TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7380, 5 August 1889, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

On the authority of the Key. J. Henry Skewes, of Holy Trinity Vicarage, Liverpool, a very remarkable ghost story has just found publication. ' It is asserted, iv short, that the explorers who discovered the last sad traces of Sir John Franklin and his ill-fated party were really led to the spot by information given by the " wraith " of a child. According , to the story told by Mr Skewea, in a book which he has just published, a little daughter of .Captain C'oppin,** Board;? ofliTrajtle surveyor at Londonderry, died in 18i9 of gastric fever, at the age of four year 3. For months afterwards, it is said, " Weasey " —as the little girl familiarly called— was constantly "appearing" to her brothers and sisters. One night when going to bed one of the children, aged seven, told.her aunt tnabthere was >_ written; ogf the waTJ the words "Mr ilackay ie dead." Mr Mackay was a banker in the town and well known to the children, and next morning it was found that'he had died very suddenly about the time that the writing appeared. The great mystery of Fraaklin'a fate was at this time agitating the country, soon afterwards fit occurred to the aunt to get the child to question "Weasey," relative to the whereabouts of Sir John and how he could be reached. Thie wae done, end v Weasey's " apparition at once vanished. Immediately afterwards " there appeared on the floor a complete Arctic scene, showing two ships surrounded with ice and almost covered with snow, including a channel that led to the ships." Thi3 scene, in the form of a chart, the child, presumably on the ?o£ Toot annfy at? once drew. Then in connection with this representation, and in answer to further questions, there appeared, on the opposite wall, in large letters, the following : —" Erebus and Terror, Sir John Franklin, Lancaster Sound, Prince Eegent Inlet, Point Victory, Victoria Channel." Captain , Coppin made'known the " Vision " to Lady Franklin, who, it is said, became convinced of its truth and communicated it to the leaders of the successive relief expeditions. For various reasons the " instructions" could not be carried out until the Fox sailed in 1557, in charge of Captain McClintock, Lieutenant Hobson being second in command. Captain :

McClintoclr, like the previous I told to follow jotite defined ?!W i "revelation." Ho did so, and " the remit; j we are told, was simply marvellous — "Point Victory was duly reached dilapidated cairn there was searched ! ? among some loose stones Hobsou discwSi a than cylinder containing the only whh <l record respecting the crews of theErefi and Terror that was ever found, ft record told when and were the vessels -wij deserted, announced the death of SiV J«£ Frankhn, and was B i ffned by the sent? surviving officer*. tieuteJnt hS£ continued his journey westward A «h distance from Point Victory ac diecov«2 a boat wh lc h had belonged to one off S lost ships, with two skeletons, gun 8 «m other articles. Hobson, throng had then to discontinue his erploratus} bub McClmtock came upon hute, thiu' mates of which were in possession of m£ things belonging to the ill-fated exn** 7 tion, including pieces of plate on ■Xμ," were the crests or initials of Sir John tos three of bis office.s." ** McClintock, as all the world kao*. \ reached England safely, and the Rev. J »' Skewes declares that the success of his ej! pedition and the honors heaped on and his party were entirely due to the fidelity with which he followed v;hnk n may perhaps be allowed to call the "phan- I torn chart." Extraordinary as this story is, it is evident that Mc Skewee believe ij it firmly, even if he has to stand alone in that belief. The chart drawn by the child he declares, is still in the possession o{ Lady Franklin's executors. Captain Parker Snow, who was chief officer of one of the - expeditions, is still alive, and has in hy possession a copy of the chart dictated to him by Lady Franklin. Captain Kennedy who was in charge of the Fox duriag its second abortive expedition is still alive, and admits that had he followed the " revelation " instructions he would < have gathered the honors reaped by MoClintock. Sir Roderick Murchiaoe, in j his preface to Sir Leopold's McCliatoct'g ' " Voyage of the Fox," speaks of the iasfrao. ; twos received by Kennedy from Lady Franklin, and adds that had he ; been faithful to the same he would o ],. tamed " much more satisfactory results." Another living witnese appealed to & Miss Cracroft, Sir John Fraoilin'e niece whose letters from 1851-6, it is bespeak an "unwavering belief ii the 'revelation' of the child as as the belief of her heroic aunt, Whose amanuensis she was." Admiral Sir Leopold McClintock is also still alive, and regard* ing this gallant officer our author re« marks :—

" I do not say that ho was fully infoimuKl about the child's chart and its aocotnpany. ing communication ; but this I assert, that the instructions he received from, ILady Franklin in 1557. were the same as those given to Forsyth and his chief officer in 1850 and Kennedy in 1851. Those instructions were founded solely <m the tion' of the child, and, being faithfully carried , out, they led to the discovery at Pojnt Victory of the tamous record whfcb told of. the fate of Sir John and his thij>% the Erebue and the Terror.

Finally Captain Coppin and the- "thM? to whom the mystic communication: to vouchsafed, are also still surviving aai are appealed to by the reverend author< We have thus given the chief lieada of the I evidence he adduces in support of bis curious assertions. As to trying to explain the affair, we beg respectfully te leave that to the Society for Peychial Research. Life is too short to attempt to unravel all the mysterious communications alleged to be received now-a-daya from tiie -dead.- The only tfcing to be saUtif favor of this, ** revelation ■" is, : th»t it purported to convey some practical information; nine-tenths of the so-called " spirit messaged " are beneath the level of the earthliest drivel.

Beabino in mind the number of people from all parts of the colony whose duty tales them to Wellington in the course of the year, it is satisfactory, on jyeneral grounds as veil a%for the iatoeioiibe inhabitants themselves, to learn that some of the leading , residents are taking steps to improve the health-of the city. At tie meeting held the other night for the purpose of forming a Sanitary Association, a somewhat novel suggestion was made by a weli-lcaown ' solicitor, Mr H. D. Bell. This was that Parliament should be applied to for pow« to raise a drainage loan without getting the. consent of the ratepayers,'oa de ground that the Governor, the 'v&iffte* of Parliament, and even members of tt» Civil Service had to live -in WelliKgtion, and their health ought not dependent on the citizens of TfrSHufrto admitted that such a suggestion ia aot oii first sight at jail complimentary to the residents of the Empire City, Bis tank* mount to saying: that unless Parliaaaait takes theni by the throat and compels tea to be clean, they will continue to revejin filth. Now we are euro that suo&*& imputation is neither fair nor accußJtei The Wellington citizens have suffered many things of their civic rulers. Tbej have already given their sanction td "&& drainage loan, and they have eeen it frittered away in merely tinkering wttb the evil instead of embarking oh a ratton**' and comprehensive sewerage scheme. Tbey have seen wasted in other ways, enoogb ,o ' their money to hare carried that scheme to successful completion, ta&kto& Wellington one of the dr&fc o " and most salubrious towns in wM colony. It is no wonder, tnertfarc if they are a little chary about ag«B w trusting their representatives with, ft IMS* sum of borrowed money. Still, *#* r3 afraid there is no help for it, unless &# are prepared to sacrifice Jifo and beel» to aave their ppekete. What they QW* to do is to ccc that now, at any rafie, &«/ get good value for their money. Wetaw think Parliament would listen to Mr Bw« pr<>|Kraal if it -were made, and if $%&**!?* any disposition to entertain it, f&e »&* payers might very weU turn and ask if Parliament were also to pay the interest <to* loan. The mere suggestion of coerefoo this kind is not likely to put lington burgesses in a better tarOX*** spending their money, and tJi^referej 1 seems a pity it was ever ma<Je. JPtf ■ Sanitary Associatkn should confiae*»* to educating tiie people,on -° public health, and assiKting toe get the best possible eeheme rcqtriremeiits of the city. In tiiew*? may do a really valuable work.

Dβ. Tastsub, of fasting developed a new craze. In a comma***] tion to a New York physician, he ipSgJ ~ V I have so disciplined mind that I can take upon myself at voiw a trance state, and while in <*■*,*% tion sl\**L b*. buried aa » dead ordinarily buried, in a secure, * e jPr"l made coffin, placedin a grave sft eeg which wiU be mied up•:»<»■§•,jTicompaetly pat in and moalded «J*J"'l*shall renfair there fonr weeka, then » disinterred, reauscitatei and fuuy stored to the vigor and etrengtli of normal condition." ' Il3&f Accordingly/this eccentric person J»w annonnccs-no pun is means to get'ffimself securely « te "f 4 a cemetery, the coffin to be sealed «J> • the sggQt watched weekTby relays of « reptrtaWe andipurnalista," Hie object. to cS public attention more maritew.

than is otherwise possible to the dangers of burial alive and the uncertainty of all the so-called signs of death except decomposition. Before he embarks on this experiment, there is another which he might perform with great advantage. It would be still more to his own and the public benefit if he were to make a prolonged investigation into the inside working of some lunatic asylum.