Auckland board seeks curb on nuclear ships

Press, 17 January 1979, Page 2

Auckland board seeks curb on nuclear ships

PA ’'f'J’lF'- Aucklandjs iv The Auckland Harbour I Board will tell the Govern-:/ ment it will not continue to|t allow the port and its users s to suffer from visits by nu-'t clear warships. (c The Government will be] told of a review to be made If soon restricting the availa-(v bility of commercial ber- t thing for nuclear-powered I r warships. This was decided (v at a special meeting of the it board yesterday. t The authorities might (t berth the United States nu-|r c 1 e a r-powered submarine c Haddo earlier in an effort tola thwart the protest fleet, says; the Peace Squadron spokes-Is man, Dr G. Armston Arm-lv strong. 17 The Haddo is officially (a due to berth at Jellicoelr ; Wharf at 12.30 p.m. on Fri-I I day. It ! His suggestion was based It ion information “inadvert-it (ently leaked” to the squad-lf iron by naval staff, together I (with a hint that the escort f (frigate Waikato would leave !today instead of Friday to! (rendezvous with the Haddo,(t Dr Armstrong said. (( I Because of the tides it 11 would be physically possible It to bring the submarine inis early on Friday morning so|s long as it did not break v Atomic Energy Commission r regulations by entering bar- 1 bour limits before sunrise, s But it is a deep-draught sub- r marine which would be betiter berthed near high water, v which is at 12.34 p.m. on t Friday. j The Navy has said it will|t berth the submarine “at 1 12.30,” and that to sneak the'e

submarine in just after dawn, would not be “Navy style.” ( Instructions from the Auckland Harbourmaster for the submarine’s visit are i similar to those for the Pintado last January. They include:— I' No authorised craft to ap-| proach within 100 metres; when she is under naviga-l tion or berthed; no unautho-l rised craft to come or stay; within 600 metres of the;: berth later than one hour]: before she is expected to!: berth; when the Haddo is? moving in the harbour all;' craft to keep clear of her apparent course. ? The Ministry of Transport;; says that no civil aircraft? will, be allowed to fly below p 758 metres in the restricted!' area without special permission. The Auckland waterfront has been’ alerted to protective and emergency action to be taken while the nuclearpowered submarine is berthed at Jellicoe Wharf from Friday until early on : Wednesday, January 24. Pamphlets issued by : the Auckland Regional ' Civil Defence . controller say that in ?the Fvery ' unlikely” event of a radioactive leakage from the ves- ' sei’s nuclear reactor plant, it i would be necessary to re-li move all persons within aI: 1600-metre radius of the; submarine and to decontami-| nate such people. The Federation of Labour’’ was opposed to the visit ofc the Haddo, but it would support only responsible pro- ’ tests, its president, Sir ■ Thomas Skinner, said yester- ■ day.

, “We see no good reason | ! why a country like New Zealand should have to take the risk of playing with nuclear weapons — and that is all we are doing at the moment,” he said. “On the ’other hand we will have (nothing to do with protests (that are made irresponsibly (or put people in danger.” I Sir Thomas said he was (thinking of the man who has (said he will take two pregInant women and a baby, I aged two weeks, among others, out in his protest i vessel. The F.O.L. would support any orderly protests and any petitions made by trade (unions to the Government or | the United States AmbassaIdor. I It supported the action of the waterside unions not to work the wharf where the Haddo would berth and the protests made by the Auckland Harbour Board to the Government over loss of revenue the board would suffer because the submarine would deny other vessels access during its stay, Sir Thomas said. A call for more publicity on the Government’s reasons for bringing nuclear-powered vessels to Auckland was urged yesterday by a board (member, Mr L. Morton. He I said the public did not know (the reasons or the motives (behind these visits and this (lack of explanation could be I c using some of the protest ’reaction. | ( The chairman (Mr R. W. Carr) said he was disgusted with the way the Haddo visit had been blown up by the news media. The public

(had been led to believe the submarine could explode in port. He deplored such an approach and the attitude of protesters in making capital from the visit and their willingness to expose women and children to danger in the blockade. The board was more concerned about its loss of revenue and the disruption to the port and the Government’s use of a busy com? mercial berth, he said.