SHIP'S CAPTAIN FINED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19454, 9 October 1926, Page 12

SHIP'S CAPTAIN FINED.

NO NET UNDER GANGWAY. ECHO OF SEAMAN'S DEATH. A fine of £lO was imposed in the Police Court yesterday on James Allen Wallis, master of the steamer Rona, on a charge of failing to fix and keep fixed a safe and proper gangway between the vessel and the wharf, in accordance with the Auckland Harbour Board by-laws, when the vessel was lying alongside the Chelsea Sugarworks Wharf on August 10. The offence was admitted. Sub-Inspector Lewin said that on the evening of August 10 a seaman, John Dean, fell into the harbour between the vessel and the wharf and was drowned. There was a small gangway between the ship and the wharf, but no net beneath it.. A net had been spread earlier iri the day, but the gangway had been moved to permit the painting of the vessel and the net had not been moved. The captain of the ship was in Auckland at the time of tho accident, but ho was responsible for tho actions of his officers. The maximum penalty was £2O. Mr. Hore. for defendant, said the men concerned had already been dealt with by the company. Since the inquest, evidence had been forthcoming that the seaman's life would not have been saved if the net had been in tho correct position. He had stumbled on the wharf and fallen