NEW GOVERNMENT STEAMER AT PORT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19270, 6 January 1931, Page 8

NEW GOVERNMENT STEAMER AT PORT.

MATAI TO VISIT SOUTH ISLAND LIGHTHOUSES.

The Government steamer Matai paid her first visit to Lyttelton this morning. She arrived at 6.50, and made her departure at 10 a.m. The vessel called at Godley Head Lighthouse, and from there proceeds to Akaroa Lighthouse and other southern lighthouses. Since her arrival in New Zealand in October the Matai has visited the northern lighthouses and the various lights in Cook Strait. She is a smartlooking steamer of 900 gross tons, is 228 ft in length, and has a beam of 35ft. The vessel was built by R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Co., Ltd., at their Hebburn-on-Tyne yards. An oil-burn-ing steamer designed for a speed of eleven and a , half knots, she was built to replace the Tutanekai. The Matai is fitted with special accommodation to carry Vice-Regal parties for journeys to outlying islands, or for use as a Vice-Regal yacht, but she will chiefly be used for periodic visits to the lighthouses round the New Zealand coast. The High Commissioner for New Zealand, Sir Thomas Wilford and Lady Wilford were present at the launching ceremony on June 12. The Matai’s propelling machinery consists of two sets of triple-expansion engines. The electrical installation consists of two steam generating sets, and an emergency generating set. with insulated stores on the lower deck. The vessel is also fitted with a directionfinder. On arrival at the Bluff, the GovernorGeneral, Lord Bledisloe, and Lady Bledisloe will be taken on board for a visit to the West Coast. Ciptain J. W. Burgess, late of the Tutanekai, is in command.