FIRE AND WET WOOL.

The West Australian, Perth, Saturday 22 October, 1910.

FIRE ON THE KOOMBANA.

VESSEL REACHES PORT HEDLAND.

THE JUNEE STANDING BY.

Port Hedland, October 21.

At 1 o'clock yesterday morning a fire

broke out in the No. 1 hold of the steamer

Koombana, when she was between Port

Hedland and Broome. The hatch was

sealed down, and a patent fire extinguisher

was brought into requisition. The passengers 

awakened later in the morning to find smoke 

in the cabins and the ship at full speed for 

Port Hedland, where she arrived at noon. 

Portions of the vessel were very hot all day 

yesterday, and the No. 2 hold, which was full 

of smoke, was sealed down. The steamer 

Junee was to have left for Derby at to-day's 

tide, but the fire on the Koombana was not 

sufficiently under control to warrant her 

departure. On the up trip the Koombana 

took in 68 bales of wool at Shark's Bay, 

and this wool, it is considered, caused the fire. 

In the same hold as the wool was a lot of chaff 

for the sheep it was intended to ship at Carnarvon. 

The practice of shipping wet wool at Nor'-West 

ports is said to be becoming much too prevalent. 

Recently 20 bales were taken from Port Hedland, 

which had been out in 4 inches of rain.

The Clayton apparatus was able to extinguish overt fires in holds but had marked limitations with regard to kernels of smouldering deep within piles. The following extract illustrates the seriousness of transporting wet wool and attempts made by New Zealand to regulate the carriage of wool.

The Sydney Morning Herald, Monday 5 November, 1906

NEW ZEALAND COMMISSION ON

WET WOOL.

The findings of tho Royal Commission in

New Zealand appointed to inquire into the

causes and make recommendations for the

prevention of fires on wool ships are drastic.

In an interim report the commissioners declare 

that the law in New Zealand relating to the 

shipment of damp wool is defective,

inasmuch as no one is appointed to carry

out prosecutions, therefore they recommend

that provision be made for the appointment of

inspectors to inspect wool before shipment.

Such Inspectors to be empowered to withhold

from shipment any wool that they may deem

unfit, and to decide how such wool shall be

dealt with by way of re-conditioning or other-

wise. Also that the inspectors shall be 

empowered to institute proceedings for breaches

of the law. Paragraph six of the report is

to the effect "that it be prima-facio evidence

of negligence in packing or false packing. If

at any time wool is found in the possession

of an owner and a shipper for the time

being shall be deemed to be the owner-

in such a condition that it is not, in the opinion

of the inspectors, in a fit condition for shipment 

when offered for shipment. Dealing with negligence 

in packing the commissioners think that a fine 

would meet the case, but where false packing 

is proved such offence should be punishable by 

imprisonment without the option of a fine. As to 

the cost of Inspection that is to be covered "by a 

charge upon every bale of wool shipped from the

colony" This evidently will slightly increase the cost 

of New Zealand wool. Still something has to be done, 

for obviously there cannot be a repetition of the losses 

borne and the dangers incurred, as last season by the

fires on tho wool ships Fines and Imprisonment borne 

by delinquents are small matters compared to fires on 

large ocean steamers full of valuable freight and carrying 

hundreds of people, If only the wet wool were burnt

the case would not be so serious, but It endangers the 

good conditioned wool and imperils the ship and all the 

lives on board.

Doubtless effect will be given to the recommendations in 

time to prevent any repetition of last season's losses.

Two years after this commission made recommendations, which were not exclusive to New Zealand, the Nor'west trade, in keeping with the philosophy of 'non interference', ignored the risk which resulted in the fire on board Koombana.

My impression thus far is one of the Adelaide Steamship Company's persistence with profit-driven autonomy at the cost of safety - particularly with regard to the Nor'west trade which was in a developmental phase and offered rudimentary port services . The coastal service was a matter of national pride, which to some extent, bearing in mind the outcome of the two Inquiries thus far, took precedence over accountability.