THE TURAKINA FIRE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 21, 19 October 1907, Page 8

THE TURAKINA FIRE.

MAGISTERIAL' ENQUIRY. THE CAPTAIN'S EVIDENCE. - ' STATEMENT' BY SUPERINTENDENT ■:' ; HUGO. , '• The story of the Turakina fire was told at tho magisterial inquiry yesterday. Dr. M'Arthur presided, and with him wero Captain Willis, Lloyd's Surveyor, and Mr. W. U. Foster, assessors.' Mr. Myers appeared for the Marino Department,"and the Collector of 1 Customs'; Mr. H. F. Johnston for the New Zealand Shipping Company and the officers 1 of tho Turakina, and Mr. Levi for the Union ' S.S. Company. ■.; .•.-, .. ...' .v • : ■ ■ ' ' Scope of the Inquiry. Mr Myers, at the outset, submitted that , Mr. Levi had no locus standi, as the Union I Company were not concerned with the inquiry 1 concerning the cause of the firo.. -Tho. Court could not allow any questions:in reference to salvage .operations.: - •. • Tho Chairman concurred, and ruled that any questions from Mr. Levi must come . through Mr. Myers or the Court. _ ■ After the luncheon adjournment, Mr. J. A. Hankins, Palmerston North, stated that he i appeared on behalf of .the Maxmillcre Asso- ■ ciation. - ' , . ' . , : V 1 Mr. Johnston raised the same point as did ■ Mr Myers in reference to the representative of the Union S.S. Company-namely, that he • had no locus standi. . , i The Chairman ruled that any questions by i Mr. Hankins would have to be submitted i through Mr. Myers or the Court. . .. At this point Mr. T; M. Wilford, who.ap- ■ peared in place of his partner, Mr Levi . raised the point that the Court, had ruled, on at the opening of the inquiry.; Mr. Gilford argued that the scope of the inquiry should bo widened, and referred to the inquiry after the big Lambton Quay fire, when the city 3 water supply and appliances, as well as other . matters; were investigated. It was surely ' important that the Court should go into .the question as to whother there" were sufficient water appliances in the city to meet such an emergency as arose. It would be contended later on that, if the Terawnti had not acted as it did, probably the who e wharves and ships would have been demolished. He desired to bo allowed to ask'one or two, questions when Superintendent Hugo gave evidence as to the water supply, etc. Dr M'Arthur: I cannot possibly let you do that; you know that as well as I do. If you havo any question as to the origin of the fire, we shall be glad to take.it: through Mr. Myers, or through myself. Wo are here to inquire into the cause of the fire, that is all. llv Myers: We do not want to complicate the matter by any question of-salvage claims, otc I have no objection to any question that is relevant to the cause of the fire, but we cannot go into questions involving points of dispute between two parties, Mr. Wilford contended that questions concerning the process of extinguishing,tho fire wero relevant. '/' , . Dr. M'Arthur: Wo are*nowhere to go into questions of that kind. Nor arc wo here to settle any question, or give our opinion, as to what was done—and well done—by tie Union S.S. Company. Tlio evidence wi 1 be limited to the causo of the fire. We have nothing to do with the appliances ol tlie corporation or of the Union Company. Captain Forbes' Statement. \ Tho lirst witness called by Mr. Myers was Francis Forbes, Master of the s.s. Turakina. After {riving formal evidonce, witness said when ho first learnt that a fire hnd broken out the ship was then 527 miles L.S.L. of the Chatham Islands and 1003 miles from Lyttelton The chief officer reported that No. 1 hold was on .fire. The hatch, was. put on again, and the patent fire ' machine was started. After describing the operations at Wellington, witness said-, it was found that the fire extended throughout tween decks -No. 1; flax was left m the tween docks to discharge. There were somo complete bales left. No. 1 'tween decks was loaded partlv at Bluff, Auckland, and Napier. Tho contro of tho main portion was loaded at Auckland. The second officer superintended the loading. Ho camp to the conclusion that the fire the Auckland cargo, which was all flax. The highest temperature was found to be in that portion of

the holil where the Auckland cargo wag stowed. That was about a quarter of an hour after the firo was discovered. . Witness indicated by a mark'on'the plan produced where the highest temperature was immediately after the discovery of the fire; it was an insulated chamber. Since he had boon in Wellington ho formed the opinion that the fire originated ijVthc centre section of the 'tween decks. The bales there wore badly burnt, some being completely destroyed,-and the fire from those bales set fire to the partitions and the cargo in A chamber; the second stream of fire burned the 'tween deck hatches! and thence to tile shelter deck. The third fire went along*'aft. In the A chamber seventeen bales of wool were burned on tha outsido. He had not been able to form any opinion as to the locality .it which the fire started, or. whether it was before or after leaving Auckland. Tho last of the cargo was put into tho No. 1 shelter deck hold at about j 4.45 p.m. on September' 26. They sailed I .'at, 5 o'clock the same day. Wo precautions were taken, so far as he linew, to ascertain the temperature of the irihor portions of the' .. bales of hemp taken in at Auckland.. That was never done, but he always examined the surface of the bales. Tho only precautions against matches wero that the men had to .■•■" leavo their coats'behind; there was no searching. It was the second officer's duty to see that coats were not taken below. If smoking went on either the officer or the. stevedore would detect it. His opinion was tha't tha fire started on the inside of the bales; when' they put slings round the bales that were not destroyed, they collapsed. That happened to three bales, and his theory was that fires must have started in the inside of those bales. They came.within about.loft. of• the■•■ spoi■•■ where thoy believed.the fire'originated. He would not say that the bales were fired by spontaneous combustion; ho only related what ho saw. The outside of the three bales were black, hut they were not completely burnt. Inside they wero completely burnt. There were 350 bales unaccounted for out of; con-, .siderably over 700. . •.'. . To Mr. Johnston: Tho three bales referred' to as collapsing after being attached to th'a ,_';.- sling, had been subjected to the heavy fumes., of sulphur from the patent extinguisher. , That may or may not have confined, the fire to the inside of the bales. Matches, might' get .'amongst flax before it reached .the ship. Ho had had instances of that.. He was/quite sure that there was no chance of a mateli getting into the hold after Auckland was left. A Previous Fire. Dr. M'Arthur: This is no reflection on you, captain, but were you not on the Turakina when she was ,on. fire in Glasgow , wharf in 1905?" -.'•... ; .Witness replied i in. the affirmative. ;■' Referring to the evidence at the inquiry ' in-1905, Mr. ;M'Arthur. remarked that the, '. fire on that occasion'was in a different part of the vessel. The hatches had to be battened down for two days,, and even then , there was dense smoke. The finding of., theCourt of Inquiry was a general one: it at-, tributed tho fire'to flax or wool from theBluff, but did not say how it originated. ■ ; ■ Second Officer's t.idence. 'Arthur Paramore, second officer of _ this, : '- ■' Turakina, stated that there would be.about I a dozen men,' engaged in stowing cargo, on • . September 2G. They must -haw left.;. their ' coats on deck; they wero not in the hold, or ' witness would have seen them. It was. part ', of his duty to see that.cargo which was wet, . !• or otherwise in bad condition, was not-taken ' onboard. His log-(produced) showed that on September'2s all work was stopped at 10.30 p.m., owing to rain. There wasi no : rain during the loading in No. 1 hold.. There was no'rain during working hours on.bep- , To Mr. Johnson.-The strictest, precautions '. were taken whilst flax, was being stowed, i and he had never seen, a-man smoking in To Dr. M'Arthur.—He had been.with the New Zealand Shipping Company five years,.. . superintended Hugo's Theory. Sunt. Hugo, -of. the.. Wellington, Fire, Brigade stated that he .had had experifflico before .of fires "said '.to be' : connected, with homp. Ho was not able to give any opinion, ont the evidence hcjiad heard,' as to thecause of .the, fire.,."For. some time-.he-'had; carried out experiments on his own account, - but had never been, able to get near to spontaneous combustion.' ~-• ■ „ ' Mr Myers: Fnt you nave, a theory m regard to these fires generally? --.\ Witness: "Yes, I have,'and a-very, strong . one I have been round these wharves while flax is. "being loaded/and have: seen 1 me smoking alongside. I have seen . pas- ' Sors\valk on to' the boat smoking cigars , ' and cigarettes, and 1 have seen .officers : stendSl over the open hateh\ smokmg, P- There tho case of the Moeraki, in MOo, that aman.lpst some- . thnc in the cargo, and match ..to ?St There is° P lenty to account for these--1 fires'. This smoking, m ships is an ope. thing. I have stopped it myself in tho holds spontaneous t combustion to be d you .expect iit to arise within.four. days after.the vessel I had loaded?" ■■■• .. . ' , ! '. -;' ;-' ■ » '•'Witness: Certainly not. .-. • ;.•■■• • » To Mr"Johnston Abe si -iota* ea rd to spontaneous combustion, had been t on a small and private scale, entirely for ' own fnormation. Before coming Zealand, eight and ? Wf hW ■ been a master manner. .In, those, days ne 3 had often seen men smoking m.the holds of - Shins "he-had not seen it during his-rest;.. defco'here. In England nobody was allowec ~ 1 Flax and . less liable to catch fire from dropped niatehes : SssafiS^iat' i 2v^st k S'S>St !- s &3has tours' J most-oV them had seen smokmg on tlw r adjourned'uutillO. 3 on Monday, i • . ' ■