SHIPS IN PERIL

Southland Times, Issue 20539, 16 July 1928, Page 2

SHIPS IN PERIL

WARNINGS OF STORMS. WIRELESS FOR SMALL VESSELS. Sydney, June 28. Considerable credit was claimed by the Navigation Department recently because it had inaugurated a system of wireless warnings specially intended for the protection of small coastal vessels in the event of sudden storms. With the co-operation of wireless organizations, it was made possible for small ships to instal receiving apparatus so simple as to require no expert knowledge for the picking up of signals. Weather messages were broadcast at stated times each day. The experiences of shipping in the cyclone that recently vented its fury on our shores seem to prove that these warnings are utterly useless from the practical point of view. At eight o’clock on the night of Wednesday week the Weather Bureau forecast the approach of a storm and a warning was broadcast But the sad part of it is that most skippers were unaware of what they were running into. Moreover, the warning certainly did not reach those most in danger—smaller ships putting out from coastal ports. The New South Wales Government now proposes to insist that all vessels trading on the coast must carry wireless. Vessels trading from port to port within the borders of this State coast are exempt from the Federal Navigation Act, which insists on wireless being installed. The Fuller Government, some time ago, prepared a bill making it compulsory for these smaller ships to come into line, but it was dropped. Mr Bavin now intends to take it up again.