EXPLOSIVES ON STEAMER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16317, 25 August 1916, Page 6

EXPLOSIVES ON STEAMER.

HARBOUR BY-LAWS SUGGESTED. [BY TELUGBAPH. —OWS CORRESPONDENT.] "WELLINGTON. Thursday. Through a discussion at last night's meeting of the Harbour Board the people of Wellington learned the rather disquieting fact that the steamer Cacique, which arrived" from San Francisco last Saturday, has aboard 800 tons of high explosives, consigned to New South Wales. The discussion at the meeting was practically one-sided as to the undesirability of a visitor possessed of such destructive possibilities.

Mr. R. Fletcher, M.P., expressed the fear that American explosives had a lower margin of safety than British, which meant greater danger, and members were almost at a loss for words when they contemplated the consequences if the cargo happened to blow up. The secretary's statement that the vessel was moored in what the harbourmaster considered the safest spot, namely, about half way between the j wharves and Somes Island only partially relieved the feelings of members. The discussion revealed that the board has no regulation capable of dealing with such a situation, and it was decided that the solicitors be consulted at once with a view to drafting an effective by-law, "one suggested solution being that a vessel should go first to the port to which dangerous cargo is consigned.