NEWS BY MAIL.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14343, 1 May 1912, Page 9

NEWS BY MAIL.

PARAGRAPHS FROM*" THE INDEPENDENT CABLE SERVICE.

Files of tho Sydney "Sim" to hand by yesterdaj''s mail, contain mes-sages about the Titanic, sent by tho independent cable service from London nnd New York. Tho following aro some of thorn: — Mr Jsidor Straus, one of America's iniliionairee, and his aged wife, stood arm in arm cnTmly awaiting death. Mrs Straus enquired whether Mr Straus wou!d bo allowed to accompany Jiei, and receiving a reply in tho negative, bhe decided to stay with hor husband. The sailors tried to drag them apart, and wanted to save Mrs Straus, but she refused to leave her husband. "Tho last we §aw of them," said one of tho survivors, "was Mr Straus bending towards iiis wife. They were kissing one another for the Inst time." lilr Hugh Woollier, a rich Londoner and a Cambridge oarsman, eaid: —"Tho shock of tho collision was so light that we were not even thrown from our chairs. For half an hour wo walked the deck, not realising our terrible danger. Later 1 helped to load the boats. Several foreigners forward jumpod into the boats ahead of the womon. An officer fired two shote in tho air to deter them, and myself and a friend jumped into the boat and pulled tho mou out." Mrs Meyers, a survivor, declares that tho oliicers of the Titanic behaved remarkably well, and acted' with wonderful presence or mind in a terriblo situation. Strangely enough, 'die boat in which Mrs Meyers was rescued was practically empty when it loft tho sinking vessel. There'were only au English girl, a sailor, and herself in it. 'I hey rowod about for lour hours and a lialf in tho darkness. "All the officers of tho Titanic," remarked Mrs Meyers, "behaved wonderfully. Even the stewards displayed great heroism. One of them was seen withpu'c, a lifebelt, and was asked why ho did not have one on. Tho bravo fellow's reply was, 'I don't think there are'enougn "to go.round.' " Colonel Archibald Gracie, one of the survivors, says that before retiring for tlie night ho was chatting with Mr Hays, president of the Canadian Grand Trunk Railway, who eairf that tho Cunard, White Star, and HamburgAmerican etcainship lines were devoting thoir attention and ingenuity to the attainment of supremacy in tho matter of luxury, and in tho pu'ting up of speed records. "The time will como," said Mr Hays, 'when all this strenuous effort will bo capped by somo appalling disaster.' . During the progress of the memorial service that was held in St. Paul's Cathedral in connection with the loss of the Titanic, Mr Alexander Carlislo, by whom the colossal liner was designed, and who was- among congregation, fainted. A New York photographer got a bad scare while trying to secure pictures ot tho Titanic's lifeboats that were picked up by the Carpathia. Ho gained an entry into a yard wher© the boats were lying, and was just preparing 'to get his snapshots, when the watchman drew his revolver and fired yd him. The bullet went wido of its mark, but tho photographer lost no time in getting out of the yard. Tho following messago cam© from London: —The pride of the nation in the deeds of those who perished in the Titanic is now mixed with surprise and alarm at tho revelation of departmental folly on the part of tho Board of Trade. It is now coming out that for many years past pilots and master mariners havo urged tho inadequacy of the Board's regulations, insisting that tho lifo-boats on tho big ocean linore were neither sufficiently numerous nor seaworthy, and that tho life-buojs were, in most cases, rotten and useless There is universal amazement that the regulations drawn up in 1894 were based upon the assumption that 10,000 tons would represent tho limit in, tho size of ocean-going steamships. Mr Sydney Buston, President of the Board of Trade, having had an unbappy time explaining in Parliament the departmental neglect in this respect, all the newspapers aro declaring the absoluto need "that exists for immediate and drastic change. It is freely suggested that tho care of merchant chips" should no transferred from the Board of Trade to the Admiralty. There is no disposition to blame the WHto Star Company for tho inadequnoy of its life-saving appliances, for it has been shown that tho equipment of tho Titanic exceeded official requiremente.