SEA TRAVEL

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 148, 20 December 1945, Page 9

SEA TRAVEL

STRANDED PEOPLE

SHORTAGE OF TRANSPORT

Up to 1300 New Zealanders are trying to g-et back to this country from "Australia; about 700 are wailing to leave New Zealand for England; uncaleulated numbers are desperately endeavouring to leave England to come to New Zealand. Right throughout the world the problem is the same—how to find sufficient sea transport to move these people in addition to troops and vital war and food supplies. Except in a very few instances the troops and the food take priority and the would-be passengers must wait.

Despite all efforts to find a solution to the problem, the shortage of shipping -still remains acute, and the bars to normal civilian travelling are at present such that it will probably be years [before arrangements to cross from country to country can be made by just over the cash. Indeed, in borne quarters it is estimated that some [people who are now in Britain clamj curing for passages to New Zealand | will have to wait three to five years •before obtaining them, if they cannot '.prove a priority claim. . ' As far as New Zealanders trying to •leave the country are concerned the iposition today is that they must first frof all obtain an exit permit, or a letter from the Under-Secretary of Interna lAffairs to the effect that an exit permit 'will be issued when transport is available. An income tax clearance must 'also be-obtained. The application for la. passage, whether it is lodged direct twith a shipping company or with the rnaval authorities, is submitted to the, fcnaval authorities and recorded for Apriority with them. CANNOT CHOOSE LINE. As vessels become available, passages are allotted in accordance with these priorities by the Naval authorities, the shipping companies being merely advised which passengers their vessels are to take. Passengers, in effect, cannot select the line by which they are to travel, and m many cases have to go abroad on troopships in such accommodation as can be found for them. The majority of passenger vessels which were, before the war, engaged in the services between New Zealand . and the United Kingdom have been taken over for use as troop transports fand, as such, are entirely controlled by tthe Director of Sea Transport, London, 'the remaining passenger and cargo i vessels— including those carrying _ a number of passengers—being controlled under the liner requisition [scheme. As a consequence, passages in them are entirely a matter for the (British Ministry of War Transport, Ucting through the Director of Sea 'Transport, London. The latter arranges for the transport of all personnel, including troops and civilian passengers, on a priority basis. Ships running under the liner requisition scheme are directed to wherever priority loadings of cargo ■are required, or to ports for which important cargoes are destined, and must 'nowadays, perforce, be placed on runs [on which they will be used to the 'greatest advantage. Once these trips lare decided the personnel applying for [transport to those ports are allotted their berths, if available. UNEXPECTED ARRIVALS. The majority of civilians leaving New Zealand for England today travel troopship. At what rate the 700 passenger? listed who wish to proceed during the next five or six months to England will be dispatched cannot be estimated. Ships frequently arrive unexpectedly, and when this occurs it means that a few more can be taken away. Judging from the number of ;large troopships coming to New Zealand within the next few months, more than had been anticipated of those who have been granted leave to *go to England should get away without undue delay. Australia, however, is in an even worse situation than New Zealand, and a fair amount of the available berths are being kept for travellers from that country on the return voyages. The accommodation provided for civilians on troop transports is that normally Used for officers, and although naturally- austere when judged by peacetime standards, the conditions are not unduly uncomfortable. Some of the amenities are of a restricted nature, single-berth cabins are a thing of the past, and passengers must of necessity conform to ship's discipline, but nevertheless the discomforts of present-day ocean travel have sometimes been too heavily emphasised^

With all the difficulties encountered, it is small wonder that the permits to travel are restricted to a very narrow range of cases. After all, it would be foolish to permit people to go overseas - and become stranded there, as many are. already stranded. ' As yet, there is no indication as to when the position will become easier. COMPLICATIONS FOR BRITAIN. It must be remembered that some New Zealanders have been up to three years in England trying to get home, and that any person who goes there without very good reason makes the situation worse for those who have been waiting so long. That is an aspect quite apart from the needless complications caused by any influx of temporary population into hungry, rationed Britain. The voyage out from Home is long— British ships are now avoiding the Panama short cut in order to conserve dollar exchange—and whether or not that route will shortly be resumed as a result of the recent United StatesBritish monetary agreement has not yet been disclosed. Whatever the decision, it is clear that for a long time ahead the shipping position is likely ;to be more than difficult and real necessity will be the only qualification for overseas travel.