A FAMILY PARTY

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 114, 18 May 1925, Page 10

A FAMILY PARTY

SIR JAMES MILLS AS HOST v.bmqn'V-co^An^ jubilee dinner ■■•■' GREAT GATHERING OF THE STAFF

"A~n ' interesting gathering took place ioboard the E-MLB.! Tahiti, at Wellington en" Friday., evening, .15th. r '.May,..,,;Vh.eß,: some- ninety-.present and former jnem 7 . ■bers of the 'Orrion Steam Ship Company's Btafi met at dinnerat the invitation of Sir .James Mills,,. K.C,M.G.,,, chairmaii of directors, ,to join in cele-; brating the -fiftieth' - anniversary of the-1 formation of the company. The. party" included not only the directors, the sen-. ior members o£ the stag at Wellington,. and the senior captains and chief erigv neers of the company's vessels in port,, but-also the managers, of the, company !s. branches ■ 'in-..New -Zealand ■ -and ,- at.:Sydr.. ney,; and»retired, members of the omce; and'sea staff It was'thus, a reunion o;: most of those' Still alive' vrho;ha.ve beeninstrumental in -building -up tae company and bringing it to the proud posi ; tion which it occupies in relation'to tin?' world's shipping. It'wasai'familygathj:eririg,"so 'to -speak ;• and-'many-'Were. the? reminiscences exchanged- across: the tables' between those who had worked together for. years in the dim past butl had'hard- 1' ly. cpme together'again since. ■■ • - -T Among 'those- present' were:—Directors: Sir 'James Mills;'K.C.M.G., chairman, Sir-John RobertSi'C.M-.G., Messrs.» C.W. Rattray, D. A. Aitken ' (general r managers- C. H. Hnghes (Sydney), W. managers : C. ' H." Hughes (Sydney-,' W. AY Kennedy (Wellington, S.-:K.'•■'Sleiglf ' :In an 'address of ■welcome i Sir James (Dunedin), D. Carter -(Avicklahd), 1" J: L i&lills, who occupied the chair, said-that' Ca'to. (Napier), W. .H. Price- (Christ- 7: ,fur'some years he had cherished the hope church)i R.-D.-Halstead.-(Timaru),- H.- ithiit-hd-might be spared: until'the"fif-' Holderness (Gisborne), F. W.'Humphriei. V ;ti'otlr ■anniversary of-the company,--.and COamaru), L: W: Spencer'(lnvercargill), tliafdt might- be■ celebrated^in. some such T. Ai. Kevell (Blenheim), E. -S. ,A.- Pear- vay.Cis -it., was being 'done that: night:;! son (Westport),' W; B. Cunningham i It' .'was'a great satisfaction, to him tbfj (Greymouth), A. E.J.Thompson {New Ply-'|! find his wish realised, and to see so many: mouth), M.-'Rudd (assistant .manager,-1 veterans there, .and it 'was appropriate i' Auckland).:' Retired;: members" of' the' that-they were.able to hold their gather--, staff: 1 *P;-'''W: Cargill .'(Napier),- C'; J." -ing aboard : one of the company's steam-: N,intes_ (Napier),- 'T. M'Crorie : pnn- ers and under.the company's flag..:. Ob-' edm)^R.^_Paterson (Auckland), G. Hen:- viously it had not, been possible to secure dry-(Wellington), 'W. 'NancarTow (Dun- the _ presence.of -,aU they would like to edm), A. L. Ledger (Christchnrch), R,- see-^some were engaged in their duties, N. Gordon (Dunedin),:^ Cope (Timarn), whUe.others were absent from New.Zeai J- T lr? h'i(-dockland),-. W. Smart (Dun- land.; (i but he extended his good wishes--I,7^'' £• ,%^f(? las m Chalmers), J. to all these, having no doubt, they would, ■Walcott (Clyde), N."M'Nicol (Welling- be '.present: in acirit. Before eoine fur-

tain C: Clift, Captain B. B. Irwin, Captain. 8.-AldweU. Chief engineers: J. Basire, M'Craig, Anderson, and T. B. Walker (purser of-the Tahiti). ' Mr. Charles Holdsworth, the managing director of the company, was unf ortun-

ton),- A; Naismith (Wellington), W -H.Bourne - (Dunedin);" H.- ■- Halley '(Welling-. tdn),»C. Haibottl« (Wellington), Captain 1 Coll M'Donald (Dunedin), Captain W; P. Collins (Wellington), Captain '■ D^ MiLeaa -(Auckland)y^Captain „,R. ...E. Smith (Auckland), Captain Scott (Anckr. land). Heads of departments at "head office: A. W. Wheeler assistant-general manager;,, N.-...5. ,-Falla, „,, general traffic manager; W. Green, comptroller of accounts; R. M'K. M'Lennan, Transpacificand Islands department; James Smith. superintending engineer^, Captain ..p.. S;[ IFoster, Tnarine..'superintendent; W. ( Ctrl Smith,- industrial-. department"; --'Kl.'jSuToang, stores department. Members of Wellington staff -. J. "W. Matthewson, V Turner.-H.F.-Norman,-H.-E.-H. Aplin R. Wood, C. T- Jarvis, E.. Constable, A. JR. Hoggard,. J. Dunlop, G. Wilson, J: Fisher, J. Drake, G. MTarime, 1 L. Denby, A. Cook, Captain Edge, J. A. Gnmwooa, _W. G., Davis, E. C. Adaoi? " HLv.Whjfe,..Captain; Webb, Paptaiiv if.' Gill.- R. t. Gillies, R. -Wifis,.-!. Stone": ?*:nfcs, SI C. "Stewaft',-'j:'"Neale, M.'B^ OViiDeE, P. L. Hodge, W. E.,Hancock, A. F. Booth, Q. B, V. Wheeler ,W Bnffey, S. J. Sawell. "Captains: Cap-

ately-indisposed, and unable to, be. present. -„..! .....■■• '..

ther he would ask them to join in a tribute to a very great mail—the Bight 'Hoiv'.W. F." Massey—by 'rising to their feet for a moment; and he-ialso expressed the sympathy of the gathering .with. .Mrs!.' .Massey._ and. family m their ;gr.eat .bereavement-. ■ "., .

; A?^ rr e number of •telegrams .-.of con: gratulatioh from various" parts- of New 'Zealand and. Australia were then read •by the chairman.

The toast of the T^ng having' been •honoured, Sir John Roberts, C.M.G., 'proposed the toast of the company and ;of Sir James Mills.-1 He said -that these names could not be "dissociated; that for 38 years Sir James had been in chief xontrol of the company/ and-that,; al--though for the last twelve years he'liad 'ceased ''from.' the~'ac'tiv© control^" he had during this time been dealing with, financial and- other matters in connection with the company's welfare in• London.' ;He regretted very much; titat the manag;ing director, Mr. -Charles Holdsworth, (Was not able to be present that "night: ■owing to the""state''6f"nis-health.

Mo^"'^~':f

In rising to < reply to the toast, Sir James Mills was greeted with acclamation. He said / wafi a great pleasure

to him to meet that night so many of the older members of the staff «-ho had worked with him during the earlier years of the company's existence, though that pleasure was tinged with a feeling of sadness on account of his finding himself, after fifty years, the last survivor of those who assisted in. bringing the company into existence.

THE BEGINNINGS

Sir James then indulged in. reminiscences of some of those who were with him in the earlier days, and to whose counsel and help he said he owed much. He mentioned John Darling, the company's first superintending engineer,'who had been associated with him in the Harbour Steam Company from which the Union Company sprang, who had helped to raise the first capital of the company, and had designed the first steamers' built lor it, arid others which followed them for some years; the Hon.

George M'Lean—afterwards Sir George M'Lean—who was chairman of tlie board for .the first thirty years, and to whom was due no small share of the development of the company; his brother, David Mills, who-was associated' with him in the.company at the very outset; W.-F. Wheeler, ■ for many years manager at WeHinzton: °T. W

Whitson, 'long secretary of tlie company-; his old friend Jack Abbott, of the stores department, who was with him before the formation of the company, and who was well known to , almost everyone in the service in the early 'days, and many others..

Among those'who were Btifl with them, either on the active list or retired, were W. A. Kennedy, the senior member of the staff, who joined in 1877, and is well known as manager at Wellington; N. MTJicol, a EL Hughes, P. £. Youngs T. M'Crorie, 0. J. Nantes, and E...W. Monsbn.. Sir James paid a special tribute to the qualities '" of . Messrs. Hol'dsworth. and Aiken, who had played a prominent part in the." company, and were now associated with -him on the board. '

Of members'of the sea staff he mentioned - many names, including specially those of. Captain Angus Cameron, who joined in command of the Wakatipu in 1876 and later became Marine Superintendent, arid finally a • member of the board; Captain Worrall, the present senior master, who joined the service in 1886, and is now commander of the Makura in the San Francisco mail service; and Captain Coll. Macdonald, late Marine Superintendent, who had designed and superintended the building of the Niagara, Mannganni, and Wahine, and 'gave notable service to the company and the Government in war time in connection with the equipment ol troopships and hospital ships. Among the many engineers whose names he recalled were W. Smart, who was foimany years Superintending Engineer, and James Smith, the present Superintending Engineer. ,

EARLY ASPIRATIONS Sir James gave an interesting story, of the initiation of ■ the company. Previous to 1869, wlien he was just ovei 21 years of age, he was associated with Mr. Darling in some small local steamers and lighters working between Dunedin and Port Chalmers. They aspired to stretch along the coast as far as Timaru and Lyttelton, and having heard of the arrival of a steamer called the Maori at Melbourne which seemed to be suitable, induced several friends to put a little money with them in the venture. In 1873 they aspired to something larger, so again with the aid of some friends sent Mr. Darling Home to ' build a steamer, which was called the Bruce, and arrived in Port Chalmers during 1874. In the meantime he . had conceived the idea of launching out still further by extending as far as Auckland, and for this purpose tried in December, 1873, to float a company to provide the capital. This was a failure;'money was not plentiful in those days, and certainly not for shipping ventures ; so they returned the money and abandoned the proposed, company. He was not downhearted though, so again got some friends 'to help with a few thousand pounds, ' and encouraged by Mr. Darling, who was in Great Britain for the Bruce,, he started off Home iv March, 1874, with a view to raising a littlo capital there to join with what they had and to build two steamers for tho trade from Dunedin' to Auckland. He was fortunate in getting into friendly relations with Mr. Denny, the shipbuilder, who not only built the two steamers for them but took up shares himself.,

THE FIRST FLEET

In . 1875, when these two steamers : were ' arriving in the colony, they thought there might be some conflict of interest owing to the different proprietaries of the several steamers, so combined the several interests in the Maori, .Beautiful' Star,- Bruce, Hawea, and Tau'po into one proprietary, which they called the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Limited. Thus was started the company the fiftieth • anniversary of which they were now celebrating. The total tonuago of the original fleet was 2126 tons. Small as the ships were from the present point of view, they were a source of great pride to them, and the new boats aroused tremendous interest throughout the colony, as they were far and away ahead of anything previously seen here. The additions to their fleet made from time' to time were concurrent wilh increased trado and extensions into* other fields aa -tlieit; area -cl ogeraidons sideaad.

They were originally confined to the coastal trades of the Dominion. ,

THE AUSTRALIAN TRADE

The first reach outwards was when they embarked in the Sydney trade with the Wakatipu and Rotorua, and afterwards in the Melbourne trade by the absorption of the M'Meckan Blackwood and Co.'s line with their steamers the Eingarooma, Arawata, Tarania, and Albion.

As years rolled od their"' line embraced other coastal services, ■ . the. Black DiamonH Line, the Grey Valley's Company's steamers, the San FTancisco mail service, the Tasmanian coastal and intercolonial trades, the Pacific Island trade, the Calcutta trade with New Zealand, the Vancou, ver mail service, and later the direct trade with England. These developments from time to ■ time necessitated constant additions to the fleet, so that at the end of

1913, when he retired from the executive work of the "company, and relinquished, the position of managing director, in favour of his friend and colleague, Mr. Holdsworth, it consisted of some 75 ships, aggregating about: 232,000 tons. It would be of interest to note that including ships now building, the, company would have-owned from first' to last no less than 184 steamers of; 461,000 tons, .of which oyer 100 had disappeared from their list, many by sale, some by loss, and others by enemy action. ■ _ , LEADING THE WAY The company-had kept in touch withthe latest improvements in shipbuilding: from time to time, and could take credit for being the first to adopt mild steel for shipbuilding, the first to introduce incandescent electric lighting throughout, the first to adopt turbines for steamers making long voyages, and the. first to/

apply motor propulsion to a .passenger and mail.steamer of large size and high speed as in the new Aorangi. He concluded by thanking the shore staff, the masters and officers, the engineers, and the stewards for their loyalty to him, and to the company throughout, and for their faithful co-operation, without' which the directors and management would not have achieved the results of which they were all so proud. Q Mr. C..H.. Hughes, manager of the Sydney branch, in proposing the toast of the directors, said that he represented

the Australian and Tasmanian branches at this historical event in the life of the company. They were all very glad that the founder and chairman of the company had been able to come from the other aide of the world to take part in the celebrations. The company occupied a proud position to-day. It was respected in the shipping world, and its views carried' great weight -with .Australian shipowners. He referred to the heavy responsibilities which the directors had had to carry, particularly during the war, and to the fact that they always had the interests of ■ .

the staff at neart, and hoped that they would be long spared to guide the destiny of the

company. In expressing the appreciation of the manner in which the toast of the directors had been honoured, Sir John Roberts said that during the war - period and sinco they had' had anxious times, and shipowning and shipbuilding in these days was not an easy matter. However, the position of a director of tho Union Steam Ship Company was a proud one, as they were the representalives_ and controllers of w'hat'he was safe in sa,ying was the most extensive shipping service south of the Line.

, .^F; °- W: Kattray .also replied in felicitous terms on behalf of the directors.

In., th° absence of Mr. Charles HoldsI,}l' , C- G- White proposed the health of "The Staff, 'Past and Present, Ashore and Afloat." He said it was a great disappointment that Mr. Holdsworth was not there to propose tho toast in person, for he knew he would have spoken from his heart words of the highest appreciation of the magnificent staff

the organisation was there and everyone responded, and it reflected great credit on the staff that they should have met the sudden requirements, the strange demands, and the serious positions that cropped up at a moment's notice. He also paid a generous tribute to the constant loyalty of the staff, both ashore and afloat.

On behalf of the staff, Sir John Eoberfcs made a presentation to Sir James Mills of a painting, Mount Sefton, by Sydney Thompson, as - a first instalment of a set of four pictures of New Zealand scenery by New Zealand artists which it was proposed to ask Jiiin to accept. Sir Jasnes feelingly expressed his thanks.

Mr.. T. JFCrorie, on behalf of the visiting retired members of the staff, thanked Sir James Mills, the directors, and management for affording them the opportunity to be present at this unique gathering.

Ie proceedings closed with "Auld Lang Syne" and "God Save the _ . King." During the evening a topical sailors' chanty, the words of which appear in another column, was sung under the leadership of Captain Collins, and Mr. J. H. Drake sang "Will o' the Wisp" and "The Old Shako," and these musical items were greatly enjoyed, and added considerably to the festive character of the evening.

who were working under his chief direction. Sir James Mills had had the faculty of choosing tip-top men and ones who_were loyal to their flag, and Mr. Jioldsworth had carried on the tradition. Mr. W. A. Kennedy said that it was a great privilege to him to be entrusted, as the doyen of the company's office staff, with the response to this toast. He extended to Sir James Mills warm greetings and congratulations on the jubilee of the company, and wished him on behalf of the staff continued good health and many more years of happiness and prosperity. .He also expressed thA regret of the staff at the absence of Mr. Holdsworth, and the hope that he would soon be restored to conroleto health. . '

Gaptain Coll Macdonald,, speaking, on behalf of the retired members of the floating staff, expressed the gratification

of the old hands at being present to celebrate the company's 50tn anniversary, and the hope that they would be able to join with Sir James Mills in celebrating the company's diamond jubilee.

A HIGH ENGINEERING HOUOUR

Mr. James Smith responded on behalf of the marine, engineers. Sir James Mills had been a member of the Australasian Institute .of Marine' Engineers for more than 25.years, and had later been elected to the highest honour that engineers could confer, that is, to the

position of President of the Institute of Engineers in London. The engineering staff had endeavoured to do 'its utmost, for the company, hut they had always been cheered on "in their work by the good feeling shown by Sir James Mills and the management. Captain P. S. Foster, the Marine Sup; erintendont, also suitably responded on behalf of the- masters and officers on the company's steamers. Mr- -D- A/Aiken, General Manager, said that when the war came on, although there had been no preparations