THE GEORGE THOMPSON.

Evening Post, Volume LXI, Issue 30, 3 August 1895, Page 2

THE GEORGE THOMPSON.

Tho Minister for Merino yesterday told the House that the life-saving applianoes of the George Thompson, the vessel to which we referred yesterday, were found by the Marine Department to be neither in the qnantity nor condition proscribed by law, and her deck cargo was too largo. The vossel Bhould not have been allowed to leave Kaipara. The Harbourmaster at Kaipara had been cautioned to bo more careful in future. It seems that Captain Allman and Mr. Mowatt have inspected the ship on behalf of the Customs Department. They found that the boats wero not properly equipped, that lifebuoys and belts wore insufficient, and that the limejuice was an extraordinary pea-soapy looking compound. The lifebuoys would barely float, and sank when the regulation weight was attached to them. The vessel is not to be allowed to leave tho harbour till appliances and stores are brought into consonance with the requirements. The eiomo offered by tha Kaipara Harbourmaster for letting her go is that the voasel was just out of dook, having beon refitted at Sydney, her port of registry, and that ho largely aooepted the oaptiin's assurance that things were all right, as hu concluded that she would not havo boen able to get out of Sydnay otherwiso.