PAKEHA’S MISHAP

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 February 1925, Page 2

PAKEHA’S MISHAP

ENQUIRY CONTINUED. (Pet Ptess Association.) WELLINGTON, Feb. 6. The nautical inquiry into th© cause of the ..mishap to the. steamer Pakeha ■was continued to-day. _ Mr Bain, Y Chairman ,of the Blun Harbour Board, said the Board had goiie to considerable expense in biasL iiig and dredging the Mararoa dock. Since Jdfie 3, everything had been done to- test the channel to the_ harbour for the purpose of ascertaining if there was any. obstruction which might have caused damage to the' Pakeha. Up to the present nothing had been discovered. The Board also wrote to the Marine Department asking them to undertake a survey, and he personally saw the Mini st er regarding the matter. The Board was very anxious to clear the matter up. Witness did Hot think the marks on the vessel’s bottom had. been received in the channel. His .theory, was that, the vessel struck when she was rolling, but she did not roll in the channel. . , Captain Clifton Mogg, master of the vessel, cross-examined regarding the distances the. vessel was from .certain point on the coats' during the trip, from Port Chalmers to Bluff, said bn one trip Ke had noticed that the Waipapa Point was wrongly chartered, and had written to the. Admiralty on the subject. At the time of the mishap, on June 3, he was on the bridge and heard two sounds, as the vessel whs going up the channel. When he heard the first sound,, he did not associate it with striking, but when he heard the second, he expressed an opinion to the pilot that the vessel had struck. (Proceeding.)