The Dominion. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1936. RADIO BEACONS FOR SHIPPING
In a notice published to-day the Marine Department states that an “experimental” radio beacon has been installed at Tiri Tin Matangi lighthouse, in the Hauraki Gulf, from which signals will, ‘on request,”, be transmitted during clear or foggy weather. The Rangatira’s narrow escape on Sunday last, when endeavouring to make the entrance to Wellington Harbour in thick weather, prompts the question: Why has this country lagged so far behind the times in t.ie provision of radio beacons for shipping? In the international convention for the safety of life at sea, which was ratified by Great Britain in 1932, and came into force in 1933, it is provided that ships must be equipped with wireless direction-finders., But of what useis a direction-finder on a ship off the New Zealand coast if there at 6 no radio beacons on shore? In other parts of the world, where fogs are frequent and shipping traffic is heavy, radio beacons are part,of the established routine of navigation, and the risks to shipping, as a result, have'been greatly -minimised. ■ , ' Both the Penguin, which was wrecked at Tom’s Rock off lerawhiti, with grfeat loss of life, and the Devon, which ran ashore at Pencarrow, with, happily, no loss of life, were endeavouring to shape a course for the entrance of the harbour in weather -similar to that which the Rangatira experienced on Sunday. Ihose mishaps occurred in the days when wireless was still in the first stages of development; now that science-has provided the means for enabling ships to check their courses in thick weather off the coast, there is no excuse for perpetuating risks which have been’ unavoidable in the past. With the assistance of a radio beacon it ought to be possible for a ship, in thick weather and uncertain tides, to make the harbour entrance as easily and as surely as if in broad daylight and clear weather.
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Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 113, 6 February 1936, Page 8
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324The Dominion. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1936. RADIO BEACONS FOR SHIPPING Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 113, 6 February 1936, Page 8
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