Dispute delays ship sailing

The Port Napier sailed yesterday forenoon from Port Chalmers, where she had been delayed from the previous evening, owing to the crew declining to go to sea in her. The crew were not satisfied that adequate precautions had been taken to deal with the outbreak of fire in a coal bunker, which had been flooded with water to extinguish the fire when the Port Napier came out of dock. Two days’ steaming at sea would have used up all the coal in the bunker, but the

fact that the cargo for discharge at Hobart, Melbourne, and Sydney included benzine was the disquieting factor with the men.

The captain inclined to emptying the bunker into iron railway trucks when the steamer came out of dock, but it is understood that Lloyds regarded flooding with water, which was done, as sufficient. As the result of a conference on board yesterday morning the Port Napier sailed for Hobart. She will return to the dominion to load for the United Kingdom.