Rafters will adopt code of practice

Press, 14 July 1982, Page 22

Rafters will adopt code of practice

PA ' Dunedin Commercial raft operators say that they are prepared to adopt a code of practice, after incidents on the Motu River last year. The former harbourmaster at Queenstown, Mr B. N. Clayton, said that that was the attitude expressed by the operators who attended the New Zealand Rafting Association conference in Queenstown. A draft proposal for a code of practice was presented to the conference by Captain S. Ponsford, of the Marine Divi-

sion of the Ministry of Transport. .

Captain Ponsford appealed to the association for a quick consensus, to enable the code to be adopted. The Minister of Transport (Mr Gair) was bending over backwards to let the association run its own affairs, but it had to take positive steps for itself, he said. The association has formed a technical committee to study the draft code and make ’final submissions to the division. They are expected to be ready in three months.

The, draft code covers navigational '"procedures, equipment, and training. It would; r for example, give guidelines on flood levels above which rafts should not be used. The types of clothing which passengers should be required to carry on overnight trips are also likely to be detailed in the code. Although the draft code had to be referred back to the technical committee for consideration, the association had taken positive steps at the conference, Mr Clayton said. It had agreed unanimously to a draft agreement which binds operators to follow this code of practice. Acceptance of the code of practice would be a condition of membership of the Raft Operators' Association.