NEW ZEALANDERS IN YUKON

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 88, 8 January 1919, Page 5

NEW ZEALANDERS IN YUKON

i ■;■ ■'■••.• ■/ ;TBtING ; TIMES. ;; : ,:^';'' . Writing from White Horse,- Yukon ■ Territory, Canada, under ] date November i, to Mr. A. C.'Holms, of Featherston, • Mr. William ~ Turnbnll,. . formerly of .; Featherston and Wellington, who-is.a veterinary surgeon iii that centre, says: "It grieves me to have to relate the sad news that' Syd. Smith, with his wife.and family, met death on October 23. You • have perhaps heard of tho 'sinking of the .-'■•, Princess Sophia, loaded out of Skagway, in Alaska, the port of the Yukon, with 300 Northerner's aboard. About four, hours' sail from port she ran on to a reef at Sentinel.lsland, and was there In a snowstorm for 48 hours. Then fhe vessel slid off into deep drowning . eVery soul. 'It has been,a terrible shock to this country. Poor old- Syd.'lashed Wβ wife and three children to a raft, whioh has b^en- picked up, but.no trace of the body, of onr comrade has been 'found. . ' Two hundred bodies have to date been recovered. Syd. evidently: did his best, but these northern waters are "so cold ■ ■ owing to icebergs being around all the -■'■■'■■ 'time that he hadn't a ghost of a chance. !.. I took'my family into Atlin this summer , and called upon him. He had a fine little wife, and bonny children, but for over a i year past suffered from ill-health. This, mis to have', been a health-recuperating trip to the outside world. ■' The company lost over 90 men—all steamboat captains and engineers, who.leavo for their homes outside the Yukon as soon as'the Takes and rivers frpeze. You might tell all Syd's friends the sad news, also'write to his parents if yoii "know, their address. He may not have been blessed with a liberal share of this world's goods, but he had what ie better, a stout and kindly heart. -With-four others I nearly lost my life"last spring in an ico flow i'u live Yukon Eiver.-,We lost ten- horses , and 1 a 3000-dollar outfit; By the merest chance ' I Teached the bank and was able to l«7syer a , pole to my^mates, who also came safely through the upset. JockOovether and wife, also son, went outside to Vancouver last October; -Ily wife has gone home to San Jose (California) to spend the winter. Last winter was. the coldest on record, , being 84 degrees below zero on Christmas . ' Day. I was out all ono night- hebing to bring in a person who. had been mrcrooned througb horses 'playing out. , " The late Mr. Smith was well known in ■ -Featherston, having been in business there, whilst for 6everal jt?hts he 'represented the Wairarapa Thursday Rugby Union in Senior football. His home wns . in Oxford , Eaet (Canterbury). In l<lo7, in, company with .other, footballers (Messrs. Turnbull. Holms, and Crowthor), tlio trip to Canada was undertaken. Mr. ■• Tiirnbull is n.Sniitli Africnn vetpraii. and a, iTother of. the late Mnjor Tiinibull, both sons of Mr. George Turnbull,. Wei-' lington. Mr.- Crowther is~anothev Wel- ,. lingtonian. ■....'■'■. - '. ..