CINDERS IN HARBOUR

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 108, 9 May 1930, Page 15

CINDERS IN HARBOUR

SHIP'S CAPTAIN CHARGED

UNDESIRABLE PRACTICE

Mentioned as being the. first prosecution under the bylaw, the master of the Port Auckland, Captain Richard Stephens Durham, was charged in the Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon with permitting cinders to be thrown into the harbour from his ship.

"The board strongly objects to this practice," said Mr. J. I<\ 13. Stevenson, who prosecuted on behalf of the Harbour Board. "It has been going on for a very long time, and as- it generally occurs at night, it ia difficult to catch the offenders. The result is that cinders and other refuse are washed up on "the foreshore, into the Boat Harbour, and the baths, while a bank also forms against the wharf which interferes most seriously with the navigating and the berthing of ships. "Jn this particular case," continued Mr. Stevenson, "it is not suggested that a great quantity of cinders was discharged, and as it-is the first case under the bylaw the board does not press for a heavy clear that the bylaw will be enforced. It is- considered that attention must be drawn to the .bylaw." '

Mr. G. G. Gr. Watson, who appeared for the defendant, ,said that the captain and the owners of the ship agreed with the board as to the undesirability and danger of the practice. On this particular occasion the firemen on duty, in direct disobedience of the master's orders, threw a few cinders overboard. Counsel again emphasised the complete concurrence of the master and the owners with the board's action, and it was only on account of the human element entering into it that the defendant was in Court.

Mr. W. H. Woodward convicted the defendant and ordered him to pay the costs of the prosecution, amounting to £4 12s.