MATUA LAUNCHED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22401, 23 April 1936, Page 8

MATUA LAUNCHED

ISLANDS TRADE FEATURES IN DESIGN PASSENGER ACCOMMODATION [from our owx correspondent] By Air Mail LONDON. April 4 At their Hobburn Shipbuilding Yard, on March 25, Messrs. R. and JW. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, launched the twin screw Diesel passenger and cargo vessel Matua, building to the order of the Union Steam Ship Company, for trading between New Zealand and the Islands. The christening ceremony was performed by Mrs. C. J. Cowan, wife of the chairman of the London Board of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand. Details are:—Length- overall, 370 ft 6in; length and •perpendiculars, 351 ft; breadth (moulded),, 50ft Sin; depth (moulded), 26ft 6in to upper deck; tonnage about 4180 grossspeed, 16£ knots. The Matua is being built to Lloyd's 100 A 1 class and is constructed pith raked stem, cruiser stern, two masts and one funnel. There are four decks, including promenade and boat decks. The vessel is subdivided into a series of watertight compartments up to the upper deck by eight transverse watertight bulkheads. A continuous double bottom is arranged from the collision bulkhead to aft end of shaft tunnels, and is divided transversely and longitudinally into a large number of tanks for fresh water, piston cooling water, water ballast and oil fuel. Large and Airy Cabins Accommodation is provided for 39 first-class passengers in 25 one, two or three berth cabins on the promenade and upper decks. Great care has been given to the design and furnishing of these cabins to make them suitable for the special service in which the vessel will be engaged. They are large and airy and equipped with cot beds, hot and cold water, large wardrobes, electric heaters and all details to give the greatest possible comfort. The public rooms are of large size for the number of passengers carried and consist of dining saloon and lounge on the promenade deck and smoke room on the boat deck aft, and are decorated and furnished in a most up-to-date style. The captain's and officers' cabins are at the forward end of the boat deck and the engineers are accommodated on the upper deck, adjacent to the engine room. The Carriage of Fruit The Matua is specially arranged for the carriage of fruit, four 'tween deck compartments and three holds being insulated and fitted with the latest system of air coolers, fans and air circulating trunks Separate refrigerating machinery is fitted for the cargo and domestic refrigerated compartments. Two holds are arranged for general cargo. Mr. «T. T Batey. managing director of Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, sneaking after the launching, said "that the Union Steam Ship Company was being subjected to most unfair competition from a reputedlv friendly power which had granted large subsidies, amounting to aporoximatelv £500.000 a year, to competing ships. How could a privately-owned comnany connate with such conditions? There could only he one result, and that was that British ships would not be emploved in the Pacific and the all-red British line rormd the world would cease to exist. He trusted that the Government would give careful consideration to such a vital matter.