SHOTS NEAR YACHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 87, 14 April 1941, Page 4

SHOTS NEAR YACHT.

WHANGAPARAOA EPISODE.

DANGEROUS FIRING.

A complaint is made by a motor yacht that was cruising at Easter. As a strong sou'-west wind was blowing, when at Whangaparaoa on the way to Kawau, the boat pulled in for lunch at •. well-known anchorage between two reefs. There was already a launch anchored for the same purpose. After half an hour there was a burst of fire, presumably from a Lewis gun, aimed slightly ahead of the boat.

Realising that there must be some infringement of the regulations, 6teps were immediately taken to shift the launch. But despite this there were two further bursts of fire, and while on the bow four persons were engaged in pulling up the anchor another shot was fired that according to their opinion struck the water less than 30ft away. The earlier bursts had not been more than 50ft away.

The comment of the owner of the launch is that the number on his boat was perfectly clear, and if «omc infringement was unintentionally committed, one buret of their Lewis gun, which they were apparently so anxious to exercise, would have met the case. In his view a few amateur gunners should not be permitted to try out their shooting on a boat that they knew, or should have known, was perfectly inoffensive. Such a. procedure is an outrage, and requires attention from someone more responsible than the junior officers in charge at the fort.

If these experimenters in Lewis guns are to learn where a shot will land and the. effect of a ricochet on the water, it would be better, said the yacht owner, that they should be provided with suitable targets.