ATLANTIC TRAFFIC

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 147, 23 June 1945, Page 5

ATLANTIC TRAFFIC

Queen Mary And Elizabeth Needed For Passengers

HUGE NUMBERS WAITING Rec. 10.30 a.m. LONDON, June 22. Sir.Thomas Brocklebank, deputychairman of the Cunard-White Star Line, claimed" that the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth shortened the war by a year and could shorten the transition period to normal in another year, if one, preferably both, were returned to the Atlantic trade quickly. . Sir Thomas said: "Such an enormous weight of passenger traffic is wanting to cross the Atlantic from both' sides that, unless •we begin ■quickly, we will lag behind our competitors." ; , . The Queen Elizabeth,' if freed in ; a month, ' could' be ;ready;-" for' her. official-maiden, voyage 'in' six: months.; The Queen Elizabeth, now -lying inthe Clyde," is leaving on .June-2.4 with '15,000 Americans, unden reverse lerid-1 ease, on her "36th round trip across 'the Atlantic. . She hss carried- 700,000 ' troops and covered 500,000 miles as~ a war -transport. ■■■ ; - Cuha'rd-White'Star Line draughtsmen have, for two years, been working on -designs for a r supership, the Queen --Victoria?, says ..the. Daily Express. I - They ■• have -also been working on the new Aquitama to replace the present- 28-year-old liner which will be-scrapped when she finishes troop-carrying. -