OCEAN TRAVEL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22197, 6 December 1946, Page 2

OCEAN TRAVEL

FEW BERTHS FOR PUBLIC POSITION IN BRITAIN ; LONDON, Nov. 5. !ln spite of the announcement by the Ministry' of Transport that passages in derequisitioned British liners on most of the principal routes are now to be booked through the shipping lines, there will not be any gain to the public in the immediate future, says the Daily Telegraph. Outstanding priority passages will still have to be cleared. Moreover, a return to normal conditions cannot be expected until the release and reconversion of passenger ships has proceeded much further. For those who have no claim to priority there cannot be for some time., “any substantial addition to the number of berths available,” said the announcement. The space freed on various routes from Government control is.:—United tralia and New Zealand, 85 per cent;; India, Middle East, 90 per cent; Spain, Portugal, Madeira, the Canaries and nils • Western Mediterranean, 95 per icent. ■The remaining passengers space is reserved mainly for Government-paid passengers. The new. arrangements do not affect routes to the Far East (including Malaya) and the West Indies. On these the Government still controls all the accommodation. A shipping authority described the change as “a mere drop in the ocean.” No return to pre-war conditions of travel could be expected before 1948. “Of the 90 liners under requisition by the Government,” he said, “only 20 have been handed back. Many months must elapse before they can. complete reconditioning. ‘ “As Mr. W. C. Warwick, chairman of Royal Mail Lines, remarked recently: ‘Not until toward the end of 1947 will shipping companies be able to work off the accumulated back-log of reservations that have been made.’ , “One wonders how we can cater adequately next year for tourist traffic.”