LINGERING A WHILE

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12330, 28 December 1925, Page 7

LINGERING A WHILE

MAHENO’S STOKEHOLD CREW STEAMER WILL BE REPLACED BY OILBURNER t IMPORTANT DECISION (By Telegraph—Special to “Times.”) AUCKLAND, December 27. The departure of the Maheno for Sydney wds delayed 5} hours on Thursday afternoon, owing to a shortage of crew. The vessel was scheduled to sail ar one o’clock, and at tjiat hour cargo and mails had been loaded, and 270 passengers were on board. Howe /er, the steamer was prevented from sailing owing to a number of the stokehold hands being on shore. At 2.30 11 men ! were still missing, and some of these were afterwards picked up on the . wharves and brought to the ship in a motor-car by the police. In the meantime the passengers and a large number of spectators on the wharf were entertained by fights which took place among the intoxicated men on the foredeck of the Maheno. Three times the police went rn board, and separated the combatants. THE WRONG SHIP One amusing incident occurred when a man who bad been sleeping on the wharf nearby was led to the Mnheno’s gangway by a kindhearted bystander. The man went on board, but returned to the wharf a few minutes after, having found that be bad been taken to the wrong ship. After a considerable amount of tact and diplomacy on the part of the local secretary of the Seamen’s Union, the ship’s officers, the Union Company’s ' shore officials, and th*e wharf police, all but one of the stokers had been coaxed aboard the Maheno by 4.45. Another stoker was then signed on in place of the missing man, and +he vessel left Queen’s wharf at 5.15. She was hacking out into the stream when the missing stoker hoarded her from a launch, so she had an extra man on board at the finish. After leaving the wharf she anchored in the stream for an hour until she had sufficient steam in the boilers to take her to sea. She finally left for Sydney at 6.35 p.m. MARAMA TO REPLACE HER The behaviour of some of the stokers on the Maheno has been the cause of the vessel being delayed at different ports on a number of occasions lately, and in consequenoe the Union Company has decided to withdraw the vessel from the intercolonial service, and replace her with the Marama, which -has been converted into an oilburner for the purpose. From Sydney the Maheno goes to Wellington where she will he laid up, and her time-table will he taken up by the Marama, which will 1 run in the.AucSand-Sydney-Wellington service in conjunction with the Maunganui, also an oilburner. The service will then he improved considerably, as both the Marama and_ the Maunganul are ex-trans-Pacifio mail liners. As they do not carry stokers the delay through crew, trouble should he reduced considerably. The Marama is the seventh passenger steamer of the Union Company’s fleet to be converted'lnto an oilburner. "The others are Makura, Tahiti, Maunganul, l Maori, Wahine, and Mararoa. In addition, the Niagara and the Tamahine were built to burn: oil, and the Aorangi is a motor ship.