'LET THERE BE LIGHT"

Evening Post, Volume 27, Issue 77, 27 September 1907, Page 5

'LET THERE BE LIGHT"

"• NEW ZEALAND'S DARK COAST GAS BUOYS FOR WELLINGTON. •If some of the light that was running to glory (of the Dominion) in Wellington last night could have been distributed along New Zealand's rugged coast, it would have biougut delight to the mariner far deeper than the passing thrill which shot through the holiday populace. New Zealand has many miles cf dangerous shore which the mariner dreads by night. Even the harbours, whe"re vessels hope to be safe against the perils of the sea, are not all ideally lighted. ',' Wellington is one of the most comfortable ports for ships, and is to be made more congenial. Tho Harbour Board lias decided to illuminate the business por- | tion of the bay with gas-buoys, a schemo ( suggested over ton years ago by Captain. Allman when ho was Inspector of JLightliouses. Glaucing through the report for 1895-6, a representative of tho Post 'noticed this recommendation, and others made by the inspector, and sought from Captain Allman further details about tb.6 lights which he deemed necessary even * decade ago, wh-3n tho highways along tho coast wctc not nearly go frequented as they are now. Two of tho places which ha then urged should have lights have received them. 'Iheso «io Rocks Point (between Westr port and Cape Farewell) and East Capo, but four lemain by night in all their oldtime darkness, Kaikoura Peninsula, North. Caps, Cape Brett, and Flat Point, mentioned in the order* of their importance. Close to Kaikoura Peninsula, whict is about half-way between Wellington and Lyttelton, the Duke of Buckingham was stranded some years ago. Subsequently tho Union Company's TaiTo* was totally wrecked, with considerable loss of life, near tho entrance of the Clarence River, about twenty miles north of the peninsula. North Cape, tha nortli-east extremity of the Dominion, is the turning-point for all vessels coming from the westward to the oast coast ports of the North Island and vice-versa. If there had been a light on North Cap.?, cays Captain Allman, the Wairarapa, whose wreck cost very many lives* would not have been lost. With a light to guide him, "no mariner tvouid liave njmcd the corner without verifying his position. Cape Brett juts out at a point about sixty miles from the Moko Hinou Hght, and eighty miles from the North. Cape. A light there would be a guide' to tli» Bay of Islands in addition to being * good co?stal guide. If mariners, by' ant possible chance, adverse weather, contrary winds, fogs, should miss the North Cope light, they would have Cape TJret'fc as a pilot when bound iii a southerly direction. Flat point is about forty-five miles north-etust of Cape Palliser. " "There are numerous- outlying dangers here in tho 6hape of sunken rocks, on which several steamers have struck," states the nljt report. "It is off this point that the course of vessels is usually altered for north and south." "In the construction of lighthouses," adds Captain Allman, "the first consideration is tlit dangerousness of the locality, and the second is the amount of traffic, with passenger traffic first in importance, cargo second. It must never bo forgotten that lighthouses arc intended for the use of all classes of vessels, from tha leviathans to the humble little (iteamerii and all classes of wiilingNhips."By tha terms of that argument the entrance to Pelorus Sound Should ■ not ■bo allowed to bo oboejired after,, the .'sun has set. It has been repeatedly .rixovrn in the Post that this much-used passage urgently needs a light. Tho' 3finister of Marine has promised that the oast const of tho North Island is to receive more attention, but he (should not overj look the perilous Pelorus Sound.