Goods go astray

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33816, 12 April 1975, Page 1

Goods go astray

An English couple who migrated to New Zealand from Britain in December have a similar story to the one reported in “The Press” yesterday. Their shipping agents, W. A. Lancaster and Company, Surrey, charged the couple (Mr and Mrs M. J. Matthews) $l4O for door-to-door service of their personal effects, and undertook to handle all documentation.

The couple were told that delivery would be made to their Christchurch flat after the ship arrived in Lyttelton on February 28.

The couple came to New Zealand with only the clothes they were wearing and one suitcase each. They have since learned that their effects are in the Wellington container sheds, where they have been for the last five weeks. The shipping line’s N Christchurch agency. Blue ■ Star Port Lines Management (not an agency for I A. W. Lancaster) told them that their ship was ■ never bound for Lyttelton in the first place, and that the company’s charges i were $5O more than they should have been. CUSTOMS In addition, Mr Matthews said yesterday, all the official documents which the company had j undertaken to clear had | been posted to him by the company as his responsi- ! bility. The included Cusi toms clearance. The company also told ■ him that its New Zealand ! ! agents were Associated I Container Transportation. Ltd, Wellington. In fact | I they were the agents for I the’shipping line only, not 1 . A. W. Lancaster, he said. | Contact with the Wellington company showed ! that A.W. Lancaster had ! made no payment to any New Zealand carrier for delivery to the couple’s home. Instead the only ar- , rangement able to be ; made now was that they collect their goods frpm ' the Christchurch railway I depot. They have no transport, ! which is why they con--1 tracted for door-to-door- | delivery.

The couple have no idea when their effects will arrive. Involved are all their winter clothes, and wedding gifts, on which there is no insurance cover for damage or pilfering — simply because it is not available for goods packed by the owners.

The only insurance cover is for total loss of goods.

Mr Matthews wrote to A. W. Lancaster late last month seeking an explanation for the company’s failure to discharge its responsibilities. Receiving no answer, he telexed the company last Monday, and could fairly have expected a reply within 12 hours, he said.

It had not come. In the meanwhile they were becoming increasingly anxious over the whereabouts and safety of their

possessions, Mr Matthews said.

He did not want to stir up a hornets' nest. He said a sensible approach to the problem would be for New Zealand House and emigration officials to provide emigrants to New Zealand with a list of reliable and proven shipping agents. This at least u'ould provide such companies with an incentive to improve their services.

Since their arrival in New Zealand, three close friends of the couple had encountered similar problems. In two cases, goods had been pilfered, in th« other, personal effects had arrived late.

Since yesterd-iy’s story appeared in “1 he Press” more than 15 people, most of them English, telephoned before 5 p.m. last evening to describe similar experiences.