AUCKLAND'S SCOWS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 38, 15 February 1937, Page 6

AUCKLAND'S SCOWS.

I read with very great interest an article in which the writer says that scows are a doomed craft, that the New Zealand toast i* littered with their wreckage, and a« oceangoing vessels they are dan<rcrous, Absolute nonsense. Now. sir. let ns look ut the position in its true lirht. The scows are doomed simply because the work they were specially built to do has gone, and naturally they had to follow. The New Zealand coast is littered with the bones of many fine ships, steamers, yes, and warships, too. Something like 1">00 altogether. Tt is hardly fair to pick out >i few and compare them with mi-Ii vcs-els «« the Hawk, Ling.ira. Arrah-na-To'/ue. Warrior. Kauri. Tramp. Vesper, Hoanga. and many other well-kept vessel* of their rlu»-s. Give me a well-found scow with a real scowinaster for the timber trade, and that was ilie job they were built for. One could hardly class the Maroro a« a scow. She was an unlucky vessel in many ways, but she was not a scow. The Hoantra was perhaps the bestfound scow on the coast. The crew's living quarters were perfect, with white tablecloths, china and silver ware and a beautiful tablecentre specially made by the owner's wife. The captain's quarters were the same as the crews. The owner had his own idea about the men's comfort, and yet she was a very unlucky vessel. * PORTLIGHT.