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Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1045, 7 February 1911, Page 6

" 'They lit matches to see if they could seo anybody,' was the. rather pitiful report of the attempt to locate the hulkkeeper who fell into the harbour and was drowned on Friday night. Does not this," writes "Prevention," "point to tho urgent need of some form of lamp attached to a rope which could be lowered beneath the wharf ti> assist the victim 111 his struggle for lifo and those above in their endeavours to save. Here is an accident that occurred outside tho door of tho tolls office at the foot of Queen's.Wharf, where tho oflicials aio on duty the through, ready, one assumes, for any emergency beyond the tying up and untying of arriving and departing, vessels, 'flic cry of n woman was heard, shouting that there was a man overboard and the man struggling in tho black waters below, clutching at' the invisible, was heard calling for help and ho was spoken to, yet 110 could not bo s;o'cd. "No light was available, bi\t a by-stander struck matches and endeavoured to locate tho figuro in the water," read one report. "Tho wind, however, blew out the matches." Seeing that it was a pitch black night with three-quarters of n bitter-edged gale blowing from the south, it is little wonder that the matches blew out, littlo wonder that the man was drowned. What I contend is needed on the wharf is a light on evtry gangway—hulk, steamer, or sailing vessel—and a few hurricane lnmps kept ready in convenient places attached to lines about the wharves. The expense would be trifling, the upkeep a few shillings a year for oil and wicks, yet it would provide a ready and efficient means of lighting the gloom beneath tho wharf—and it should bo remembered that however good the light is above and howover bright and fine tho night stygian darkness always prevails bslcw the wharf an hour or so after sunset."-