PEARLING HAZARDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22271, 20 November 1935, Page 10

PEARLING HAZARDS

DEATHS OF DIVERS FOOLISH RIBKS TAKEN GREEDY JAPANESE METHODS [fbosi our own cohrkspoxihent] SYDNEY, Not. 18 Out on the pearling grounds from Darwin seven divers have perished thin year. Eliminating deaths from; chance, most have been caused by grned, with a desire to "show off" as a counterpart. Divers, most of whom are Japanese, are boastful, racy men, and inherent gamblers, who like tfrj admiral tion of their fellows. For their own gain and enhancement of their reputation and desire to be is "number one" diver, they discard safety in pursuit of pearlshell, paying the death penalty. This opinion is shared by ,he European masters and Japanese themselves. It is more than coincide ice that such a large number of death) occurred this year when several new patches of shell have been found. A case of death from paialysis occurred last week. When a diver walk- 'idling along a sea-bed linds i fruitful patch, enthusiasm "bubbles within his head," and he is animated by thoughts of winning the greatest pajt of this shell against competition all around him. Luggers from Australia, Aru Islands, and Japan are working, and competition between divers becomes keen. Rising Too Qulclclv A man does to 20 fathoms, exhausts a patch of shell, and then rises.quickly, neglecting a gradual ascent with rests of 10 minutes each five fcrthoms. He refuses to remain on deck Ihe proper . time before descending again. Thus be imposes too great a strain on his heart. The men are paid by result!, so they run risks of paralysis and death. It is the diver's right U say how many dips he makes and iie decides how long he stays down and how :; ■ quickly he comes to the surl'ace. Accident is easily preventable, a; there are efficient instruments enabling the regulation of conditions of wort so that the diver stays within the margin of safety. * ' . .! The Japanese is a great fa talist, and even when he knows that b<> is tempting death in disregarding uafety factors, he persists with a-smile telling himself that lie will not perish unless it is his time to die. Diving is not regarded as a dangerous occupation, certainly not more than mining with which it is comparable. Nourishing T6od Headed Japanese in Darwin belieie that insufficient food of the right type and impurities in the air might i.eaken the divers' resistance to stnin. They - say some luggers feed impure air to divers. One man stated that when he was 20 fathoms down he smiilt through his airpipe what was being cooked on deck for dinner.. He thought also that foods, such as beef ea tracts and compounds of cod liver oil, irould build up divers and were necessary to their \ arduous work. Professor J. Macdonald Holmes, professor of geography at Sydrey Upiver- ... sity, stated that a possible < applanation of thq divers' difficulties would be.we permanent high pressure , duo to a/high degree of salinity iu the -water. On some parts of Australia's northern coast there is a very high tide tm*, A . he said. "On others there is no rise worth mentioning. This suggests that there are few tidal currents in such areas. ' ' . i 4 According to the land groupings* you might find a place where, as soon as a tide is ready to fall, another tide comes round a bend in the island and fills it up. In areas where lirge bodies of water remain comparatively stationary, a high concentration of salt will result, and this means a higher pressure, with consequent difficulty ior | divers." ===^== * g