SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA

Hokitika Guardian, 20 April 1929, Page 8

SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA

CONFERENCE OPENS

I M~P<) RTA NCE 0 U AV I R EL ESS

(British Official AVirelesß.)

RUGBY, April lfi

The first meeting ed' the- International Conference mi the Safety of Life nt Sea opened this morning at the Foreign Oflieu. Delegates were; present 'Venn thirteen foreign e-ountries anel rcprese-iitative-s from the League of Nations were also present.

Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, President, of the Hoard of Trade, conveyed to the. Conference a message from the King extending a cordial welcome to the delegates. llis Majesty recalled the Conference which met in London over lb years ago, and expressed iiis pleasure that so many of the countries which had participated in that Coiiforenoo were now once more united in safety of life at sea.

Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, addressing the Conference said: “The purpose of this Conference is to review the Cnnifercilee of 1014, and we assemble almost on the anniversary of the Titanic disaster, which was the immediate cause of the last Conference. Thai Conference! was ol the greatest value!. It .was a novel anel ambitious experiment, and sought te> cover a wide (ie*lel. Most of the questions affecting the saifety, of passenger ships e-amo within its purview. “ The the Conference disperses], and within six months came the cataclysm of the Great War, and now weave* met again, all allies in the common r-n use of humanity, and the very experience of war will be played in aid eif this pacific task. “ Much time anel study have boon devoted to the problems of construction, and provisiemal cone-lusious have been tested by their actual application to new ships. Great develop me-nfs have taken place in wireless telegraphy. Wireless is bee-mning, i' it lias not already become, the most important element in the safety of bleat sea to-day. It not only insures the greatest safety of ships which carry it. hut it makes sue-h a ship the potential saviour of her sister ships. On these, and on the other problems ■on bring to bear the indivielual and collective experience which is unrivalled.”

On the proposal of Mr Wallace AVliitelieael, of the Unite-el States delegation. Vice-Admiral Sir 11. Riediuiond, chairman eif the British delegation, took the e-hair.

AIMS OF CONFERENCE

RUGBY, April 17

Sir Austen Chamberlain, expressing the Geivernment’s wcle-ome at a dinner last night te» the- elelegates eif theTntcrnntienial Confe-rene-e e>n the Safety of Life at Sea, described the e-on-ferene.-c as one uniting many nations in the ties eif eremimon, human sympathy. 'flic German Ambassaelor, Hr Fricelrioh Stliamcr. said the British Government, in inviting to London delegates of all seafaring nations, had again shown its traditional readiness to help international co-operation. Mutual goeielwill, and a sine-ore- desire to help humanity, were the meitives of the conference.