PROFESSOR SAYS NEW SHIP HAS MANY DEFECTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18545, 20 August 1928, Page 9

PROFESSOR SAYS NEW SHIP HAS MANY DEFECTS.

CARGO OF FRUIT LOST ON MAUI POMARE.

(Special to the “Star.”) AUCKLAND. August 20.

Professor Macmillan Brown, Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, who left the Dominion on the Maui Pomp re’s maiden voyage and returned by her from Niue yesterday, referred to the loss of the fruit cargo.

“I cannot say the Maui Pomare is a brilliant production for a vessel so recent!}* launched,” he said. Dealing with the unfortunate experience of the voyage just completed, he said that it was found that the temperature in the whole of the fruit department was rising, and that the brine pumps, used to maintain a fairly even temperature in the holds, were working. All sorts of measures were tried, but it soon became apparent that the whole of the banana cargo w T as rotting and would become an immovable mass before New Zealand was reached. The captain was therefore reluctantly compelled to tip nearly the whole of the banana consignment, of over 5000 cases, into the sea near Sunday Island. “The engine equipment of the Maui Pomare will have to be looked after more carefully,” said the professor. Too many defects for a new vessel had been revealed. Professor Brown recalled that the Maui Pomare had been delayed three days at Auckland at the commencement of the maiden voyage to the Islands owing to the dynamo that drove the steering gear having blown out. Winch trouble was experienced at Niue, causing a delay of hall a d?y, and the failure of the brine pumps completed the trinity of troubles. “The Maui Pomare should be overhauled every time she comes to New Zealand,” the professor declared, “otherwise it would seem she will be a failure all along the line. Professor Scott, who was formerly head of the Engineering School at Christchurch, told me he did not believe in the Diesel type of engine installed in the new motor-ship. It goes out of order too readily, and what it may save in petrol is spent in lubricating oil. Personally, I think the coming fuel for shipping and railway purposes is crushed coal, which can be blown into the fires. That process is in its experimental stage, but it is proving very successful and does not require so many firemen.”

Mr S. J. Smith, secretary to the Cook Islands Department, stated last evening, in reply to Professor Macmillan Brown’s comment, that it was not a fact that the ship’s engines were unsatisfactory. lie pointed-out that the Maui Pomare made an excellent passage to New Zealand from Southampton, maintaining her timetable throughout. Since her entry into the Island service the only delays in her arrival at her destinations had been of a few hours, due to the southerly weather on the southern trip to Lyttelton. On the voyage just completed she maintained a speed, of 11.5 knots between New Zealand and Niue. Professor Brown is not in a position to state the cause of the deterioration of the fruit cargo of the Maui Pomare, which it is believed is due to several contributory causes, which are being freely investigated. Mr Smith said: “The judgment of the New Zealand Government, in ordering the Diesel type of engine, has been fully endorsed by a recent report issued by Lloyds. This report clearly states that there has been a tremendous increase in -the building of this type of vessel in recent years.”

A preliminary inquiry into the causes of the loss of the fruit will be held to-day. .