Mariposa and Monterey

as Troop Ships ?

IN mid-September the United States House of Representatives passed a bill to permit the Government to negotiate purchase of the Matson ships Monterey and Mariposa. It was stated, at the time, that the US Government would probably purchase them for troop carriers.

However, there have been so many rumours about these two ships since they were laid up in 1947 that this latest report will be treated with some reserve.

Mariposa and Monterey were well known trans-Pacific liners until the out break of the Pacific war. They were then used as troop transports until about 1946 when they were put into dock for recon version to luxury passenger liners. Work suddenly ceased on them in 1947, due, it was stated to the enormous costs in volved. They have been laid up in San Francisco ever since.

The ships and their future use have been the subject of innumerable confer ences between the company and the US Government and scarcely a month has passed when some rumour concerning their fate has not been circulating.

South Pacific residents have hoped that the ships—or one of them—would event ually come back to the San Francisco- Sydney service (they called also at Hono lulu, Pago Pago, Suva and Auckland) but this seems unlikely now.