OIL POLLUTES BEACHES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19564, 17 February 1927, Page 12

OIL POLLUTES BEACHES.

FUEL FROM tfHE NIAGARA. bathing resorts affected. SWIMMERS DEPRIVED OF DIPS. \ ' THE DIFFICULTY OF REMOVAL. The accidental discharge of a large quantity of heavy fuel oil from the tanks of the steamer Niagara while she was at Queen's Wharf on Tuesday morning is responsible for the temporary pollution of the Takapuna, Milford and Cheltenham beaches. The incoming tide on Tuesday afternoon brought with it, a thick film of the oil, which was left on the beaches as the water receded. Thero was a broad, band of oil all along the beaches about the half tide mark yesterday, forming a barrier beyond which few patrons of the beaches cared to venture. Men were engaged by the Union Steam Ship Company in clearing the more thick deposits, but unless some more speedy and effective methods of removing the oil are discovered, bathers will have to await the operations of nature before they will be able to enter and leave the water without receiving liberal coatings of the petroleum. The presence of the oil on the waters of the harbour was first noticed at daybreak on Tuesday by one of the Auckland Harbour Board's watchmen, and investigations by the harbourmaster, Captain H. If. Sergeant, traced the source of the discharge to the Niagara. Ifc was found that one of the tanks had overflowed wl):!'? oil was being transferred to it from another tank, and complaint brought an immediate cessation of the flow. By that time, however, a considerable quantity of valuable oil had found its way into the harbour. The ebb- tide carried it down the channel until it was opposite the North Shore beaches, where it met the incoming tide and also a south-east wind, the combination carrying it ashore. Bathers Trapped in Oil. The heavy odour peculiar to fuel oil and the appearance of a dark mass on the water provided advance notice of the arrival of the petroleum, but tho warning was not heeded by many of the patrons of the beaches. Children, whose curiosity was greater than their discretion, arrived homo covered almost from head to foot with a substance that yielded only to the influence of kerosene, and even then liberal use of hot water and soap was necessary before a reasonable state of cleanliness was obtained. 5 Most adults had heard of the pollution of the beaches, and their own experiences amp'y bore out the reports of the stickiness of the oil.. Some girls who took the water in the gay creations of the moment had their costumes ruined, while they'also found that it" was an exceedingly difficult matter to get the oil out of their hair. Kesidents across the harbour were yesterday loth to discuss the pollution of their, favourite swimming areas in anything ,but heated tones, and while any man or woman who has had to become subject to the cleansing influences of kerosene and boiling water is entitled to sympathy, it is only fair to the Union Company" to repeat that the discharge was accidental as far as they were concerned. The company has always carried out not only the letter, but the spirit of the regulations regarding the discharge of _ waste oil in harbour waters, but, even in the case of an accident, the* shipowners are liable tc penalties if oil finds its way into the harbour from one of their vessels. The oil in this instance, also, was valuable fuel. taw Against Pollution. At the present time, the only laws operating in New Zealand regarding oil pol-. lution are the by-laws of the several harbour boards, but during last session of Parliament an Act known as the "Oil in Territorial Waters Act " was passed. This Act, however, does not_ como into force until April 1. ,It provides that a penalty of up to £SOO may be imposed on suAimary conviction where Oil is allowed to escape from a vessel within three miles of the New Zealand coast, the limit of the jurisdiction of the Dominion Parliament. So seriously is oil pollution regarded; that in some countries a prison penalty -may also be imposed. Apart from the risk of fire, especially in wharf areas, heavy coats of oil on the sea are a menace to bird and fish life and there is also, as in the present case, the destruction which the pollution causes from an aesthetic point of view. Unless the oil on the North Shore beaches is removed by some method of gathering it up. it will probably be some * before all traces of the pollution disappear. With each tide there is movement of the "sand, and this and the flow of the water will be the materia! factors in effecting a clearance of the shore.. » The matter was discussed at a meeting of the Takapuna Borough Council' last evening, when it was decided to ask the Harbour Board to get in touch with the parties responsible with a view to having the beach cleaned.