OUR 'FRISCO MAIL CLIPPERS.

NZ Truth, Issue 79, 22 December 1906, Page 4

OUR 'FRISCO MAIL CLIPPERS.

The Ventura could not leave Auckland on Monday owing to a bust up among her tin ifiachinery. Never a one of these wretched, scamped cripples—Ventura, Sonoma or Sierra— but does have anything from one to three break-downs per trip. John D. Spreckels, who owns them, or at kast 90 per cent, of the "company's" shares, is a "fly flat", who thought it was clever to squeeze a lower tender out of Cramps, of Philadelphia, than that put m by * the big Union Iron Works of his native San .Francisco. Cheap and, nasty ihe sister ships. have "roved and John D. hiust have often bitterly cursed Cramps. The expense of bringing the ships round the Horn alone almost' made up the difference m price. The Sonoma (if not the other two) broke down badly on that her maiden trip and repairs to her made the three cost more right away than the Union -tender. They were built by Cramps and from cramps they have suffered ever since. Something is always going wrong with the works and some day, it is much to Lo feared, it will be something that will entail awful suffering if not a hideous tragedy. A big steamer, helpless on one of those vast expanses of ocean, between Auckland and Samoa or the latter place and. Honolulu, might drift for years and never lw sighted, or, if o breakdown occurred 'while threading one of the groups, shipwireck on the grinning coral reefs would assuredly follow. It required only two voyages to convince all concerned that the raking funnels would require raising if passengers were not to be fprced into avoiding the line wherever ; for no sooner had the decks l>een swept and shushed o' mornings than down came th? rain of cinders and scot afain until walking was a misery and every soul aboard looked like stokers inside an hour. Dresses and clothint* were ruined by the. grimy frit find it even got into the food and the berths, through ventilators and ports. In the blazing tropics it was impossible -to wear suitable liv't clothr* «*.,■:■ d ••Lp r *fiyj§_:.;Jl_e./'-* , l*

alone was emough to prevent people from using the Oceanic line. Many of the berths were traversed by the pipes of the steam steering gear and these not only made the heat unendurable m the tropics and drove their occupants to sleep 0 n deck among the cinders, but by their intense heat they burnt up boots or anything else that happened to roll against them when they ran under the berth. The smoke-stacks were raised 8 feet but the ashes nuisance was little abated. Whether the steam pipes have been removed is doubtful ; but there is no doubt but that the machinery of these vessels has been m the hands of repairers one third of -its life. New Zealand pays handsomely for a properly conducted mail service via San Francisco, bui. there oan be no denying that the vessels that carry it on have proved inefficient and flrequently failed to run on time, to the immense loss of our mercantile interests and the annoyance and inconvenience of all using the service.