NEW STEAMERS FOR THE UNION COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 66

NEW STEAMERS FOR THE UNION COMPANY.

The Union Company .has just purchased another steamer of the well-known "X" class,' the vessel being practically the facsimile of th© steamer Kai^poi, low lying at Dunedin. > Following its well-estab-lished oustom in the naming of" the vessels comprising 1 this class, the new vessel *ill b© called Kaitangata, after the" well-known lake of that name. According to one ■ authority Kaitangata fwas a mythical ;>erjsorrage, a son of the Maori god-Rehua; a literal , translation of the word being" equivalent to "powerful man's 'food.' Maori names, however,* have' an/* wkwawl f habit of ,' assuming secondary neaninga . under, varying circumstances, consequently the . fact -that . the - 16 to 'be called Ksitangata will be quit© sufficient *or ' most people. - - •.-.., "Makuta," is the.Maore -tame toioo toe company has bestowed upon the large new steamer now "being built on the Clyde. In its full sense the word appears to be; the Maori equivalent for "All Red — a name whioh is singularly appropriate at the present juncture, oarxyine _ with it at suggestion of loyalty and 'kinship between the" United Kingdom and the oversea colonies. ' The prefix " ma," apparently, ' denotes "plenty," or abundance, -wmlsfc the suffix "kura" 1 denotes "r6d." The new vessel, which \b to be about 450 ft in length ' will Tepresent the tergesi; vessel in the Red' Funnel fleet, and will aoubtlesa be engaged eventually in' the Vancouver servioe, in which event she will be afforded! an approprvate 'setting tor the euphonious title which has been bestowed upon her.