The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-10-30
GOVERNMENT WILL.
TAKE THREE MATSON.
VESSELS IN MONTH
Maui Matsonia and WiIheImina
To Be Communicated and
May Go To Atlantic
PRESIDENT AND GOVERNOR
WILL ENTER HAWAII SERVICE
J. A. Kennedy Believes Islands
viii Be Given At Least
Two FreighterS

With the next sailing Of the Matson
flagship Maui, she probably will leave
the Islands for the last time on SEIZED.
ule run until after the war ends for
word was received from the mainland
yesterday afternoon that she would be
requisitioned by the United States gov.
eminent November II. -
The Matsonia, next in size of the
Matson fleet, will he taken over No
vember 20, and the WilheImina will 90
into federal service December 2,eac.
cording to the information received
yesterday.
The announcement If the rcquisition.
ing date Of the Matson vessels comes
as no surprise to IIonolulans for. fol.
lowing the announcement a short time
ago Of the government : intention to
commander all vessels Of $500 tons
lightweight and over, it was generally
understood that these ships would be
removed from the Island trade about
the last Of November.
II was announced In San Francisco
two weeks ago that the MatsOn ships
would be converted into feet scouts,
destroyer tenders and repair ships for
service in the war zones.
Passenger Ships Coming
The. message added that the Matson
liners would be replaced by the steam
ers Governor and President of the Pa.
cific Steamship Company. They were
built primarily for coastal service and,
although they have far greater passen.
ger accommodations than any Of the
Matson liners, they have little deck
space. Built for coast service where
the climate is more severe than that of
Hawaii, deck space was not considered
essential by the designers. =.
These vessels, luxurious in appoint
ments, have been in the passenger serv.
ice between Seattle, Portland and San
Francisco for some years, although the
home port of the Pacific Steamship Com.
pany is in New York.
There is only one drawback to the
Governor and the President, and that
is their limited cargo capacity. SO far
as passenger service is concerned, Ha.
waii has been fortunate in having them
assigned TO this run by the federal
shipping board. However, it is be
heved additional freight boats will be
put in the Hawaii Coast service and
that the communicating of the Matson
liners will work no hardship upon Is
ing better passenger and freight
service.
Coming as the announcement does
upon the heels of the message from San
Francisco stating that the Colombia
and Ecuador of the Pacific Mail line
have been granted permits to operate
under the suspension of the cOastwise
law and carry cargo and passengers to
a., L.,
belief that the federal shipping board
had the best interests of Hawaii at
heart and intended to supply adequate
transportation facilities at all times.
Will Get Freighters ..
When informed yesterday afternoon
that the government had announced
the date for communicating the Mat
| son vessels, }. A. Kennedy, president
of the Inter Island and local represen-
tative of the shipping board, said that
in addition to the passenger ships of
the Pacific Steamship Company which
would be transferred to this run, it
is quite probable that number of
freight carriers will be put in the Is
land service to handle the cargoes be
tween San Francisco and Honolulu.
Kennedy Reticent About Plans
Mr.. Kennedy said he had known for
some time that the shipping board con
tcmplated putting two vessels from an
other line on the Island run, but
whether more passenger ships will be
transferred to this trade than the two
designated he would not say He be
lieves Hawaii will be given one or two
freight carriers. He would say no
more of the plans of the federal board,
stating that he was not in position
to disclose them at this time.