"AUSTERE IN EXTREME"

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 63, 12 September 1945, Page 8

"AUSTERE IN EXTREME"

i VOYAGE TO PANAMA ! P.A. AUCKLAND, September 11. New Zealand wives of American servicemen who are going to the Panama Canal zone in a British ship- under ar, rangements made by the Government, have been aavised that they are to sail from Wellington in the Rangitiki on i September 21. Each wife has to find her own passage money, plus New Zealand travel tax of 5 per cent., the total amount being £63, and has to take £150 in American currency for transportation from Panama to* her destination. ' The following warning has been issued to the wives, by the shipping company: "It must be stressed that the conditions of passage will be austere in the extreme when judged by peacetime standards, and attention is directed to the following points: No particular type of sleeping accommodation can. be guaranteed. Accommodation may be of the kind used for troops. .Bathing and toilet facilities will be limited and not necessarily within easy access of the sleeping accommodation. Meals will be on an austere scale. Public rooms will be restricted.

"Passage must be accepted on the implicit understanding that no question of refunding passage money will subsequently be entertained. It must be understood passengers will be subjected to ship's discipline administered by the master and the officer commanding troops, if any."