HIGH PRAISE GIVEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26772, 15 May 1948, Page 3

HIGH PRAISE GIVEN

CONDITIONS ON MARINE PHOENIX COMFORTABLE AND CLEAN Derogatory statements about conditions on board the Matson Line steamer Marine Phoenix are contradicted by a passenger who> travelled in the ship during her last voyage. In a letter to the Daily Times, dated April 28 and written “ at sea,” this passenger, a retired Salvation Army officer, says that after a week on board the ship he had found her to be a fine steamer. The Marine Phoenix, which was a troopship during the war, has been operating a service between San Francisco, Auckland and Sydney. The writer recalls that shortly after he had bought his ticket ugly rumours about the vessel began to circulate. She was a “filthy liner” and the food was so poor, it was alleged, that some 200 people had been, seriously affected. He decided to take no notice of these rumours and was glad of this decision later. “ In the larger men’s dormitories, on ‘ B ’ deck,” he wrote, “ berths numbering up to 80 in one and 40 in the other, are, of course, reminiscent of war days’ transport and many would designate them in the ‘ rough and ready ’ scale. However, as an occupant, I can say they are comfortable and scrupulously clean, bed linen is changed at regular short intervals, towels, ’of which there are two to each passenger, are changed every two days, the floors are swept twice each day and mopped once a day. The food is excellent and the appointments are all that an ordinary person could ‘desire.”