to bring about an improvement in the conditions.

Australian Hospitality.

Appreciation of the good time which Sydney bowlers had given to him and to his companions was expressed by Mr. T. J. Buxton, of Auckland, who returned this morning by the Ulimaroa from Sydney. "Whereever we went we were hailed as brethren," Mr. Buxton said. "They could not do enough for us."

He visited many clubs in Sydney, but he did not see one green which was as good as the beat in Auckland. "Of course, I know that I saw them in Mr. T. Buxton. f» f season -" Mr ' Buxton . acknowledged, "and there they play on them all the year round, but, even so, those in Auckland are the better for the rest in t.lift ttrintnr."

"Terrible" was his description of the recent gale in Sydney. "Do you know, I saw those 'No Parking' signs being blown about the streets, a most amazing sight. They looked just as though they had come to life, and were acting in a play." There were few houses into which the rain did not penetrate, and the whole place seemed to shake with the force of the wind.

Mr. J. M. Schapiro, art and antique dealer, was a passenger by the boat. He has recently come from London.