LUXURY LINER MALOLO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21198, 2 December 1930, Page 10

LUXURY LINER MALOLO.

GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS. “UNNECESSARY STRINGENCY.” AMERICAN TOURISTS ANNOYED. ' lSpecial to Daily Times.) m. , r , AUCKLAND, December 1. The Matson Jmer Malolo, which is iar IS A ne 111 tbe Hacific with a party of 180 American tourists, arrived this mornnumber i We ington ' and tbe greater ”oto for Koto“““ se ” U “ *"» >“>“■ A ( considerable feeling exists on board fnb lu + l ury Bn, ? r ” at what is considered P® ? e ra the unnecesary stringency of the S 1”, 3 , health regulations in Austiaha and New Zetaland. Both ofiicers aiM passengers speak in strong terms of y i a ” no^? ncea and discourtesies" Hia° UD^er - ed in l le Commonwealth, and A.?.fr P i; nion - I s f l! eely expressed that if Australia wishes to encourage her tourist S he ft going the right way occupied in berthing ,v ner at . Wellington is criticised. _ " e arrived at Wellington at 2.45 P-m. on Friday,’ declared an officer, “ and the passengers were all dressed ready bprfb ifnf-*? I ’?' Yet we were unable to 5 P- m -> and during the interring 2J hours all the passengers could do was to walk impatiently up and down ~ i k 8 wat <: b ing the daylight hours grow less. That sort of thing may be boatf^L 111 - the - case of , the üßu al mail boats and immigrant ships, but it is totaliy uncalled for in the case of a cruise ship whese passengers are going to be in the country only for five days.” 2 Australia, the ofiicers declare, this kind of annoyance is twice as bad. “At Singapore we took on board an agent of the Australian Government,’ said one of j He spent his time on the voyage to Sydney very usefully issuing pr °^ a P nd a and information about Austrahae attractions, but the whole of his work was ruined by the pig-headedness of ti e B / %? ltb regulations, for to .Thursday Island, where X 6t pped ' , a Pilot who was to take us on to Sydney, what was mv astonishment when a dpetor came on te d , and ,A mallded i hat all the Passengers should be paraded on deck at 6 o clock m the morning to show their By the time he had finished with us, and we were permitted to proceed, three hours had been wasted.” fne oincer was reminded that the American port regulations were genei i COns « d T ol i ed to be the strictest in the !\°M d - 1 haow that,” he replied. “ I P°, r t, authorities are a pretty bfJ d t bOl - e * l°t> hut then we are not seekin D tourists. You Australians and New f r ea l anderß are poking for the tourist waihe. You send Government agents to my country and spend a lot of money in advertising your attractions. Yet you w-ill not follow it up at home. The health * B ur Passengers is. assured from the start. iney are not overcrowded, there is a tremendous amount of space per person, they ha v© good healthy food, and en iploy two qualified doctors to look alter them. They are not going to stay in your country, but merely have a look at it and go away. Then why not make special provision to relax the regulations ,Sii 61r caSO k 6U PP a3e ou r passengers will spend £IO,OOO in New Zealand in the five days we arc here. Yet what do vou do? Compel them to put all their dutiable belongings under lock and seal in a room on the ship until we sail. As if any of them, dreamed of leaving any of their belongings on shore. Even the sealing of the ship’s bar is unnecesary tor all the duty you reap from it. If you want to know how to treat your tourists .1 would commend you to the officials in Europe and the Orient.' My word, Japan is the place for courtesy on the part of the Government servants, and that is the country our passengers enjoy travelling through most of all.’ 7 The officers have less to complain about xsew than Australia, which they consider to be overrun by “red tape offiJ l3 They are particularly grateful to the New Zealand • Government for granting the ship free clearance at Auckiand, enabling her to come straight to the wharf without medical or Customs exa?liia^on ', “ They would never dream ot doing that in Australia,” said one officer, “ There you get medical and Customs examination in every port you <*o into.” °

UNFAIR COMPETITION AIJ.ET.Fn

PROTEST BY SEAMEN’S UNION,

(Peb United Press association.* , r WELLINGTON, December 1. Mr F. P, Walsh, president of the Seamens Union, in an interview, states that to the seafaring section of the community is a serious aspect of the visit of the luxury liner Malolo, as the vessel entered into the intercolonial trade bv carrying over 1000 bags of mail from feydney, besides bringing passengers from oydney to their ports of destination— Wellington and Auckland—thus competing with the New Zealand and Australian shipping companies. Like, all other American' shipping, she carries a heavy Government subsidy, but, in spite of the subsidies, the wages paid and the conditions of employment imposed on the SV boa / d .. A T™ ships nre far below the standard that would have to be complied with were the vessels under the marine laws of New Zealand and Austraha Owing to lack of. trade, brought about by the unfair competition of highlysubsidised, cheap-labour foreign shipping companies, there are at the present time a large number of boats laid up in all the mam ports of New Zealand. As the Matson Company proposes to build two further passenger boats of the Malolo type to enter the transpacific trade, they will probably make Auckland a port of call on the voyages to and from Sydney If they book passengers from Sydney to Wellington or Auckland and carry mails” their unfair competition will increase tTie unemployed here and in Australia. In view of American, vessels being protected on their own seaboard against competition from outside shipping companies, the companies employing New Zealand and Australian seamen, and complying with the and conditions of employment, shoiud be protected against the “unfair competition of highly-subsidised, cheaplabour Yankee ships.”