GENEROUS SKIPPING COMPANY.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 March 1919, Page 3

GENEROUS SKIPPING COMPANY.

• j SYDNEY, March 7. Instances of an unfortunate crew being treated with generosity by the shipping companies concerned are not so common that the following incident is unworthy of mention:— i It wil bo remembered that 18 months ■ ago, the Burns-Philip steamer Matunga, cn route from Sydney to New Gui-

s ncd, disappeared. At first all hope for 1 the passengers and crew was given up, j but it was presently learned that the ship had been captured by the German | raider Wolf, and the people aboard were ' taken to Germany. The dependents of | the crew, most of whom were married ' men, were left in a most unenviable position. The company, however, j shouldered the burden, and allowances 1 were made to all dependents. These payments went on during all the tinm ' the men were prisoners, j With the signing of the armistice

' the Matunga contingent was released, J and 26 officers and members of the crew i arrived back in Sydney this week. The J Burns-Philip Company gave them ij j formal welcome home. In the course of the proceedings it was stated that the company had paid out no less than £II.OOO in wages and allowances since the Matunga was lost, The crew pe- [ ceived wages all the time front the disappearance of the Matunga to tho moment they landed in Sydney, Tho 26 men drew £8,900 the day after they arrived. In addition, the company sent £5,000 to the British Red Cross in London, to he expended on parcels for the men while they were prisoners, and at Christmas it presented each wife rated as a dependent with £lO and each child with £2. j The moil concerned are loud in their. expressions of gratitude to the company—a refreshing thing in a shipping world which at present is overshadowed with constant friction and fierce recriminations between shipping companies and their employers.