Suva's Urgent Need

From Our Own Correspondent

Suva, Apr. 2.

OUVA’S urgent need of more wharf accommodation is being emphasised more and more as the weeks go by.

Last month three overseas boats oc cupied all the available space, with the result that one ship had to spend a day in the stream waiting for a berth. The Samoan and Rabaul, neither of them really big vessels, and the Mariposa left no room for another ship of any size at the wharf. The N.Z. Shipping Go’s Opawa from London, with a large quantity of cargo to discharge, arrived the same morning and had to lie out in the stream until the Mariposa cleared in the even ing.

With ships so much dependent on the weather, so far as loading and discharg ing are concerned, it seems a hardship that they should have to waste valuable time because there is no accommodation.

During February the cruise yacht Stella Polaris , a Matson liner, the Shell Oil Go’s Pinna, and the M.V. Matua ar rived on the same day. The Pinna had to lie out in the stream until there was a berth available. When Mr. J. P. Mor gan’s yacht Corsair sent a message that she was coming in to Suva for oil fuel, her agents had to wireless her to keep away for a couple of days until the oiling berth was available.

That the shipping of the port of Suva is growing is demonstrated by the fact that 12 overseas vessels, six of them over 13,000 tons, are expected to arrive in April. Their total gross tonnage is 150,270. Fortunately, they are fairly well spread out through the month.

Mr. J. S. Proud, consulting engineer to Mandated Alluvials N.L., Papua, who was one of the two survivors of the Stinson air tragedy in Queensland in February, will leave the hospital at the end of April after recovering from a frac tured leg and the effects of nine days’ privations.