SAFETY FOR SHIPPING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22490, 6 August 1936, Page 10

SAFETY FOR SHIPPING

I In the Budget are three announce- | ments of importance to shipping. I They are a resurvey of the coastline, the installation of radio beacons and the equipping of a number of lighthouses with better appliances for handling supplies. The first of these has long been in need of renewed attention, and a revival of practical interest in it was noted about two years ago. At that time an Auckland master mariner said "All the New Zealand coast requires resurveying" —a statement of fact to be uttered at intervals, for changes such as the irregular emergence of shoals make the need for a resurvey always more or less compelling. This is a matter chiefly for the Admiralty, whose hydrographic department alone has the necessary staff and equipment for so highly technical a task. The cost to the Government is the provision of coal for the survey ship and the outlay on her annual over-r-haul and refitting. This is a relatively small charge for an essential service. The existing charts are known to contain inaccuracies, and these should be amended in the interests of essential oversea and coastal transport. Present-day navigation, at speeds beyond those once customary, demands access to charts having reliable soundings. Safety is an indispensable condition of all maritime communications. The residue of risk should be reduced to a minimum after the work of H.M.S. Endeavour, due to commence operations in April next. By the installing of radio beacons, serving the increasing number of vessels now fitted with wireless direction-finding apparatus, a further essential is to be supplied at suitable lighthouses, five having been chosen Baring Head and Cape Campbell at the eastern end of Cook Strait, a third for its western end, and two for outlying islands marking the approach to Auckland. This is part of a programme to be continuously carried out until all necessary radio beacons are installed. Related to this provision for the safety of shipping is an improvement of transport facilities at certain lighthouses now rather primitively furnished with them; oil-engined winches and rope haulage are to lessen the present arduous labour of handling stores. All these things are matters for alert concern in a country of long coastline and numerous ports, and for extending the care shown by its predecessors the Government i 8 to be commended.