THE LEADING WIND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 33, 9 February 1891, Page 4

THE LEADING WIND.

THE CARGO DISCHARGED,

The whole of the damaged flax cargo of the American ship Leading Wind is now discharged afc the Quay-street Jetty, amounting to about 570 tons in all. The kauri gum and ballast still remain to begot out, there being about 30 tons of gum in the ehip"s cargo, and the vessel will then be docked and surveyed. Theforeehore adjoining the Quay-street Jetty, ab the back of the Northern Roller Mills, presents a rather curious appearance just now, being strewn with hundreds of bales of dressed flax in a more or )es3 damaged condition, spread out to dry. Heaps of loose damaged flax are also lying on the wharf, where parcels of the stuff are auctioned each afternoon by Mr T. M. Jackson. The ship should be ready for docking in three or four days. There is reason to believe from a casual examination of the vessel's hold, that there were two separate fires bolow which necessitated the scuttling of the ship. From the appearance of the flax and the interior of the ship, it would appear that one tire, the more serious of the two, originated forward just abaft of the foremast, and the other about three beams forward of the mainhatch, with three tiers of flax bales between the two. The ship on the port sid« right forward hae her skin nearly burnt through by the fire. The foot of the foremast is charred. A number of beams are burnt right through, some of the deck carlines burnt, besides damage done by the fire in the 'tween-decks. The task of repairing the Loading Wind will, if it is decided to repair her, be a more eericus and expensive undertaking than was at first supposed. A large quantity of the less damaged of her fiax cargo car. be prepared for re-Ehipmenfc at an inconsiderable extra cost, From 20s tc 30= per ton has been paid at the auction sales for her loose damaged Sax on the wharf. (