CASTLE POINT LIGHT.

Dominion, Issue 1337, 15 January 1912, Page 6

CASTLE POINT LIGHT.

IS IT A BLUNDER? ".\'o USE TO COASTAL SHIPS." The impending erection of a lighthouse on Castle Point meets with scant favour among ships' officers trading on the coast. They think that the locale should lw Flat Point, and tho wisdom of tho Marino Department in (-electing tho other site does not commend itself to them. Many of them regard the choico of sites which has been made as sheer blunder. Typical of these opinions is tho following by a well-known captain. His statement was made to a Dominion representative on Saturday:— Flat Point the Right Place. "A light on Castle Point."' he>said, "is absolutely useless to coastal shipping, and for the life of me I cannot see why the Government insist upon electing one here. Pint Point is the place where a light should bo erected. There is not tho shghtest doubt about this, and I think that I am expressing the same opinion as any master mariner or seafaring man would givo who has used the East Coast for the p:ist 25 years, as I' have done. I no.ro is not a bay or a point between Capo Palliser and Gisborne that I don't know, sj I think I am competent to express au opinion on Hie matter." , 'As a matter of fact," ho continued, the Marino Department might just as well erect no light at all, if thev are going to insist on Castle Point as'tho site. VVhen the vote was taken by tho Merchant Service Guild some time hack with a view to ascertaining how many masterswere in favour of one site or the other, the verdict was almost unanimous in favour of Plat Point. Only two were against it Now, why does tho Government do a thing winch they must know to bo of no use whatever? Flat Point is the most easterly point between Cape Kidnappers and Cape Palliser, and a light erected there would not bo obstructed at all, and cpuld be seen plainly right up and down the coast. In answer to a question as to the nature of tho ground as affecting tho erection of buildings, etc., at Flat Point, the captain replied: "That is another thing over which tho Government WPM.T to ba totally in tho dark. Although there i 9 some low-lying ground about this point, there are also about 400 or 500 acres of high ground quite handy to the beach where a light could be erected. From high-water mark to tie toot of the hills there i 9 a gentle slope of from 1J to 2 miles of high and dry ground." n." Y «*i the Ending is good in fair weather, ho replied in answer to a further question. "As a matter of fact, it is exposed to the south, south-east, and south-west weather, but I maintain that a .???" la " l " ui! ; can be made at the Point." How about the swamps that are reP°, r c.d to exist around about Flat Point?" well,' said tho man of 25 years" experience, "there is a bit of a swamp to the south aid of the Point, caused by the ie Lnu Unu creek, but I fail to see how this is going to affect the erection of buildings. Mr. Cameron, who owns I'lot Point Station, has' his homestead and outbuildings erected there. So what is to slop the Government from erecting buildings also? Why, at the present time, there are about 200 bales ot wool stacked right down on tho beach awaiting shipment. This does not look (ike as if the swamp is much of an inconvenience, does it? One of the Hon. J. A. Millar's Dicta. "The argument put forward by . tho Hon. J. A. Millar (Minister for Marine) that you must never put a light at the back of a danger is absurd. Take, for instance, the light on Tuahino Point, in Poverty Bay. That light was sanctioned by the present Administration, and it is placed at the back of dangers almost— 1. say olniost-as bad as thoso in the vicinity of Flat Point. In tho case of X lat I omt you have dangers extending from Lruti Point to Kahau Hocks-a di* wf t? ■ a l bo,l t w niilcs of coastlino with fat Point midway between.' Coming to the question of the height ot the light one can give a very good example oj. the benefits derived from a low- ying ught by referring to our own low-lying light at Pencarrow. For years S& m ?. st ?v ?I ged the authorities to Ihe benefits derived from it are great because it is a well-known fact that,Tn tunes of fog a low-lying light is much easier to pick up than a high one! Flat Point in Navigation. "I may add that Flat Point is the "sing the East Coast, Take, for in. stance, a vessel coming down from Gisborne o Wellington. Her master takes a bearing at Portland Island light and sets a course that will take him to a aismJv- 1 Crs °? urso so as to clear I'lat Point by about four miles. At this ennl,u P"\ alte , re llis «urse, and this enables him to clear Cape Palliser by tour to five miles." This was ono case instanced by tho captain in which Castlo Point is left out, as a point in shaping a course, and Flat rwi 'if-'\, In , fi?ct tho vessel clears Castlo Point by about five miles, and as a point of direction it has not to be reckoned with at all. The captain continued :-Then, again, take the case of the small coastal steamore trading up and down the coast-one coming from Napier to Wellington, for instance. A captain, when ho has rounded Cape Kidnappers, sets a courso from a distance of tlu-co miles off, and, by steering "south three-quarters west," he will come down the coast in a direct line, and clear Capo Tumagain by three miles. t l,, 10 ! I ,^, 1 " 5 courso again-this time lor Flat Point, not for Castlo Point, and steering a south by west course, makes JMat Point at a distance of five miles. i\ow tho courso is altered again to south-west by west," and this takes him about two miles off Kahau Kocks, and so on down the coast until Palliser Light is picked up. From the above two instances it will be seen that Flat Point is an important point in the navigation of vessels on this part of the coast, and Castle Point isof no significance at all, Ono of the strongest contentions put forward by the captain was as follows:— He stated that all masters of vessels were anxious to check the distance run from Capo Palliser up north on a dirty night, and, when it is thick and raining 'heavily, it is very difficult to pick up Flat Point —the very point which a captain wants to pick up, seeing that he has shaped a course for thorc. In tho case of a south-easter, when the vessel is running up the coast, tho sea and storm are abeam. Manv an anxious hour has been spent by those on watch, looking out for Flat Point, because, when this dangerous vicinity is passed, a master mariner knows where ho is, and his vessel can be "paid off" about 2J points with safety, thus getting the wind and sea directly behind. If the turning point cannot bo picked up, the vessel's head must be put to sea, and,'in consequence, time is lost, and there aro anxious hours for all on (ward. A light on Flat Point would obviate all that. In conclusion, our informant said: "Seeing that representatives of tho various shipping companies in New Zealand are at present assembled in Wellington, I think that o big deputation should bo formed, consisting of these representatives and a few master mariners, and this deputation should wait on tho Minister for Marine and endeavour to convince him that a mistake is being made."