OPPOSITE VIEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26693, 12 February 1948, Page 6

OPPOSITE VIEWS

CRITICISM ENDORSED The remarks of Dr Bernardelli about conditions in the Rangitata were unreservedly endorsed by the Rev. Henry Thornton, M.A., and Miss Betty Giles, M.A., both of whom travelled in the ship and arrived in Dunedin yesterday to take up appointments on the staff of the University of Otago. Mr Thornton told a reporter that there was not a single quiet place in the ship where one could read or write. He said he had to read and study a large volume during the voyage and he had done so with great difficulty. There was only one lounge in the ship and this was reserved for the women. Miss Giles said that there was a marked lack of organisation among the passengers. A committee had been appointed but few of the passengers had co-operated with it. The women, she said, had experienced fewer difficulties than the men. There was a lack of information throughout the voyage. The few sports were poorly organised and one had to queue for everything. More time was spent in getting one’s name on the slate for the various games than was required to take part in the game itself. Miss Giles emphasised that none of her criticism was levelled against the immigrants. They were not the selfish individuals who caused so much of the general inconvenience. She also deplored the superior attitude that some of the passengers adopted to the immigrants. Miss Giles mentioned that the husbands and wives among the passengers had been segregated during the voyage, the husbands’ quarters being below decks and the wives with the other women higher up. This was probably unavoidable but it was not conducive to harmony in the ship.

The principal complaint made by Miss Giles was about the absence of assistance given the passengers in the handling of their luggage when the ship arrived at Wellington. The only luggage she brought to Dunedin, Miss Giles added, was what she had personally dragged unassisted from the ship. For the women to obtain possession of any part of their luggage meant sheer physical effort.