GREAT NEW LINER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22353, 26 February 1936, Page 13

GREAT NEW LINER

WOBK ON QUEEN MARY KING'S VISIT MARCH 5 PUBLIC INTEREST IN SHIP By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright (Received February 25, 6.5 p.m.) British Wireless RUGBY, Feb. 24 The visit to be paid by King Edward to the new Cunard-White Star liner Queen Mary on March 5 will be the third he will have paid to the great ship. The announcement of his decision has given the utmost satisfaction on the Clydeside. Work on the vessel is proceeding rapidly. Her engines were kept running for several days last week. The ship's siren was blown for the first time yesterday and was heard over a great area, although the tone had been so adjusted _that actually little noise was heard on board. The work of decoration is now engaging numerous joiners, painters and decorators. They are embellishing the Queen Mary's two swimming pools, ballrooms, cinemas, tennis courts and squash racquet courts as well as the usual public rooms and the promenade, which covers more than 5000 square feet and will be used for various sports. Much of the work will be done before the King pays his visit, but final touches will be added just before the liner sails from Southampton on her maiden voyage in May. Tremendous interest is being aroused in the completion of the Queen Mary. The vessel's coat of black paint against the white upperworks seems to have magnified her immensity. Crowds of people yesterday swarmed on the opposite river bank to admire the wonder ship. ] Additional tests were carried out with the liner's four 35-ton propellers coupled, causing a spectacular churning of> the water in the dock. It is understood that special instruments recorded an almost entire absence of vibration. The Queen Mary on March 24 will bo manoeuvred down the ticklish narrow channel to the deeper water at Greenock, thence to Southampton to complete her fitting. A small army of Clyde workmen will accompany her there to carry out the work.