BIRD LOVERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 258, 28 September 1935, Page 16

BIRD LOVERS.

DEGEY POLLUTION OF SEA BY OIL. Another weighty shot in the war against the pollution of the seas by discharge of oil from ships has been, fired by British bird lovers. Headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, Mr George Lansbury (Leader of the Opposition) and other prominent persons, they have appealed to the British Government to put forward positive proposals to put an end to what has long been acknowledged as an international problem In an appeal to the British Press, the signatories recall that British opinion “has long been concerned at the cruelty inflicted upon sea-birds through ithe discharge of oil from ships.” The I appeal then describes this evil: how la mixture of oil and water is pumped out into the sea, how this mixture spreads over a large area and drifts I great distances, and how any bird I alighting on the oil “has its plumage j clogged, is unable to fly or to feed 'itself, and suffers a lingering death,” j British coasts, the. signatories declare, “are strewed with dead and dying birds. There is also injury to fisheries and defilement of bathing places.” The remedy, they suggest, is to install separators on the oil-using ship,s so as to recover the oil. There should also be separating plants in ports. Separators, however, take up valuable cargo space. Their installation on ships has become an international problem. The shipowners of each country hesitate to spend money, small though the amount is when taking into account the value of the oil recovered, unless their commercial competitors are compelled to do likewise.

Recently, the British Government brought the matter before the League of Nations, which agreed to take it up, and circulated a questionnaire to its CO Government-members asking what steps they are prepared to take. Lately, in reply to a question in the House of Commons, Sir John Simon, then British Foreign Secretary, said his Government was ready to agree to any I plan which was acceptable mternationI allyThe authors of the appeal, however, believe that a special responsibility rests on Great Britain, since she is the principal maritime nation in the world [and “her ships therefore contribute more to the evil than any others.” Unless a definite lead is given by the British Government, the petitioners believe that the international impulse within the League may . come to nothing, and in the meantime pollution is increasing with every increase of the use of oil on ships, ,