Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1901 TUAHINE LIGHT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 10137, 25 August 1904, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1901 TUAHINE LIGHT.

We trust that the Harbor Board will not allow the matter of the light on Tuahino Point to drop. Their last letter to the Marine Department on the subject lias not, we understand, yet been answered, and it would be well to send further representations to the Government on the subject, urging that provision for tho erection of the light .should be madu on the current year's estimates. It will be remembered tliat when the matter was broached by a Gisborne. deputation kuvt session, the Minister for Public Works promised to give it careful consideration, and to make enquiries during his visit to England, regarding tho suitability of the Kitson light, which it was proposed should be. installed as the means of illumination. The advantage of this system was tliat the light would not require constant attention- A tin of kerosene could be loft m the light liouso and tin.- lamp woidd burn .satisfactorily for a week or ten days. The Kitson light was shown to have been m use for come time m one or two of the Tasmanian lighthouses, and had given every satisfaction. Further proof of its efficiency is now obtainable nearer at liand. In the Hon. Hall-Jones' own constituency the system has bt©n installed m the new lighthouse near Timaru, opened this mouth. Possibly tin) Minister luis had the light placed there m preference to Tuahine, m .order to experiment with it at a. less important headland than at the approach to Poverty Bay, but the system .luis now passed beyond the experimental stage aud has established itself as an assured success. Il) » ranb of lhc Mimici P«<l Buildings m Wellesley street, Auckland, a .large street lamp, working on exactly the same principle, as the light would do m a lighthouse., tliere has been erected a large street lamp. In the interior of its hum or pedestal is a reservoir holding a fortnight's supply of oil ami a compartment for compressed air. l!|ie air is eniiipi-ess-ed by means of a small hand-pump, and it forces the oil through a pipe up the. interior of the post and .sprays it on to the two incandescent mantles," which give a very brilliant white light-, throwing quite m the shade the surrounding gas lamps. TUi© kunp has worked excelfently for tho -past fortnight without requiring any attention. A similar lamp plaetd behind a lens m a lighthouse at Tuahine would, we are suae, give mariners just the beacon lliat is required to guard thentrance to • Gisborne and to warn them of the. dangers of the ArieJ Reef. In consequence of the •pe.-.iknw experience of the Nautilus, when the members of the Ministry narrowly escaped losing one of the most esteeniied of their colleaguu':.. m should liardly be iiece-ssary to reiterate the importance of a- light at this port as an aid to navigation, but it may be fairly pointed out that m view of the growing shipping trade of this port and of the fact that we have such tilie steamers as tho Moana calling here, it is imperative that the matter- should receive prompt attention. Until a light is flashing from Tuahine the approach of vessek to Poverty Bay m thick weather must always be attended by considerable difficulty and danger.