No Relief For Cook Is.

Shipping Problems

mHERE is still no successor in sight for X the “Maui Pomare.”

Owned and operated by the New Zea land Government, she is generally con ceded to have outlived her usefulness.

“Too little and too late,” —the phrase used of some of the British efforts in the early stages of World Wars I and II —applies in much the same way to “Maui Pomare.”

She is too old and too slow to be a suit able link between New Zealand and the Cook Islands.

The “Maui Pomare” proved invaluable during the war years when the “Matua ” commissioned in 1936 for the Cook Islands trade, was diverted to the Auckland-Suva- Apia-Tonga trade, and no other ship was available for the Cook Islands. But a ship is now required which would be faster and more modern, with greater carrying capacity and ability to maintain a more frequent service.

The Cook Island trade is complicated by its seasonal nature. During the orange season, large quantities of fruit are available for shipment, but for the remainder df the year payable cargoes of other fruit and produce are not offer ing.

“Maui Pomare” was able to cope with all citrus fruit available for shipment in 1946—a hurricane year—but in a normal year she cannot lift the tropical fruit which finds a ready market in New Zea land.

All efforts to buy a suitable ship to replace the “Maui Pomare” have, how ever, been in vain.

Mr. and Mrs. R. Neville, of Nauru, were in New Zealand on leave with their children in September.