The Evening Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 1870.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 175, 1 August 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 1870.

" Soekoav from tlie son." There is something very sad in the loss of the ' lauranga.' The pre'ty little steamer was such a favorite, her re-appearance from her trips North and f"outh were so regular and so frequent, th>tt her coming hack no more will be noted with feelings not usual towards an inanimate object; ami the sincere esteem in which her commander was held, and the family and social ties that connected her crew and passengers with the city and the Bay, and the strange sad fate that came so suddenly upon them! all combine to invest the loss of the ' Tauranua' with unusual sorrow. Had she run upon a rock, or. tntt ing with the winds, been driven and wrecked on h lee shore, it were such a fate as sailors might anticipate, and travellers cou d nut regard a.s impossible. But in open ocean, when proceeding on her course, with lights burning, and every customai'y precaution, to come suddenly on a floating mass, moving noiseless and black, as the waste of waters around ; without a moment's warning, to plunge headlong, with all her living freight, beneath the waves, one wild shriek of agony alone telling of life ent;ulphed in the waters —there is something in the thought of this from which we instinctively shrink. We would not add one straw to the burthen of trouble that is rest i:>g on the unhappy men that were sailing the ' Knierprisc' If they have been guilty of negligence, and so caused the loss of the 'Taumnga,' God help them ! for they will ha\e a heavy reckoning with public tee:ins;. Jt they are guiltless ot this terrible misfortune, they deserve sympathy, not blame. }'ut it does sei-m incomprehensible, that while steamers aiv Bul-ji-cted to such rigid rules regarding tijjhts when moving through the waters, and rules which appear to be invariably observed, small coasting sailing craft proceed darkly on their way, without anything to afford an indication of their pre sence. In no respect less dangerous than a steamer, " the ketch had no lights up at the time ;" and as " the steamer's were only seen when it was too late to prevent a collision," we may conclude the ketch had no "look-out" either. The enquiry will elicit on whom blame rests, an J we would not anticipate that enquiry by any remarks. Of all on board the 'Tauranga,' not one lives to tell the tale of " sorrow from the sea." We have but the admissions of those on board the ' Knterprise,' whose almost miraculous escape, has prevented the agony of waiting and wondering for months, if not for years, what could have become of the steamer and the ketch, both disappearing on the same day. iilame rests somewhere; for it is monstrous to think that, besides the ordinary dangers of the deep, there must be superadded such perils as this disaster has forced on our attention. Public safety demands an investigation of the most searching kiud. The materials are not complete, but we must make the most of them. The crew ot the 'Tauranga' will not appear, even to repel the'censure, "'/he steamer kept on her course, without stopping to enquire if assistance was r- quired." Poorßolger ! ho was not the man to shirk duty, or to leave the drowning to their late. .His steamer kept indeed " on her course"—and ail too rapidly to permit him to " stop and enquire it assistance was required."