A—s

Since 1928 the vessel has been occupied in bringing to New Zealand fruit and other cargoes from Western Samoa, the Cook Islands, and Niue, and in return carrying to those islands supplies of all kinds. At one time she also formed an important link between Norfolk Island and the Dominion. Thousands of passengers have been carried over the years, comprising visitors to the islands, residents, and officials, and their families. An indication of cargoes usually carried to New Zealand by the vessel is given in the following details of voyages made during the year ended 31st March, 1950 : Number of voyages .. .. .. .. 9 Islands ports of call .. .. .. .. Rarotonga Mangaia Mauke }-Cook Islands. Aitutaki Atiu Niue Island. Apia, Western Samoa. Cargoes— Oranges and other citrus fruit (from the Cook Islands) .. 38,742 cases. Tomatoes (from the Cook Islands) .. .. .. 19,329 boxes. Bananas (from Western Samoa and Niue) .. .. 19,330 cases. Copra (from the Cook Islands and Niue) .. .. ' 847 tons. Pearl shell (from the Cook Islands) .. .. .. 121 tons. Pineapples (from the Cook Islands) .. .. .. 1,333 cases. Coconuts (from the Cook Islands) .. .. .. 617 bags. Basketware by mail (from Niue Island) .. .. 2,053 bags. Passengers from New Zealand numbered 185, and inward passengers (mostly from Earotonga) totalled 239. In addition, numbers of islanders were carried as deck passengers between the islands. Outward cargoes from New Zealand totalled 5,758 tons. Although in the past serious breakdowns have occurred in the vessel's engines and refrigerating machinery, she has run very well since 1942, when new engines were installed. Were it not for delays in New Zealand beyond her control, the vessel could increase the number of voyages made each year. During the period under review she spent an average of slightly more than eleven days in port between voyages, discharging about 720 tons of cargo and loading a like amount. Her comparatively small cargo capacity, combined with the long distances required to be covered each voyage, render the " Maui Pomare " unsuitable as an economic proposition. The distance from Auckland to Rarotonga is 1,660 miles, from Rarotonga to Niue 600 miles, and from Niue to Auckland 1,350 miles, so that on that particular run she travels 3,610 miles with about 1,400 tons of cargo and a maximum of 60 passengers. On her voyages to Rarotonga and other islands of the Lower Cook Group during the orange season the distances covered are about the same or greater in total. Excess of expenditure over revenue for the last three years has been as follows : 1947-48, £38,795 ; 1948-49, £52,764 ; and in 1949-50, £29,340. Detailed accounts are published as an Appendix of this report. The increase in expenditure is due in part to the cost of the annual overhaul, which is becoming more expensive as the vessel grows older. On the credit side, however, must be placed the valuable services being rendered by the " Maui Pomare " to the Cook Islands and Niue, whose 20,000 inhabitants are New Zealand's responsibility, and in the past to Western Samoa. The vessel is the sole regular link between the Cook Islands and New Zealand, and frequently calls at outer islands of the Group to uplift fruit cargoes which, although uneconomic from a freight earning point of view, provide the island growers with an important part of their cash income and thereby encourage them to develop their plantations. The vessel has also at times been diverted to take dangerously ill patients from outer islands to Rarotonga,

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