EMPTY BERTHS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22374, 5 July 1947, Page 5

EMPTY BERTHS

LINER LARGS BAY TASMAN CROSSING SHORT NOTICE GIVEN (9 a.m.) SYDNEY, July 5. Although there is at present no regular sea passenger service across the Tasman and over 1000 people from all States are awaiting a ship passage to New Zealand, the liner Largs Bay is en route from Sydney to Wellington with 40 empty berths. When they realised that there would be many vacancies the booking agents sent notices to all States. The notice was apparently too short for many people, for only 200 berths were accepted. The Largs Bay, which has accommodation for about 480 passengers, left here with 440. The agents point out that though most of the accommodation is of wartime standard, the trip is only a short one and the conditions should have been acceptable to anyone coming within the category of the stranded traveller. They state that many people coming to Australia from New Zealand for a short while put down their names for a return passage directly on arrival, and are annoyed when such a passage is not available at their convenience. Though the waiting lists are long, this is not the first time that the agents have had trouble in filling the berths of a ship which has become available for the Tasman crossing.