PRESENTATION TO THE DUNEDIN FIRE BRIGADE.

Bruce Herald, Volume II, Issue 49, 16 March 1865, Page 5

PRESENTATION TO THE DUNEDIN FIRE BRIGADE.

The ceremony of presenting 1 the cheers and men of the Dunedin Volunteer Fire Brigade with a sum of L6OO, raised by public subscription, with an accompanying testimonial, as a token of the manner in which their past services are appreciated, by the inhabitants of this city, took place at the engine house last evening*. Captain Hobbs and the other officers and the members of the Brigade were present in uniform. The Testimonial Committee, comprising', Messrs. Quick, Perkins, Thoneman, Hart, Basting's, Jones, Joseph, Grey,.. Isaac, and Melluish, having- been introduced by Mr Bastings, the Chairman (Mr Quick) addressed the Brigade, and* said he had been delegated by a committee of citizens to. express their high sense of the very valuable services rendered to the city by the Fire Brigade ever since its formation • but he was sorry that selection, had not been made of some gentleman, better able to do ju-tice to. the subject. Torecount the many occasions on which the Fire Brigade had, by their exertions, pre»veted the destruction of a far greater amount of property than had been destroyed would only weary them ; but hecould not refrain from alluding more particularly to two of those occasions — one when the Bank of Otago was burned, and the other when the fire broke out in theOctagon. Any one who was present at either of these fires could not but come to^ the conclusion that the vigilance exercised' by the Brigade was the sole means of preserving- a great part of the city from actual ruin. As a token, therefore, of the high sense of gratitude with which their services were recognised by the citizens, he had great pleasure in presenting"- the Brigade with the sum of L6OO, together with an accompanying* testimonial. He might add that the Committee had not considered it their duty to mention any specificobject to which the fund might be applied, but it was suggested that it should be placed to the credit of their Sick and Accident Fund. He would now call on the Secretory of the Committee to read thetestimonial, which accompanied the presentation as a memento of the occasion.. This document which was neatly lithographed, and enclosed in a frame, was read by the secretary, Mr Perkins, as follows • — " Testimonial to the- Officers and Members of the Dunedin Volunteer FireB/igade. The citizens of Dunedin, desions of testifying' their gratitude to the Officers and Members of the Brigade for their many distinguished services in protecting life and property from the ravages of fire, and their admiration of the courage, zeal, and discipline evinced at all times by the Brigade in the performance of its arduous duties, present this testimonial, together with the accompanying amount of L6OO. Signed on behalf of the Committeeappointed at a public meeting held on the 25th day of January, 1860. E. Quick,, chairman. L. Thoneman, treasurer. W. Perkins, lion, sec." Captain Hobbs, in, returning thanks on behalf of the Brig-ade for the very substantial manner in which, which their services had been recognised, by the inhabitants of Dunedin, expressed o hope that the occasions would be few and fur between, when their services would, be required, but at the same time the Brigade, individually and collectively, would' make it their study never to. forfeit the confidence reposed in- them. Before the ceremony concluded,. Mr Quick said he had been requested to mention that Mr Henry Hoyt promised the collectors on. going round-, that at any time when horses were requested, he wouid be most happy to lend- them to the Brigade; in addition,, he believed, to a subscription that he had given (o the fund. The announcement was received with applause. Three cheers, having been given, for the Oommittee and; the same compliment paid to the Press,, the deputation withdrew, and the proceedings terminated; — ' Daily Times,.'

THE SHENANDOAH AFFAIR. The intense feeling excited in the public mind when it became known that our Victorian Government had seized the Confederate war steamer Shenandoah as it lay peacefully on tl^e government slip, did not subside during yesterday. Tlje whole matter partaking as H does of elements of interest almost unknown to our community, was naturally made the most of, and public conversation ran on few other topics. Strong sympathy was expressed for the officers "" of" the ship, and also strong hopes that the Government had made a mistake; for northern sympathisers were so fewwas not to' be heard in the expression of' a prevailing warm feeling towards pur visitors! As the day advanced, and it became known that the Shenandoah would be released, the excitement still remained at fever heat, and probably will not abate till she has left our waters on her uncomfortable errand. As the public have not yet heard all the rights of the story, we shaft now venture on a narrative which av'll involve a little recapitulation, and a stoppage every now and again to contradict false rumours. These last have often "become almost amusing-, but, as their name is legion, we shall only stay to correct those which interfere with the broad view of the case. To take events in their order, we must be-vin with Monday evening, when Captain Waddell was on shore, ard second Lieutenant Grimball in charge of the vessel. To the latter came Superintendent Lvttleton and Inspector Beaver, of the Victorian police, with a magistrate's warrant (signed by Dr Wilkins, J.P). to search for a man ' Charlie,' who was said to be a British subject, shipped in the Shenandoah. The cause of their visit was in this wise. Some of the nine or ten men who have from various causes deserted the ship had o-iven information to the United States consul, which took the form of assertions that ten or twelve hands— all Englishmen—had shipped in the Shenandoah as she lay in Hobson's bay. No names could be given, but eventually a deserter named Madden swore that he could identify a person named < Charlie ' as one who had been cook's assistant. On this information, which, was sworn to a search warrant issued, and this the police officers named endeavoured to enforce. Lieutenant Grimball refused to allow them to search the ship, she being a vessel of war, but showed the ship's papers to prove that' no such person as Charlie was in her crew. Next clay when Captain W.iddell vv-as on board, "the polico officers _ came a"-am, and the commander — who is acacknowledged to have exhibited great courtesy—repeated the refusal, intimating that it ''was as much as his commission was' worth to permit his flag to be disgraced by the chip's being opened to search by the civil authorities. He also o-ave his word of honor as an officer and a Gentleman that he had neither shipped nor enlisted any person for service in tli3 Confederate cause since his arrival here. It is worth notice that an attempt has "been made to distort this statement into a similar pledge that the men were not on hoard, though it is well understood by the men that there are holes and corners in the ship which are yet scarcely known to them, and which could not possibly be familiar to the commander, who could only answer for his own knowledge. As it was part of the information given hy the deserters that the new men wore the Confederate uniform, Captain Waddell gave the same assurance as before, that such was unknown to himself, and that for anyone not belonging to the service to assume such- a dress' was an offence against the laws of the Confederate navy. The narrative may be stayed here to £>-ive a few of the reasons which Captain Waddell has offered for this refusal. His first was the well known doctrine that a vessel of war is, while in commission, part pf the territory of the country to which she belongs. "Thus, reasooing from analogy, a British ship cf war would not permit the civil authorities of a foreign port to search her, and in the well known case of Franz Muller, the murderer of Mr Briggs, so closely was this practice adhered to that •feh a B.ritisli constables were not allowed to effect the arrest, which was done by. the TJm'ced States policemen. Having himself abided strictly by the terms of neutrality imposed during: his visit, Captain Waddell i.\a : s. contended that the privileges v>f a vessel of war should remain intact. till he was ready to offer the same assis-.

tance which an English vessel of war in a foreign port would vender. Thus he was perfectly willing- to order the police of his ship — viz.the-master-at-nrms and his posse — to make the search, but would not allow other than his own men to do so, except in the case of crimes actually committed on shore. In fact, his offer 'was, in effect, to execute the warrant with his own police. To return. The police officers did not accept Captain Wartdell's offer, but left the ship, on which the master-at-arms and his men were ordered to make an extra search of the vessel in addition to that which took place daily. They reported that all strangers were out of the ship, but ag-iin Captain Waddell sent two lieutenants and the master-at arms to make another and even closer -e.ireh. The report of these was that they had looked all over the ship, except the 'magazine, and found no strangers. They had, they said, not' even overlooked the coal-bunkers. It is now about sundown, but long before that time the officials on board" had been made aware of the presence of a large body of police bearing arms, who excluded all the workmen from the yard, and in fact took possession of the slip, on the cradle of which the vessel was securelyfixed. Hours later — so we were fold — a letter came, signed " J. G. Francis, Chief Commissioner of Customs," inquiring, by direction of His Excellency the Governor, if execution of the warrant had been received, and stating that until an answer was received the facilities hitherto afforded to the Shenandoah would be suspended — i.e., that work would be stopped. To this Captain Waddell at once replied at some length. The effect of his letter was to assert, first, that it was not consistent with British law first to accept the contrary of a relation of facts and act thereupon. He (Captain Waddell) was appealed to to reconsider his determination, but he had to inform His Excellency that execution of the warrant was not refused, as no such p°rson as the one specified was known to be on board, but permission to search the ship had been refused, as such would be contrary to the dignity of the Confederate Hag. The services of the police of the ■ship had been offered, the shipping articles had been exhibited to the superintendent of police, and a search under two lieutenants instituted, but no person found who had not shipped before the vessel entered Victorian waters. In conclusion, Captain Waddell, as commander of his vessel, and representative of his Government in British waters, informed His Excellency that no person w»s on board save those who belonged to the crew; that no one had been enlisted either by himself or I officers since there arrival here, and that in no way had the neutrality of the port been violated. He therefore, in the name of the Confederate States Government, entered bis solemn protest against any obstruction that might cause his detention in this port. On Tuesday evening some fifty men of the Royal Artillery were sent to the railway station to start for the scene of action, but they were countermanded whilst in Spencer street. An officer came down to the fourteen or fifteen men on duty at the William stown battery, but, as high ground intervened, the guns would be of no use to bear upon the Government slip, nor were the guns at the pier, which would have commanded that spot, interfered with. Amusing 1 stories were also told to the effect that one of Mr Vernon's gun-rafts was moored near to overawe any possible demonstration of strength by the Shenandoah. So soon as the letter from Mr Francis was received the remaining workmen were sent to the rightabout, and the repairs were completed by the ship's own men. Northern sympathisers reported in town that the Shenandoah's officers had threatened to cut the chains which held the vessel ; all which nr^-ht be true but for the fact that the ship was held hj no chains, that if her rope stays were cue she would capsize, and that she was entirely at the mercy of the thick rod which connected her wi h the slip engine. It is also stated by the ship authorities that no boats save only those which brought the daily supply of provisions, permitted by the Commissioner of Customs, were permitted to con-.e alongside. In the full belief that the ship -would not be detained on board the slip, orders were given for her launch between four and five a.m., and . the tug Black Eagle was engaged for the purpose. Yesterday morning, at seven, a. m.,

Captain Waddell made his appeai'ance on deck, and found the vessel still high and fast. The manager of the slip, when referred to, explained tkat he acted by ovr der of the Government, whereupon the captain at once wrote again to the Commissioner of Trade and Customs statin"" that such a refusal to permit a launch amounted, of necessity, to a seizure of the ship, and he respectfully begged to be informed if such was known to His Excellency, and met wich his approval. This missive was taken ashore by Lieut. Grimball, who was ordered not to return without an answer. The course which Captain Waddell proposed to pursue, in, case of a reply to the effect that His Excellency was aware of the seizure, was to regard himself, officers, and crew as prisoners of the British Government, and if the launch were not permitted before noon on Thursday, to irrevocably html down his flag, and proceed with his entire company to London by the next mail boat. In truth this gentleman spoke to his friends on shore in somewhat bitter terms. He had thought, he said, that the bleeding condition of his country was an appeal to the generosity of the English. He had begun fairly, by doing; nothing except by permission of the Government, even in his crippled state, and he ought not to have been entrapped to the slip, where he was utterly unprotected. He had admitted commissioners on board to watch repairs, which was unnecessarily humiliating, and a violation of the flag, but had, in return, been treated thus. He also commented on the fact that ?ur Francis first gave permission to use the Government shears, and then 1 countermanded it, so as to leave the Shenandoah in clangor ef being knocked to pieces by the las*" severe gale, and to incur an extra expense of £00. The denouement is, that the answer to dipt. Waddell's request to know if His Excellency was aware that his act amounted to a seizure, was a permission to launch. The following proclamation was published in the course of the afternoon, and purports to have been issued at a quarter to two p.m. ■ "The suspension of the permission given to Her Majesty's subjects to aid in the the necessary repairs and supplies of the ship Shenandoah, d.ited thd 1-ioh instant, is relieved, in so far as launching the said vessel is concerned, which may be proceeded with accordingly. " C. H. Daiiling, Governor." Steam was immediately got up tit the slip -works, and the Shenandoah was launched about two hours after high ] tide.