LOOKING BACK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 21, 25 January 1936, Page 13

LOOKING BACK.

NOTABLE EVENTS.

WRECK NEAR LYTTELTON

NEXT WEEK'S ANNIVERSARIES

(By M.P.w.)

To be built at a cost of £22,000, sold once for £275, arid again for £7, was the fate of tlie barque Hay Queen, which was wrecked at Lvttelton on January 20, ISSB. This little vessel of 730 tons was on her sixteenth voyage to New Zealand when she came to grief. After a smart voyage of 91 days the May Queen arrived ofT the Lvttelton Heads in the early morning. The port pilot, Lewin, boarded the vessel and took her through the heads against a gusty south-west wind. When off Red Head and close inshore she missed stays and ran upon a reef between Camp Bay and Little Port Cooper. A tug endeavoured to tow the May Queen off, but it was in vain, for she had gone ashore at nearly high water, and as the tide had ebbed about a foot she held fast and would not budge an inch. The cargo was discharged into a lighter while the wreck began to settle clown, so that soon the whole of the main deck was under water. On January 28 the May Queen was abandoned, and two days later she was put up for sale by public auction, being bought for £275. Between 500 and 000 tons of carpo was salved, and the remainder, consisting of wines, spirits, fruit in hermetically sealed tanks, and a quantity of valuable ironware, oils, drugs and drapery, was sold by public auction and bought for £1000, The wreck was then sold again for £7. Woodcutter of Doom. On Monday William "11., ex-Kaiser of Germany, will be 77 years old. There will be a quiet family celebration in the refuge of Doom. A reception will be held, and the weary old man—once the bogey of Europe, indeed, of the world — will for a brief spell hold court as he did in years past. William was born in 1859, and succeeded his father, the Emperor Frederick, in 1888. His reign was marked by a strong militarism and an intense ambition to secure the dominance of Germany in the councils of Europe —an ambition which, by unscrupulous action and utter disregard of treaty obligations, brought about the most destructive war in the history of the world. To him was largely due the

' introduction of a system of war savagery ' which greatly increased the horrors of ' warfare and must leave an indelible . stain upon his name. With the defeat and disintegration of the German Empire in 1018 Kaiser Willielm fled to Holland I and found sanctuary at Doom. For more | than 17 years now the ex-monarch has '! lived quietly in his refuge, cutting down : trees for exercise and devoting his energy i towards the prosecution of his hobbies. ! Their master's birthday is the greatest ' of days in the year for the little colony , of exiles at Doom. On that day uniforms of old Imperialist Germany make a brief reappearance. The pomp and ceremony of Potsdam days are recalled by certain ceremonial customs associated with the Kaiser's birthday, and just for a day the departed glory of the House of Hohenzollern is officially resurrected. Fall of Paris. After a fotir months' siege, during which the citizens suffered frightful privations, Paris fell to the German invaders on January 28, 1871. This was practically the final act in the sequence of German successes that marked the | Franco-Prussian war. Napoleon 111. | declared war- on Germany, but the Germans were better prepared and won victory after victory. In September, I 1870, Napoleon was made prisoner, and, with the surrender of 80.000 French I troops at Sedan, a republic was pro- [ claimed. Then came the siege of Paris, i German forces cut the great city off j from all outside communication and there was a serious shortage of food. Prices of all commodities soared to almost unbelievable heights. The hungry people even paid big prices for rats, fat from the sewers of Paris. The two elephants from the Jardin de Plantes were sacrificed to the people's hunger. Repeated sallies were made by the defenders but it proved impossible to break the ring of German steel, and to the watching world it was evident that it must be only a question of time before the beleagured city should fall. Crushingly defeated by the great German military machine which was to come so near a much greater triumph 44 years later, France was compelled to cede to her conquerors Alsace and part of Lorraine, as well as agreeing to a war indemnity of more than £200,000,000. Our First Governor. It will be 00 years ago on Wednesday since Captain Hobson, R.N., New Zealand's first Governor, landed at Kororareka. His first big task was the selection of a site for his capital. His first choice was Russell, where he purchased an area of land. It was soon evident ! that he had made a mistake and he travelled down the west coast of North Auckland, finding no suitable site on tha;t then unattractive coast. His final selection was Auckland, where Captain Hobson took up his residence' a year after his arrival in the colony. The crowning act of Captain Hobson's brief term—indeed the peak of achievement in hi 3 whole life—was the accomplishment of the Treaty of Waitangi. Captain Hobson summoned a conference of native chiefs at Waitangi early in February, 1841. There he laid before them the celebrated treaty. It contained three articles —the first ceding to the Queen all the rights and powers of sovereignty ; over the whole territory of Xew Zealand; the second guaranteeing to the chiefs and their tribes all territorial • rights, subject to the exclusive right of I pre-emption on the part of the Crown. 1 to such lands as they might dispose of and alienate; the third binding Her I 1

Majesty to extend to the natives of New Zealand her Royal protection and to give them all tlie rights and privileges of British subjects. This treaty was signed by upwards of 500 natives and thenceforward New Zealand became British territory. A year later Captain Hobson, worn by ill-health and the strain of his arduous position, died. His work was done. Post Office Savings Bank. On February 1, the Post Ofiiee Savings Bank in New Zealand will be 09 years old. From small beginnings the bank has grown to be a factor in the lives of the majority of New Zealanders, 52 of every hundred of the population, including Maoris, holding accounts in it. Today there are 871 post ollices open for the transaction of post ofiiee savings bank business and the total number of open accounts at March 31, 1935, was 817,017. In 1884, the first year for which statistics are availale, there were 05.717 depositors with a total of £1,499,112 to their credit. Last year, the number of depositors was 817,017 with £49,423,714 to their credit. There was a steady increase in the amount standing to the credit of each depositor up to March 31, 1921, but a practically continuous fall was recorded to 1932 when the average amount standing to the credit of each depositor was £49 0/4. The clearest indication that New" Zealand was fighting her way from the depths of the depression was the increase in the average deposit from £50 4/2 in 1934 to £00 8/11 in 1935.