LIFEBOAT'S ENGINE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30366, 15 February 1964, Page 15

LIFEBOAT'S ENGINE

Replacement “Urgent” A slight delay in the launching of the Sumner lifeboat, Rescue 11, after it- had been called to assist yesterday in the rescue of four men. was caused by difficulty in getting the 34-year-old engine to start. The Sumner Lifeboat Institution had applied for a grant of £B5O from the Golden Kiwi lottery profits to buy a new engine, ■ had had been refused by the then Minister of Internal Affairs (Sir Leon Gertz), the institution’s secretary (Mr W. J. Baguley) said last evening. “The institution was formed in 1898, and has now assisted more than 800 persons at sea. Rescue II was purchased in 1930, and more than 500 persons in' peril have been assisted by her to date. “Production of the Parsons marine' petrol engine stopped in 1935, and we are unable to get any spares. We are trying to raise money for a new lifeboat, but in the meantime we most urgently require a new engine,” Mr Baguley said. He said that the institution had been informed by the lottery authorities that it must raise two-thirds of the money required for a new engine. “They apparently place us in the category of a sports club, or a swimming pool committee. We are not in this for sport—it is a matter of life and death. The members are pretty bitter about the refusal. “We are volunteers absolutely—we even have to pay for the petrol to run the boat. We have no means of charging, and think it. would be distasteful and entirely wrong to do so. We are all volunteers, and give up our time to drill, training, and rescues, as well as maintaining the boat, shed, slip, and gear.

“It is the only lifeboat in the Southern Hemisphere, and it urgently needs a new engine,” Mr Baguley said.