Ship Surveys Criticised

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31112, 15 July 1966, Page 1

Ship Surveys Criticised

(Neto Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 14. The Merchant Service Guild has labelled the Marine Department as “bureaucrats who have strongly resolved that there is no place for a master mariner at the head of the survey branch.”

During the last 12 months the guild had made strenuous attempts to rectify the unsatisfactory position on the survey of ships in New Zealand, said the general secretary (Captain J. W. Dickinson) in the annual report. “Strong representations were made to the Minister of Marine and the Marine Department for the appointment of a chief nautical surveyor as a first step towards giving the master mariner his rightful place and proper recognition for his qualifications in this important work in the shipping industry. “But,” said Captain Dick-

inson, "our case has fallen on deaf ears. The guild has been told repeatedly that an engineer must hold not only the position of chief surveyor of ships but the district offices throughout the country must also be controlled by engineers. “New Zealand is the only country in the Commonwealth, if not in the world, where master mariners remain subordinate to marine engineers in the survey of ships.” Captain Dickinson said that the present practice of ship surveys in New Zealand left a great dea“ to be desired where all too often expediency took precedence over professional considerations.