THE LIGHTING OF THE HARBOUR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14700, 7 December 1909, Page 10

THE LIGHTING OF THE HARBOUR.

Sin,—l noticc in your issue of tho Ist inst. that the steamer Koonya while on her outward passage on .Monday last got ashore at Quarantine Island. 1 would esteem it a favour if you would kindly allow mo space to draw attention to the (act that this is not by any means the first accident that has occurred in that rooky part of (ho channel. It lias always impresari me as a curious anomaly that this hartour should be well lighted from the wharves right down to Sawyars' Bay, while from thero to tho Head-—the most difficult part of the linri-our to navigate—there are only two small lights which can be looked upon iw any guide in navigating a vessel. One of those is cu Quarantine Island and the other at Pulling Point, in the Lower Hnrl«uv. I understand that on the night tho Koonya sot ashore at Quarantine Island these in ohargc: could seo the light on tho rdse of the island some considerable time Iwfore t hey .got down to it, but. were unable to make out the laud on Gent Island owitiir to tho fe.g and ehadotrs. If thero wis a light on float Island a.s well as on Quarantine Island it would enable vessels to be steered between the two independent of their having to be able to mc tho land on tho former. The Harbour Board places pests between Sawyers' Hay aixl the to show the channel in daytime, but apparently it fails to realise that thero is the sama necessity for these nuidos at nieflit. It cannot be assumed, cither, that the hoard considers the harbour is only worked in daylight. If it did there would bo no nceessiiy for it to incur the expense <if keeping the upper part, of the harbour lighted up as at present.—l am, etc., Dunedin, December 3. 'Ukixeb.