MANNING OF LAUNCHES.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19141, 26 October 1927, Page 14

MANNING OF LAUNCHES.

MINISTER EXPLAINS DEPART-

MENT'S VIEW

[IKB PBBBH Special B«tTiee.]

WELLINGTON, October 2o

That the Marine Department, considers that launches carrying cargo or passengers should not be allowed to go to sea unless they were manned by at j least two experienced men was emphasised by the Minister for Marino (Mr Anderson) in the House of Representatives to-day, when a Nelson petition asking that the river limits be extended was referred to the Government for consideration. The desire of the petitioners was that settler launcliowners should be allowed to nso thoir launches for carrying supplies and farm products to and from Nelson. "This is one of those problems that came along, and it is really the outcome of the change to motor transport that is going on all over New Zealand," said the Minister. Petrol-en-gined launches had superseded . the old-fashioned methods of sailing, and experience had shown that when petroldriven vessels went to sea it was necessary to have on board at least two experienced men who were conversant with the machinery. Recent experiences, one of which occurred in Auckland Harbour, had brought home the necessity of strict compliance with that requirement. There was nothing in the law "to prevent an individual taking out his own boat or going where he liked, but the moment passengers and cargo entered into 'the question the owner was np against the experience of many years of "the Marine Department. Ip Auckland Harbour recently a man went out alone in a launch, and'while he was attending to the engine the launch was run into by one of the ferry boats The said, he had told the petitioners that if Parliament were approached and the Select Committee recommended that ■ the law should be amended, the responsibility would bo assumed by the House. He was not prepared to ' take' the responsibility. Actually the report of the Committee had left the position where it was. Ho had hoped that the recommendation would be either "yes" or "no." The matter would be thoroughly gone into by Cabinet. . - "This desire to get vessels out with less than the manning schedule the experience of the Department has shown to be necessary is common all over New Zealand,'? added the Minister.