LIFEBOAT AT THE HEADS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 169, 13 April 1921, Page 11

LIFEBOAT AT THE HEADS

PROPOSAL APPROVED BY COMMERCIAL MEN.

Reference was made at yesterday’s meeting of the council of the Central Chamber of Commerce to the proposal to establish a lifeboat station in the vicinity of Wellington Heads. After referring to the accident at the Hcfds when all hands on the Omaka were drowned, tho chairman (Mr. A. L. Hunt) stated that at a meeting recently convened by the Wellington Shipowner.-' Association, Captain Petersen had suggested a scheme involving the establishment of a lifeboat service at Seatoun, and in that connection proposed that as there was always a body of artillerymen stationed at Fort Dorset, the Government might be approached to allow them to form the crew of the boat. The cost of a modern lifeboat would he in the vicinity of .£lOOO, but as most of the latest lifeboats on the English coast were motor lifeboats, the cost might be varied. His proposal was that the original cost might be met by subscriptions and donations, and that the cost of maintenance could be 'borne by a slight increase in the light dues, which the shipowners would not object to. In connection with the foundering of tho Omaka, Mr. Hunt aaid that although the accident had been witnessed and reported from Poncarrow lighthouse, moans of rescue from Wellington hnxl been too far away for anything effective to be done. A suggestion had been made that means of communication might be made between Penearrow and Rona Bay, in order that the fishermen there might lie called upon in an emergency. The lifeboat proposal was heartily approved. . It is understood that steps are being taken to facilitate the matter.