SEA TRAVEL

Evening Star, Issue 25776, 26 April 1946, Page 6

SEA TRAVEL

HIGHER FARES LIKELY SHIPPING OFFICIALS' VIEW The opinion of Captain W. H. Hartman, commander of the liner. Akaroa, in an interview .published on Monday, that post-war shipping.fares would be higher than many people imagined, is supported by the views of Auckland shipping officials, states the ' Herald.' Until liners are freed from the Ministry of War Transport Control the fares on the main overseas routes affected will remain fixed by the Ministry, on a substantially higher level than pre-war rates. When the vessels are released a conference of passenger lines will meet in London and a schedule of fares will be prepared. Very little hope is held of a return to pre-war figures. At present tourist passages from New Zealand to England cost from about £74 in six and. eight-berth cabins to £l2O in a single-berth cabin on A deck. Ail figures for fares are in sterling. Before the war tourist accommodation averaged from £45 to £74. . Cabin accommodation now costs from £lOl in limited passenger-cargo ships to £l3O in liners, compared with a range of charges before the war from £74 to £94. A first class passage now costs from £l4B sterling. The cheapest method of pre-war travel, third class, cost from £4l to £47. High as the existing charges are, they are still on a very competitive basis with the alternative, air travel. About £360 sterling is the cost of a flight from the Dominion to Britain.

The Tasman crossing to Sydney can be made at an average cost of about £l7 10s (N.Z.), an increase of more than £3 on the pre-war figure. Similar increases are to be found in other shortdistance voyages. The Matson Line, which is likely to be the first company to resume a regular service to North America,' has not yet announced its post-war fare schedules, but it is improbable that they will remain on pre-war levels.