THE FLEET

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 114, 18 May 1925, Page 9

THE FLEET

Royal Mail Services

"Swift Shuttles of the Empire's Loom"

Day of the Motor Ship—Oil Fuel Enterprise

The establishment of the great fleet of the Union Company has necessarily entailed a great deal of thought, as to design, construction, and equip-

ment, and a constant study of developments in naval' architecture. The directors; of the

Chairman and Sole Surviving Founder of the Union Steam Ship th* New Zealand Company of New Zealand, Limited. coast. One of the • . largest cargo vessels, the Hauraki (7113 tons), is a motor-ship; and there is now building for the company a motor-engined oil-tanker to replace one lost last year. In 1917 the P. and O. Company bought most of the ordinary snares ol the Union Company. This change of shareholders has not brought about any alteration in the management of the Union _ Company or the conduct of its operations, which remain entirely in the hand 3of its New Zealand Board of Directors. In its desire for efficient running and for the comfort of passengers the company has not overlooked the advantages of oil fuel, and almost all its principal passenger vessels now use oil for motive power. The company has large tanks at. Wellington for storing 40,000 tons of oil/fuel for supplying its own and other steamers. The Union Company is part proprietor of the Coal and Bunkering Company of Sydney, which has a very large plant for the storage of coal and the rapid bunEering of steamers. It has large workshops at Port Chalmers for ship repairs, and is principal shareholder in the Wellington Patent Slip Company, which is also engaged in ship repair work. , . It has its own laundry at Wellington for dealing with the washing of the steamers' linen. •■ With a view to encouraging tourist traffic to Fiji, the company in 1914 built a hotel at Suva, the capital. The hotel, known as the "Grand Pacific," is a fine modern' building of concrete, specially designed for the tropical climate, with' wide verandahs and balconies, ample lounges, spacious public rooms, and plenty of bathrooms. A few years ago the company built in Sydney a fourteen-story office building, known as Union House. This is not only one of the largest office buildings in Sydney, or even in Australia, but one of the most satisfactory examples of architecture, as applied to commercial needs. The company has also fine offices in other Australian and New Zealand towns, including Melbourne, Wellington, and Dunedin. This account of the .50 years progress of the Union Company would not be complete without some mention of the men who have guided its course during that long period. • • ■ . The proprietors of the Harbohr Steam v Company when it was merged in the Union Company in 1875 were Messrs. James Mills; J. R. Jones, who was a director of'the new company until 1903; John Darling, who became the company's consulting engineer in Great Britain ; and supervised the construction of all the steamers built for it till his death in 1897; and Captain Malcolm. Of these Mr. Mills was the principal proprietor and manager of the Harbour Steam Company. As already mentioned, it is to Mr. Mills (now Sir James Mills) that the credit oE the company's success is chieflyV due. Clear-sighted, thorough, resolute, but prudent, with liin cuHy experience uud Lutimjile Luowlsdgy ai *kiußU)g

company have, however, not been content merely to follow the lead of shipowners at

Home in the adoption of new

devices for increasing the

safety, efficiency, and comfort

of their vessels; it is they who

have often led the world.

Among the vessels built for the company they can point to the first oceangoing merchant ship constructed of steel, the first with bilge keels, the first lighted throughout with incandescent electric light, the first steered by hydraulic machinery, the first driven by turbines, the first to have a Board of Trade certificate for the use of oil fuel, and the'first large passenger liner driven by motor engines. This last is the snpreme example _of the company's enterprise in shipbuilding. The motor engine has been used for large cargo vessels of moderate speed; but in the recently arrived Aorangi this system of propulsion' has first been, applied to a large and fast passenger and mail liner of the highest type. The Aorangi has a gross registered tonnage of 17,491 tons, a displacement tonnage of 23,000 tons, and a length'of 600 feet. She accommodates 9366 passengers,

and has a crew of 350. She has fout motor engines, together capable of developing 20,000-horse-power, and each driving one or her four propellers; her working speed is 18 kuots. Apart from the method of propulsion, with its free-' dom from smoke and vibration, she is, in her general detail, appointments, and equipment, the Union Company's finest ship.

luxurious apartments of any vessel which has been seen in Australasia; she has cabines de luxe in all the best styles of decoration, together with verandah cafes, an auxiliary dining-saloon, a nursery, gymnasium, electric lifts, and every other accessory to comfort which the most refined luxury can desire. Great care has been given to ventilation; she is steamheated throughout, has a most extensive electrical system, including an electrically driven laundry, and is provided with all tho best modern aids to navigation. The' company's present passenger services and the distribution of their principal passenger steamers are as follow :— Canadian-Australian Royal Ma% Service. | Sydney-Auckland-Suva {Fiji)-Hono-lulu-Vancouver, every four weeks: Motor-ship Aorangi, 17,491 tons. B.M.S. Niagara, 13,415 tona. Union Royal Mail Line, via San Francisco. Sydney-Wellington-Karotonga (Coolc Islands)-Tahiti-San. Francisco, every four weeks: R.M.S. Makura, 8075 tons. R.M.S. Tahiti, 7898 tons. Auckland-Fiji-Samoa-Tongan Group. Four-weekly. Tofua, 4345 ,tons. Intercolonial Services. Sydney-Auckland, about weekly. Sydney-Wellington, about weekly., Melbourne-Bluff -Dunedin - LytteltonWellington, every three weeks. Mannganui (7527 tons). ' Marama (6497 tons). Maheno (5323 tons). - Manuka (4554 tons). Moeraki (4421 tons).. As required.

New Zealand Coastal Services. WeUington-Lyttelton (every night eiexcept, Sunday). Wahine (4436 tons), Maori (3488 tons).

Wcllington-Picton, 3 days a week. Arahura (1596 tons). Auckland-Gisborne-Napier, weekly. Wainni (684 tons). As shown above, the Wellington-Picton run of 53 miles is at present being made by the Arahuxa (1596 tons), but the company has building for this service a 17-knot oil-burning vessel, the iTamahine, of 1850 tons, which will rednca

the crossing to abont three hours, of which a great portion will be in calm waters. It is in the cargo services that the most solid improvement of the company's business in recent years has taken place, and the cargo steamers now form a greater part of the- fleet, than the passenger boats. . Some time before the' war:' supplementary steamers were put on to deal with Transpacific cargo -which the passenger steamers, with their limited cargo capacity, were unable to handle, and there is now a regular monthly- service between the Western ports ' of North America and Australian and NewZealand ports. Three sailings a year take place from Calcutta, Singapore, and Java to New Zealand. A large number of cargo steamers ' and colliers run' between Australia and Tasmania, between Australia and • New

Zealand, to the South Sea Islands, and on

Her beautiful Louis XVI. ' dinin<*-Toom ami musicroonr; Georgian Oouner, ond iilidiujjethjui smake-tosuj 4 form, fcks most

affairs, his administrative ability, his breadth of view and grasp of detail, he was the ideal chief for building up this great , concern. A judge of men, he was able to surround himself with competent assistants and to get the best results from them. With every reason to be proud of his handiwork, he was always on the watch to correct, improve, and perfect the organise tion and conduct of the undertaking, and so to maintain and extend the eminent position which the company soon reached in relation to colonial and even the world's shipping.