FIRES ON WOOL SHIPS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 26, 25 October 1907, Page 9

FIRES ON WOOL SHIPS.

.■ Sir,—Under tlio above heading, • a lettersigned '.'Prevention"'appeared in : yesterday V issue of'your paper; '.As' an'officer of manv years', experience 'on the' coastal 'steamers b? 'this: country, ,1 take exception'to tho inai-; curate ; statements 'made''ill' your' correspond clent's letter. During' my' twenty-two' years', experience :at sea, 'Mr. ' Editor, I have 'been compelled on one occasion : to ( check a'lumper for .smoking in a vessel's hold, and that occurred during my temporary 'absenco fr6nv thei ihold.'j iAs regards an officer being Cheeked for, smoking in ' the hold by v "Mr. Preven-' 1 tion,"we shall'take .that for. what'it is worth,, for,such indiscretion; would entairinstant dismissal, iapart; from l the question' of how: air .officer; could 'possibly have any control over Jus;:men- if he did such'a" thing Himself. I

will admit' that when coal is being discharged' from a. steamer's'hold it is a 'common practice for the;men working.in :the hold to smoke whilst there,- provided there is : rio .'general, cargo': ia•.the isame' hold;.'';?!-. can guarantee, sir, that if:you wero to go and look'down tho hatchway ; of . --the "Union!' Company's steamers with a pipe 'or ! cigar in your mouth', \evon if the hold contained'nothing- of a very inflammablo nature), tho officer in charge ; of ■tho hold.would:vory soon shift you.

."Prevention" statesHh.at, "For many:years hOjWas in a: position'where his duties brought" lnm intimately:: into connection with , iho .workers and officers of steamers,' and' lie Led to i;epeatedly .check both for smoking in the holds." Can any one possessing a grain of common sonse and acquainted with tho working ,of ships land their regulations tako 'this presumptuous . individual • seriously ? I certainly do not, and the object: I have in view in writing this jptteris to assuro that section of - tho public (who thighs- possibly- think that the statements' made by "Prevention" could V relied upon-:as-correct) that they are born of a diseased imagination/: "Prevention" ridicules the theory of spontaneous combustion, as. being untenable)-and sets down every firo originating on board ship to tho agency of an pfficor or-a lumper smoking. I would therefore not bo surprised l to learn from his next letter : that. ; he : at.tributes the -caus'o of these fires to incendiarism on the part of th'o officers,, Taking "Prevention's" : letter as ■ a whole, I should say that at some timo or othor.be had his corns severely trodden upon by ,a ship's officer, and now imagines that ho sees his , way to retaliate' by giving utterance to a malicious libel an officers generally. —I am, etc., : . ' "PRACTICAL." Wellington, October 23, 1907.- .