FINED £100

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17233, 12 April 1930, Page 7

FINED £IOO

CAPTAIN OF TANKER OIL IN HARBOR After counsel for the Auckland Harbor Board had stated that the case was a particularly bad one, a fine of £IOO was imposed by Mr. Hunt, S.M., in the Auckland Police Court, on G. H. Thorsen, master of the oil-tanker Acasta, who admitted a charge of allowing the discharge or escape of oil into the harbor.

The prosecution was brought by the harbormaster, Captain Sergeant, under the Oil in Territorial Waters Act, 1926. Mr. Gray, for the Harbor Board, stated that on Wednesday evening the attention of a Harbor Board official had been drawn to a quantity of oil which had escaped from the Acasta at the Western wharf. The harbormaster, who was informed, went with witnesses to the vessel, and found that the gangway had been drawn up, preventing anybody goingi on board. When they .managed to get on the ship they found that the deck on the port side from the bridge aft was covered with oil, which had escaped with the scuppers and was floating in large patches under the wharf.

Mr. Weir, representing Captain Thorsen, said there must have been an airlock in the pipeline, allowing oil to come out of tho hole used for sounding. As soon as the escape of oil was discovered the oil was turned off at the valves. “The maximum fine for this offence is £soo—that is what the Legislature, thinks of it.” said the Magistrate. “I will fine this man £IOO, a fifth of the maximum.”