WONDER SHIP.

Manawatu Standard, 1 October 1935, Page 8

WONDER SHIP.

LINER QUEEN MARY. A description of a tour of the Queen Mary, the Cunard-White Star 80,000ton liner, is given by a Glasgow correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. He says:— I have just walked five miles through the interior of the liner with which it is hoped to regain for Britain the Atlantic speed record now held by the French liner Normandie. The interior decoration and furnishing have begun. Her hull and upper decks are almost complete. Britain’s wonder ship, launched nearly a year ago, is entering on the final phase of her preparation for the trials that will take place next May off the Isle of Arran. In the tourist section workmen were installing mahogany beds and wardrobes. The majority of the rooms are already fitted with plumbing. Every room in the ship, third class included, is to have running hot and cold water. Fifty miles of piping have been laid. MODEL IN DINING ROOM. The first-class dining room is still in an embryonic stage, but already one gets an impression of its great size. The whole of its forward wall will be occupied by a painting of the North Atlantic executed by Mr Macdonald Gill. Across this will move a model of the Queen Mary showing diners the ship's exact position. In the evening tiny lights will twinkle on the model. The tourist swimming pool is far advanced, its pillars and decorations being of brilliant blue stone. The firstclass pool is still obstructed by woodwork. Behind this can be seen pillars of neutral-coloured tiling relieved by touches of green. In the first-class cabins the baths have been installed. Taps give the bather the choice of either fresh or salt water, hot or cold. FIRE DETECTION MARVELS. The ship’s 12 decks, 20 acres in extent, are complete. In the two acres of kitchen everything is run by electricity—except some of the grills. These are of charcoal in order to please gourmets. The elaborate fire-fighting contrivances are so finely adjusted that if a cigarette should be lighted in the ship’s garage it would be shown at once on the bridge by a smoke-detec-One of the third-class cabins which I saw would have been deemed luxurious as tourist accommodation a year or so ago. It had a large basin with hot and cold running water and comfortable beds. Heating and ventilation arrangements were of the' best and latest type. The ship will probably carry about 2200 passengers of all classes and a crew of 1200. The great majority of rooms are for single accommodation. A feature of the first class is a soundproof studio for the use of painters and musicians, and it will also have a cinema and ballroom, ice-cream soda fountain, flower and other shops, children’s playroom, Turkish, electric lay and curative bathe. PROVISION FOR SPORTS. The main lounge is 96 feet long and 70 feet wide. It is three decks high. It has a stage and proscenium, the latter 26 feet wide and 22 feet high, surmounted by a bas relief decorative scheme. There are 500 square feet of games space on the sports deck. The “verandah grill” on the sun deck will have 1000 square feet of mural paintings and a dance floor. I was told that, elaborate and beautiful though the interior decoration will be, it lias been kept strictly subordinate to tho ship’s original design. The Queen Mary is first a ship and second an hotel —not the other wav round. Good profits are anticipated from the Queen Mary, and there is no intention of laying her up during the winter months. She will be kept on the Atlantic run winter and summer.