The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 1906. LIGHTS AND LIGHTHOUSES.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12913, 2 March 1906, Page 4

The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 1906. LIGHTS AND LIGHTHOUSES.

A good deal has been said, at one tune] and another, about the insufficiency of the ' light which, after much agitation. was' some lime ago erected at Jack's Point. \ We are getting vised to it now. but tha; ! fact does not in any way lessen the com- i plaints of shipmasters and others who have j to use the light in making the port. The'' chief objection to ihe light is that at is] fixed instead of revolving; and it js aj significant fact that, while in England jnd \ on the neighbouring coasts thousands of] pounds are being spent every year in doing j away with the fixed lights and in snbsti-J luting revolving or occulting lights, here | in New Zealand we have, in the ense <»f] the last two lighthouses erected, namely, j that on Jack's Point and that at Kabuiajigi j (on the north-west coast of this islandi i

stuck lo the old antiquated form «f light which other countries are spending *•* much to get rid of. We do not know who is responsible for the blunder that 1 -;ve been made in X-tw Zealand, but the Marine Department must primarily take slie b\-.nte. To the ordinary lay mind the adrjuMges of the revolving oven, the fixed Sight s?cm so great as to barely admit <f .-xyihing b-;ing said <n the other fide. i r ■:• instance, the captain" of a steam-si- tiyiMj to make Timaru picks np Jhe "ii.h m «*n Jack's Point. There is uo.iii:.* i» tell him whether it is the light <■« she m->s*-head of another sieamer. or the light of a burning straw.stack on shore. If. «m the other hand, the light were ;i 'evolving me thcte w.uld be no room for any <l'riilit: and there is this additional advantage about a revoking light, that the length of time between the flashes will often indicate Ibc locality. It is *asy to understand. Jlk refore, the complaints which shipmasters make against the Timaru light-. and v.e may well wonder how it comes abnul thai sucli blunders as the Jack's Point lighthouse are made. It may be on the scrnt of economy, but it seems rather inconsistent

that a Government which does not hesi-, tatc to spend hundreds and thousands of pounds on useless extravagances should' grudge the veiy slight extra espenditu** necessary where such vital interests as the safely of human lives, to say nothing of the reputation of a port, are involved. But the economy, if such it can be called. is false; because in many instances the substitution of a revolving light for a n fixed beacon means the rebuilding of the whole lighthouse tower. Thus the vost of a tower for a revolving light may be £IOO more than the cost of a tower for a fixed lamp, but if the tower for a tixed light, has once been built it may cost £IOOO to pull it down and put up v«c for a revolving light. It is in matters like this that the administration of the Government is tried and so often 3<>wnd wanting. We cannot believe that »ny real

nautical expert was consulted in 5 lie ere< • ; tion of the Jack's Point lighthouse. P<s-; sib!y the votes for the Marine Depaitim-nt had to be curtailed in order t<> inak«- up for the expenditure incurred «n the Land .j Commission or on the special trains and < steamers of which we have had vme tx pe:icnce lat-tly: but for whatever ummo. the lighthouse at Jack's Point stands mil as .» nn-numen:- of blunderiii}: and imv.pacity. The other lighthouse we have mentioned, that at. Kahurangi. is if anyibinj: more useless than that at Jack's Point, for the frequency of bush li:es r.n the west coast of this island make." it mne ilian ever necessary that there should be no doubt as to which light ewees- from the

I .'-.filtl. Use. PoKwblv «■ i K'zr *<a»e day give greylcr p" nrmeiice H* ! lit; fiirifi we Ituvc anwt-i'- i. but- it I swans »]»on criminal, for •.■ *»•!>■<' <ii ft- ! feu- p-.unds. t» deb'bci';:ie]y :«+ stub a , <i,»if:<r. It must be *ica.:K . year sh»:e | ".if* M;r»i»ier *»f Marine promji- u. remedy, ; \lw tnifc\ down l3)f fo;iM. : T' ■ we rla.irs.ay 1r::t. iij political paibi;ir<> . tnylU.T in >, W,i.jt "Kept steadily Jti vj<'v. Ji will pit- iri'it' saljsfa.c-if.j-y t« a'l cow-eraed when. !'!*.' -■ 'r-jr expected flash 'H ;: |ji ttwP.i is in : ';.-•'. Iv-jry position. *