OIL IN HARBOUR

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27988, 7 June 1956, Page 14

OIL IN HARBOUR

SHIP’S MASTER FINED £5O

“The Harbour Board seems to be taking a more serious view of these offences, in that the charges are being laid under the Oil in Territorial Waters Act, instead of under the bylaws,” said Mr Rex C. Abernethy, S.M.. when F. Barton, master of the overseas motflr-ship Port Dunedin was charged in the Lyttelton Magistrate’s Court yesterday with permitting oil to escape into the harbour. The defendant. who was represented by Mr R. W. Edgley, pleaded guilty, and was fined £5O.

Mr C. G. Penlington, who appeared for the board, said that on May 14 a large quantity of oil escaped from the Port Dunedin, because of the faulty ijianipulation of a valve used on a separator. Most of these offences were caused when bilge water and oil were being passed through the separator. The oil on the surface of the harbour was sprayed with detergent, causing it to sink to the bottom.

The Magistrate: That cannot do the marine life in the harbour any good. The cost of disposing of the oil, £42 2s, had been paid by the defendant, said Mr Penlington. 7

Over the years these escapes of oil must have done much harm to marine life, said the Magistrate. The maximum penalty was £5OO. If the present fines did not deter masters, then the fines would have to be increased.'