THE TAKAPUNA ENQUIRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXI, Issue 7229, 1 May 1884, Page 5

THE TAKAPUNA ENQUIRY.

[Peb Peess Association.] DUNEDIN, April 30. At the Takapuna enquiry to-day the principal evidence was by Captain Cameron, Marine Superintendent of the Union Company, who said: The repairs cost £'2GG. It is the duty of the masters of any of our Company's ships to report any accident that occurs, but Captain Jones did not report the Takapuna's striking, and the Company knew nothing about it till the ship was docked. To the Court : The appearance of the plates was not as though the ship had dragged across anything. The indentations were all straight up. I do not think the damage could have been done while the vessel was going fast through the water, as then the frame would have been drawn aft, which is not the case with the Takapuna. With the knowledge that the ship had grounded at the Manukau, had also bumped after leaving New Plymouth, and that a leak was subsequently found in the starboard tank, I would not have run the ship without docking her. I do not think it would be prudent for a master to leave a vessel for more than half-an-hour to the care of a young officer who had not been on that coast before, and who had been told by the master to keep her only two miles off the land. Although the " New Zealand Pilot contains a caution to masters that it is not safe to take a vessel within five miles of the coast of Cape Egmont on account of outlying shoals, I should not consider it unsafe for a master to take his vessel within two mileß of the shore if he was in the habit of going up and down the coast. The enquiry lasted all Hay, and one witness is still to bo examined.