The Globe. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1875.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 397, 20 September 1875, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1875.

It is high time that some more efficient inspection of the steamers trading and carrying passengers along the New Zealand coast was enforced. However ably a steamer is commanded, there is always a chance of an accident, and if such a chance happens no means of saving life should have been omitted. Any one, however, whose business compels him to travel in our coasting steamers must have been struck with the manner in which the boats are invariably secured. The Passenger Act is complied with as far as the actual number of boats is concerned, but for all practical purposes they might as well be left in port. They are usually covered over, and iron clamps with strong lashings make

them fast on deck. When a cover is cut away in the case of an emergency, as likely as not the boat is discovered to be half full of water, and utterly useless at the time it is wanted. Prom the very position, too, in which the boats are carried, launching any one of them would be a matter of difficulty and the old system of falls is still adhered to, though Clifford’s patent has long ago been pronounced by competentauthoriticsto be infinitely safer and handier. The life buoys, too, are stowed away, instead of being fixed where they could be of use if any one fell overboard, and as many of the steamers now running between the New Zealand ports average over ten knots an hour under full steam, an unfortunate swimmer would be left far behind in very few minutes, with nothing to assist him in supporting himself in the water. Under these circumstances the chances are very much against a man encumbered with clothes being picked up. In the case of a steamer going on to a reef, we believe it would be almost impossible to get boats cleared away and launched in time to save life. In such a case there is always considerable excitement, and when a crowd of passengers, many of whom are women and children, are encumbering the deck, it adds to the difficulty of accomplishing the launching successfully. The steamers, too, run their trips very short-handed, and the number of men in a watch, on board a vessel of five hundred tons is ludicrously inadequate in cases of emergency. Of course, as long as all goes well, a very small crew is required for a full powered steamer, not trusting to the aid of canvass, but there are times when the paucity of hands is a source of danger. The sense of security, arising from a long series of successful trips, renders both captain and officers over confident, and this confidence is sometimes rudely shaken. There have been numerous steamers lost on the New Zealand coast, and in almost every case the boats have been of very little service, though the conditions of the law have been complied with as far as the letter is concerned. We have no reason to believe that the present commanders of coasting steamers are superior to some of those who have been unfortunate enough to lose their vessels, and similar losses will again take place. As long as the present inspection is, as it appears, a mere farce, so long will human life be sacrificed by carelessness, and a fancied imunnity from danger indulged in by men who are in command of vessels.