New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-11
MAKE STEAMERS SAFER.
NEW RULES ADOPTED.
Better Life PreserUers and other
Precautions after Nay /.
LFnoM rHn rRIpuNE BURrAU.l

washington March 1O-Under the rule
promulgated by the Department of Commerce
and Labor, after May life preservers made OF
kahok or loose granulated cork must be ais
carded by all passenger carrying steamboats,
and no preservers made of these materials can
be passed at the factory inspection This reg
uIation. prescribed by the Board of Supervising
Inspectors will be rigidly enforced and Will
affect vessels on every navigable stream in the
United States While it will entail q consid-
cradle hardship to the owners and managers Oh
steamboat companies. it is regarded as PROB
ably the most beneficial of all rules recently
promulgated and that will be OF vast ala
in protecting the public when disasters occur on
The water.
While it is impossible to form an accurate
estimate of the number of kahok and loose
graduated cork life preservers now. in the
equipment Of vessels in New-York waters 1t is
believed to be so large that when. after May l,
these preservers are declared useless a heavy
loss will result. One vessel alone is known to
have on board more than 500 Of these condemned
life preservers, and numerous others are re-
ported 10 have purchased, them within the last
year in greater or smaller quantities. So far as
is known there is disposition on the part OF
vessel owners to obstruct the strict observance
of this regulation. while, the contrary, de-
partment officials have received many commu-
the belief that strict compliance viii result in
a material decrease Of the dangers encountered
in steamboat disasters
1t is the intention of the government to insist
hereafter that every life preserver adjustable to
the body shall be made of good cork blocks or
other suitable material approved by the Board
OF Supervising Inspectors. and that the pre-
server shall be covered with material of suff-
cient strength fully TO protect the contents.
no cva aI,H hIlpNy "a
and the method of their distribution through the
cabins. staterooms, berths and other places con-
venient for passengers is carefully laid down
with such wealth of detail that there can be
possible nisconception in the future.
The new rules contain strict provisions for ac-
cdent drill on passenger steamers, fire fighting
and life saving equipment. with thorough and
systematic examination by competent fnspec-
tors; improved boiler inspection, regulations for
the protection of inf1ammabe material from fire,
hfeboats and lifeioats of approved patterns,
limitation of the number of passengers carried,
and other serviceable rules will do much toward
allayng anxiety in the public mind as the
son for steamboat excursions approaches.
With the close Of their labOrs in preparing
the most complete set Of rules and regulations
ever promulgated for the safety of passengers
afloat the members of the Board of Super
Vising Inspectors believe that they have steam
boat travel thoroughly safeguarded as is pos
sible. and that all that is now required reduce
the danger of accident to a minimum is a rigid
compliance with their provisions.