THE PUBLIC SAFETY.

NZ Truth, Issue 198, 3 April 1909, Page 5

THE PUBLIC SAFETY.

HOW THINGS ARE DONE ON THE U.S.S. CO/S BOATS. Boat Drill on the Mararoa. A MESS OF MATTERS ON THE MAORI. The Impudence of Cocky Captain Hunter.

When the U.S.S. Company's ill-fated vessel Penguin plunged . to the bottom of the sea m some unknown spot— at least the whereabouts of the old tub have tor some unaccountable reason never been located—and caused a national disaster, the people of New Zealand were terribly grief-stricken with the awe-inspiring tales of the utter unfit-ness- of the vessel's boats and appliances, coupled with the callousness of the shore olncials in 1 neglecting th'e • most elementary duty to the suffering survivors and the bodies of the dead. It was clearly demonstrated both at the inquest and the nautical inquiry, that something was amiss, with the lowering tackles of the boats, and it was naturally expected by the public that some"" special effort would be made by the officials of this crook, cronlc capitalistic concern to ensure that the boats and fittings of every vessel- of the fleet SHOULD BE KEPT IN PERFECT ORDER and the' appliances and tackles m a state of preparedness ready for any emergency. But again the company clearly proved that "blessed is he who expecteth nothing" by coolly ignoring the protests of the living and the silent condemnation of the drowned. Time and again has this cormorant' company flaunted public opinion and practically told, the public, whdm it exploits, year m anu year out, to go to hell when a demand has been made for greater yHacitities being provided to ensure the safety of the lives of passengers m time oil emergency. All sorts of reassuring statements were made by the officials of the Union Co. after the Penguin disaster, the? worthlessness of which statieniSiits has been demonstrated beyond doubt- twice within a week. On Thursday of last week, the Mararoa, whilst m Wellington Harbor, provided a valuable object lesson, to those who go down to the sea .m ships and trust to the effectiveness, of vthe Union Company's boats and appliances to protect their bodies from the cruel, waves m the event of shipwreck. The master of the Mararoa decided, probably with a view to winning ,the confidence of would-be travellers by: his ship, >to have boat practice right;.|under THE EYE OF THE CRITICAL PUBLIC, and boat practice was accordingly attempted. This truthful journal uses the word attempted advisedly, as the practice, whicn was 1 intended to reassure the doubting public of the absolute complete equipment of tile boats, only served to more forcibly, demonstrate the utter unreliability of the emergency services of the company arid to impress the public accordingly. As a matter of fact, what #'as intended as an object lesson of safety nearly ended m a boat's crew losing their lives, as one of the craft, which passengers have to depend on for their safety m time of shipwreck, actually filled "with . water as soon as she was lowered, owing to the condition m which she had been allowed to remain. When such an incident occurs at an arranged practice, it does not take a great intellect to imagine what would have occurred had the Mararoa got into a similar predicament to the Penguin. But this is not all. . According to the Shipping Act, every member of a vessel's crew must be appointed to a particular post, so that m case of shipwreck he will know where to go, but on the occasion of the Mararoa's harbor practice, at least one member of the crew was very much lost, and did not know what to do. In fact, one member was on deck when he should have been m the boats, and when asked by the. official m charge of the evolutions what he was doing there, replied, "WELL, I DON'T KNOW WHERE TOGO," which called forth, the rebuke, "Well, get into one of the .boats quick before a "Truth" man sees you." And this is j the sort of absolute effectiveness which i the Union S.S. Co. parades so much and ; prates about being up-to-date m all its j methods. As the Mararoa practice was I obviously arranged as a public display, land the men were all warned that a I "surprise" practice was to be held, ■ it jis not a difficult matter to surmise what (Would occur m the event of ah actual ! shipwreck. It would be just such an- ] other horror as occurred when the Penguin went under. But even this lesson was/ not taken to heart by the Union S..S", Co., 'for what do we nnd on the following Sunday, when a call for the I quick manning of a boat was made. The i Union Cos. much-lauded passenger ship ! Maori was- m the harbor , coming to the | wharf, when James Fleming, a first-class ; passenger, by some means got into the j water, and another passenger at once in- ■ formed one' 1 of the officers, who commu- ■ nicated with' the captain, who had the engines stopped. The "emergency" | boat, which, according to the Shipping (Act, should "at all times be fit and I ready for use," was ordered to be lowered, and immediately, it was noticed how important matters of this kind are looked after by. -. ■■ THE OFFICIALS OF THE MONOPOt LISTIC UNION S.S. CO.*. Instead of the boat being lowered with the greatest ease, an incident of the Pehguin disaster was repeated, trie', bow of the boat went down first, and it was • impossible to .get the boat into the ! water. The result of this boat being "at all times fit and ready for use" (ac- ■ cording to the Union Co.'s ideas) was ithat delay -occurred and another boat jhad to be used. But what is more refmarkable .still is the statement made by I third officer, Fred Goosky, not during ithe excitement, but at the imiuest, that j though he had examined the falls of the (boat which did not work, he could not 'explain how it fell away. It seems to ; this • journal that the cause should be easy of explanation j but it is equally j plain that the officer did not want to | explain, and was probably acting under ■ orders. But- for cool, contemptible cheek and crass ignorance, not to mention bounce and boorishness, the, master iof the Maori, Captain Thomas M. Hunter, doserves .the widest.' publicity. Whilst Dr. McArthur, the Coroner, was investigating the circumstances surrounding the .death of. Fleming, the following interesting dialogue took place :— The Coroner asked if there was anybody present ■ representing the Union Company who would like to ask any questions. Captain Hunter said he was captain of the ship and &ith all due respect he considored ihe qikst'ons about the accident bont had notning whatever to do with the death of the man. The Coroner : You are master of that ship and I am master of this Court. ; I shall ask what questions 1 like. I : really am t surprised because I cannot see that you can say the questions are not , to the point. ■ . Capt' in Hunter : You must The Coroner : I am not going to argue with anybody, any more than you would argue with/nnyone on your ship. I suppose, you would like me to leave this out of the inquiry ? Here is seen THE PRESUMFTTOUS BOUNCE of the Union Co. repeated m the person of <~" ■■<■*. TT-mtrr. The Union Co. has con- ": ' . ! v -sulprt ibo Maritime Laws of

the country without let or hindrance and evidently Capt. Hunter took his cue from his bosses and thought lie could override Dr. McArthur and the law m the Coroner's Court just as he pleased. But Dr. McArthur can he a great autocrat as any ship's master who ever trod a quarter deck, and he quickly straightened up the /would-be Lord of Creation and representative of the Union Company. Where the worthy Magistrate erred was on the side of leniency, and he could, with credit to himself and to the interest of Capt. Hunter, have given that pompuous person such a dressing-down as he would never forget. Evidently cocky Capt. Hunter is unaware that a coroner reigns supreme m his court and no other person has any locus standi, and it was only courtesy „on Dr. McAr thur's part which caused him to ask if any representative of the Union (Jo. would like to ask any questions. Perhaps even the captain of the Maori m future will learn that there are others besides directors and managers of the, Union S.S. Co. who wield authority, and who .are to be'obeyed and respected, and will approach matters of public importance m a humbler manner than he did on Monday last. This paper has no consideration for Captain Hunter, and here loses no time m telling him that he is a prcsumptious, overbearing bounder, who,

INSTEAD OF COURTING INQUIRY, and rendering assistance into investigations concerning the unsatisfactory state of his ship's life-saving appliances, tried to browbeat an oflicer of the law who is streets above him m every respect, and who is also m every sense of. the word a gentleman. Of course, the fact thatr Capt. Hunter was responsible, for the unsatisfactory state of affairs revealed by the death of Fleming was not likely to make him the. most amiable of men, but if he neglects to supervise matters he can only expect 'to be rapped on the. knuckles when his delinquinces are made known. "Truth" has not the pleasure of possessing a copy of the Union S.S. Co's instructions to masters of their vessels, but if the company does not include m its regulations an instruction to masters to supervise all tackle and life-saving appliances at frequent intervals >hen the company is guilty of criminal Mgiect, and should be made to toe tlie mark. To Minister o|, Marine Millar' this jouniil suggests that ne should personally 1( ok into these matters. As a practical sea-, man himself, Mr J. A. Millar SHOULD KNOW THE ROPES pretty well, and if he is the strong-willed man he poses as being he will lose no time m overhauling the -emulations, and, if necessary, have included m the shipping Act a clause malting it a criminal offence for the master of any ship who allows his boats and life-saving appliances to pet into such a state as the boats of the Union Co.'s vessels are, judging by experiences of the Penguin, Maori, and Mararoa. That the boats of the two latter vessels were m an unsat-_ isfactory state is l:eyond doubt, and some stringent measure should be adopted to bring the monopolistic Union S.S. Co. to a sense of its responsible it- y , otherwise the people of tins country will bo again horrified with a catastrophe even more appalling than that of ' the Penguin. It only needs to be mentioned that the Maori frequently conveys as many as 850 passengers between Wellington and Lyttelton to bring before the public what a calamity will occur should this vessel meet with a mishap at a time when her boats are m the same unsatisfactory state, as was re- I vealed at the induest on Monday last.