JULY 30.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 2947

(e.) With a line securely becketed round the outside of the boat.

(f.) With an efficient lantern, trimmed, with oil in its receiver sufficient to burn eight hours; or with some other lantern or light at least as effective approved by the Marine Department.

(2.) Life-rafts.—Life-rafts shall be provided with a suitable approved equipment, including life-lines.

9. ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT FOR CERTAIN BOATS.

(1.) In addition to the equipment prescribed in the preceding rule, the boats in all classes of foreign-going ships shall be equipped as provided in paragraphs (a) to (e), inclusive, of this subsection of this rule, but not more than half the boats in a ship of Class I, Foreign-going, or four of them, whichever number is the larger, need have the equipment prescribed in paragraph (a). The boats in Classes I to V, inclusive, Home Trade, shall be equipped as provided in paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) of this subsection of this rule.

(a.) With a mast or masts, and with at least one good sail and proper gear for each; but this does not apply to an approved motor-boat.

(b.) With an efficient compass.

(c.) With sufficient fresh water to give 1 pint per day for each person the boat is certified to carry; with sufficient plasmon biscuits, made of wheat-flour with 20 per cent. of plasmon, weighing 2 oz. or 4 oz. each, to give 8 oz. per day for each person, and with sufficient chocolate, in 1 oz. squares, to give 2 oz. per day for each person (home-trade ships to carry two days’ supply, and ships plying beyond home-trade limits four days’ supply); with matches, six blue lights, twelve fish-hooks, and three fishing-lines. The water shall be kept in airtight metal tanks or in proper kegs, and shall be kept in such part of the boat as may be approved by the Surveyor. Each water-vessel shall have attached to it a dipper or other approved means of getting the water out without waste, and when tanks are used they shall have screw tops 3½ in. inside measurement, each top to have two snugs ¾ in. deep and ¾ in. diameter. The other articles enumerated in this subsection shall be kept in airtight and watertight receptacles, with screw tops 5 in. inside measurement, each top to have two snugs each ¾ in. deep and ¾ in. diameter, and such receptacles shall be securely fastened in the boats and life-rafts: Provided that screw tops which were procured without the prescribed snugs by shipowners prior to the 23rd November, 1903, may be used if they are made so that they can be screwed up and unscrewed without difficulty, and the Surveyor considers they are suitable.

Provided further that boats and rafts supplied prior to the date hereof with water and provisions in accordance with the rules made by the hereinbefore-recited Orders in Council of the 23rd day of November, 1903, and of the 23rd day of June, 1910, shall not be required to be supplied under this rule so long as a Surveyor of Ships is satisfied with the condition and quality of such provisions and water.

In the case of collapsible boats, the water and provisions, &c., may be stored in a proper receptacle on the ship placed close to the boats, in which case they shall be placed and secured in the boats as soon as the boats are opened and spread out ready for lowering. In the case of vessels not certified to carry passengers which carry more boats than are required to carry all persons on board, it shall be sufficient if enough boats to carry all persons on board are provided with water, provisions, &c.; but the word “provisions” shall be clearly marked on those so provided.

(d.) Life-rafts shall be provided with water and with provisions of the same kinds and on the same scale as boats as set forth in subsection (c) of this clause, to be kept in similar receptacles, each of which shall have a screw top at each end so that it may be unscrewed whichever side of the raft may be uppermost, and with suitable equipment, including a mast and sail and four oars securely attached to the raft, a painter of sufficient length, sea-anchor, and 20 fathoms of hawser. A sheath-knife shall be provided for each raft, and shall be kept in a suitable place in the chart-house or chief officer’s room, as approved by the Surveyor.

(e.) With 1 gallon of vegetable or animal oil, and a vessel of approved pattern for distributing it in the water in rough weather.

(f.) With one dozen self-igniting red lights in a watertight tin, and a box of suitable matches in a watertight tin.

(2.) All boats shall be fully equipped and provided with the additional equipment prescribed in this rule, where this applies, before the ship leaves harbour, and both the equipment and the additional equipment, if any, shall remain in the boat throughout the voyage while the ship is at sea. In the case of a boat which is stowed beneath another boat, if it is not practicable to place the whole of the equipment or of the additional equipment in the boat, such part as is not placed in the boat shall be stowed in a suitable locker near the boat, and each article shall be marked with the number of the boat to which it belongs. Such of the articles placed in a boat as are liable to be stolen or mislaid shall be properly secured to the boat.

10. NUMBER OF PERSONS FOR LIFE-RAFTS.

The number of persons that any approved life-raft for use at sea shall be deemed to be capable of carrying shall be determined by the Marine Department with reference to each separate pattern approved: Provided always that for every person so carried there shall be at least 3 cubic feet of strong and serviceable enclosed airtight compartments, constructed so that water cannot find its way into them. Any approved life-raft of other construction may be used provided that it has equivalent buoyancy to that hereinbefore described. Every such approved life-raft shall be marked in such a way as plainly to indicate the number of persons for which it is approved.

11. BUOYANT APPARATUS.

Approved buoyant apparatus, whether buoyant deck-seats, buoyant deck-chairs, or other buoyant apparatus, shall be deemed sufficient, so far as buoyancy is concerned, for a person or a number of persons to be ascertained by dividing the number of pounds of iron which it is capable of supporting in fresh water by 32. Such buoyant apparatus shall be of approved material and construction, and if it depends for its buoyancy on air shall not require to be inflated before use, and shall be marked in such a way as plainly to indicate that it is buoyant and the number of persons for which it is approved, and that a line is securely becketed round it.

12. LIFEBELTS.

An approved lifebelt shall mean a jacket of approved material and construction which, if it depends for its buoyancy on air, does not require to be inflated before use, and which is capable of floating in fresh water for twenty-four hours with 15 lb. of iron suspended from it. Lifebelts for children shall be of suitable size, and capable of floating in fresh water for twenty-four hours with 12 lb. of iron suspended.

13. LIFEBOYS.

An approved lifebuoy shall mean either—

(a.) A lifebuoy built of solid cork, capable of floating in fresh water for at least twenty-four hours with 32 lb. of iron suspended from it; or

(b.) A strong lifebuoy of any other approved pattern and material which is capable of floating in fresh water for twenty-four hours with 32 lb. of iron suspended from it, and which is not stuffed with rushes, cork-shavings or other shavings, or loose granulated cork, or other loose material, and which, if it depends for its buoyancy on air, does not require inflation before use.

All lifebuoys shall be fitted with beackets securely seized, and at least one on each side of the vessel shall be fitted with a life-line at least 15 fathoms in length. At least half the lifebuoys required in any ship, and not fewer than six in any passenger-steamer (other than a steamer in Classes VI, VII, VIII, IX, or X, Home Trade) shall have placed near them, with means for attachment to them, efficient lifebuoy lights, inextinguishable in water, to the satisfaction of the Marine Department.

14. POSITION OF LIFEBOYS AND LIFE BELTS.

All lifebuoys and lifebelts shall be suitably placed to the satisfaction of a Marine Department Surveyor and so as to be readily accessible to all persons on board, and their position shall be plainly indicated, so that it may be known to those for whom they are intended.

15. APPLICATION OF RULES.

These rules shall come into force on the 1st October, 1914, subject to the following exceptions:—

(1.) Such requirements as involve structural alterations to the ship shall not apply until the 1st June, 1915: Provided that in the case of a ship having a passenger-steamer’s certificate in force on the 1st October, 1914, the