LUXURY LINER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 283, 30 November 1931, Page 9

LUXURY LINER.

MALOLO'S THIRD VISIT.

TOURISTS COMPLAIN OF OtUSH'

WOULD- LIKE MORE TIME HERE,

Cruising around the Pacific for, the third-time in three years, the Matson liner.-Malolo berthed at Auckland yes-ter:day,moi-ning. She carries 134 tourists, as weir as a number of inter-port pas : eengers. : As on previous cruises Captain k- A.- Berndtson is in command.

a MfY Louis D. Stoue, representing the American Express Company, is cruise ■ director in charge of shore excursions. Assisting Mr. Stone are Messrs. William A. Shedd end William R. McPhail, who, with ■■ Mr. : Deane H. Dickason, the .educational 1 director, have been on the ■ftlalolo on previous cruises. They frequently visit Auckland in other capacities.. Messrs. Stone, Shedd and McPhail will be returning to Auckland on the new.. Maitson liner Mauposa, which is scheduled to. sail from San. Francisco on February 2 and arrive here on February. 20. Mr. Dickastm had made previous" arrangements to sail around the world; on the Hamburg-American liner ■heSolute, which will not come further south than Bali. He will be engaged on b ?ard: making additional "port o' call ,, einenia travelogues, the first of which he photographed oh the Malolo's cruise last y«ar.: ■ Film of "Maori Land." . 6 On last year's cruise Mr. Dickason was. accompanied by a professional camera•jnan, wh6 "eiiot" a beautiful reel, with W"> 'assistance of the New Zealand Xo " ris * t Department, at Rotorua. It is Maori Land," and was shown on board the Malolo on Saturday even"jgi as-the liner was steaming down the mvf Zealand coast, as a preface'to Mr. ;-IJickaspn J s usual pre-port lecture. The. has already been released in the States with favourable results. is recorded in sound, the Inscriptive information being synchrqnised on the iMm in Mr. Dickaeoii's voice. „ *t is expected that the series-will be fweenediri Xew Zealand and Australia >ii the nea r future. In_ addition to. otlicr representatives ot the New Zealand Tourist and Pub-

licity Department who went out to the Malolo in the stream yesterday morning was Mr. S. J. Collett, .chief clerk, head office, Wellington. Mr. R. W. Marshall, of the Tourist Department, went to Sydney to join the Malolo for the run across the Tasman, and was in supplying general information about the Dominion. . Mr. S. W, M." Stilling, New Zealand representative of the Australian National Travel Association, boarded the Malolo in-the stream. Special Train to Rotorua. . Soon after the "luxury liner," as the Malolo is called, berthed at the Central wharf the tourists were hustled, ashore and into.waiting taxis and whieked oft to the- railway station to join a special train for Rotorua. This consisted of the new de luxe Main Trunk express cars, which were favourably commented upon by the Americans, who evidently did not expect to find sucb/service "down under. Another large party set out by motors for National Park,. Wairakei, and Rotorua. The train travellers will return to Auckland this'evening, and the car party to-morrow afternoon. The Malolo will sail for Suva, Pago Pago, Honolulu and San Francisco at 6 p.m. to-morrow. Women predominate among the passengers on this cruise, as ort the vessel's last visit to Auckland. Some of them stayed on board and did not wish to see any of New Zealand's wonderland. When'asked why, they replied that they ; were tired of 'being whisked hither and thither m special trains and motor cars. Travelling ashore •had been far- too strenuous, and -what they needed at this stage of the journey was , quietness and rest. "Although we have been well catered for, said one lady, "there has been too much rush at way ports. Some of us are very tired, and it would have been much better if. a longer, time were spent at some places. Several of us made up our minds to stay aboard in Auckland and rest. We just want to do as we like, and take a walk up the city,- be left alone, to see things for ourselves and take our own time about it. From early morning till late at night we have been rushed, at some way , ports, and have travelled at ■60 miles an hour and covered'lso miles by motor car in a day. It's been too much. ..At this stage of the cruise, arrangements should have been made for the ship to remain at Auckland for four, or five days; then we would have had time to s<?e: things. On some of the automobile trips we have taken amV chickens, and even ducks have been killed on the road so that speed, should not be sacrificed."- -. : .

Time in Dominion Too Short. Those tourists who were being hustled off the ship were looking forward to their tour of the thermal regions. Several who were approached said they- had wanted to visit New Zealand, after having heard such glowing accounts of the country from travellers who' had visited here on the Malolo's two previous trips. But here, again, one met the same complaint—the time was all too short. Many who did not want to miss seeing the sights would have much preferred to spend Sunday quietly in port and their shore touring, to-day. It was learned that the depression in America is not altogether responsible for the small number of tourists on this cruise, in comparison with the number on the Malolo's first visit to New Zealand. Tourists on the two former-cruises, on returning to the States, had complained of being "rushed about too much."