FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 11, 14 January 1933, Page 20

FIFTY YEARS AGO

-The enterprising managers of ■-. the: Orient -Steam Navigation ■ Company, Stated- "The Post" of fifty;■'yeats ago, promptly grappled with the inconvenience arising from the sinking of the 6.5. Austral and subsequent accident to the Cotopaxi in London docks by^diverting the splendid new steamship Cephalonia to the Australian trade. ' ' A Press Association message ' from Hokitika stated that three' hundred ounces of gold were shipped by the Bank of New Zealand in the Mahinapua for Sydney. ... According to a cable from Sydney, the loss, of life at the wreck' of tho New England amounted, to ten. Another cable stated that the steamer Carnbronne was sunk by collision in the British Channel on 27th December, aiid several people were drowned. The London correspondent of "The Post" wrote stating that the line of direct steamers to New Zealand was now an accomplished fact, the first of the fleet, the s.s. British King, being announced to sail for Port Lyttelton direct on Bth January. The tonnage of the.British King was 3800, and the horse-power proportionate, but the saloons, etc., were scarcely fitted up with the spleudour and elaboration looked for by Australian passengers. The British King would bo followed by the sister ship British Queen in February. It was Tcmarked by "The Post's" London correspondent that tho rush of steerage folk to Australia and New Zealand continued to be so great that $he Orient Company determined to raise the fares after Ist January, "As things stand now," wTotc the correspondent, "steamers arc filled up for their next outward trip before they leavo Melbourne on their way Home, and every mouth the pressure appears to increase. Although the new French Line's charge (taking into consideration the journey to Marseilles) is slightly higher than either the P. and O. or Orient Company, they will certainly absorb a great many of tho better class passengers. Not only is the route a new one and the stopping places strange, even to peripatetic bagmen, but the management offers certain special advantages. First and second class passengers aro found in beer and wine (presumably claret) gratis; champagne will be served ad lib. on Thursdays and Sundays, and the cuisine will be equal to that of firstclass Parisian restaurants.