RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 73, 19 December 1929, Page 10

RANDOM NOTES

SIDELIGHTS ON CURRENT EVENTS LOCAL AND GENERAL (By Cosmos.) A noted Egyptologist traces the birth of conscience to a period about 2000 years B.C. No wonder it is so unstable. • » • Bull-fighters in Mexico have organised a union, and it is going to be pretty exciting if they lay down their tools in the middle of a job. ♦ • ♦ A shortage of fruit is reported in some quarters. We hope they won't make a song about it as they did when they ran out of bananas a few years ago. • ♦ ♦ Visitors to Honolulu during the recent Festival of Pacific Races were treated to a football match played by barefooted Hawaiians. Report states it was a fortunate circumstance that the visitors did not understand the native language. • » » “What is an Indian summer?” asks E.B.A. Any prolonged period of mild,calm, hazy weather in the autumn — really a late period of summer weather. It was originally an American term, but is now freely used in many countries, due, no doubt to the frequent references to Indian summers in several popular American novels. » ♦ • Thanks to mild weather and excellent organisation, the passengers and crew of the wrecked Manuka succeeded in making a safe landing without the loss of a single life. Considering the roughness of the seas round New Zealand and the rugged coasts, it is surprising that there have not been many more disasters on a large scale than there have been. Tn the wreck of the Elingamite, however, everything appeared to go wrong. This vessel, of 2585 tons, was wrecked on Sunday, November 9, 1902, on an island of the Three Kings group whilst on a trip from Sydney. There was a dense fog at the time and a nasty swell. Broken water was suddenly seen ahead, and orders to go astern were immediate!j sent to the engine-room. One report states that six turns of the propellei would have saved the ship, but no response came from the engine-room. Why, nobody knows to this day, for the engineer on duty was drowned. The vessel sank in 20 minutes.

Including passengers and crew, there were 195 persons on board, and 45 lives were lost. Gold to the value of £17,300 formed part of the cargo, and was never recovered, so swiftly and so completely did the ship break up. The captain was subsequently fined £5O and his license suspended. That may have been perfectly in order. What was not in order, however, was tlie fact that It was discovered later on that these islands had been charted no less than three miles out of their correct position. The survey ship Pandora had herself become wrecked there and had had her instruments put out of adjustment. In spite of this unfortunate error, the captain was never able to get another steamer.

From a loss of life standpoint quite one of the worst wrecks occurred on October 29, 1894, again a Sunday, when the Wairarapa ran ashore on Great Barrier Island, near Auckland. The captain, John Mclntosh, and 134 other persons, lost their lives. In spite of the fact that this island is comparatively close to Auckland, no news of the disaster filtered through to the mainland till November 2, although the vessel had been posted as overdue for some days. The vessel ran ashore in pitch darkness in a heavy sea. The passengers, as in the case of the Manuka, were comfortably in bed. Futile efforts were made to launch the boats, which were capsized by the seas, and those in them drowned. Many persons rallied to the shelter of the captain’s bridge, but it was swept away by a huge wave and all those sheltering there were lost. At daybreak two of the crew swam ashore and many were saved by means of a lifeline. These survivors, however, were in a most distressing condition. - Not only were many of them in nightdresses and scantv attire, but they were forced to remain exposed for thirty hours. Eventually some Maori boats discovered them and they were rescued. The news shocked the whole of New Zealand and no less than nine special editions of one newspaper were issued in one day.

Wellington has had the misfortune of a serious shipping disaster right at her door. The Penguin, from Picton. bound for Wellington with about 100 passengers. struck Tom’s Rock some three miles from the Wellington side of Terawhiti, on February 12, 1909. She foundered- in deep water at 10.3 p.m. in inky blackness, leaving her crew and passengers to survive as best they might. Thanks to good organisation every body was issued out with lifebelts. In lifeboats and rafts those on board attempted to make for land. But the seas were enormous, and most ot tne lifeboats that were not capsized already were smashed to hits on the rocks on the coast. Altogether some 65 lives were lost, and only one woman was saved. Most of the survivors made the shore on rafts after desperate experiences in the gale, during which tbeir rafts were capsized time and time again. After the disaster the beaches in the. vicinity were littered with dead bodies aud wreckage.

His Excellency the Hon. Sir Alexander Hore-Ruthven. V.C., the Governor of South Australia, who is at present in New Zealand, won his Cross in the Sudan in 1898. During the Battle of Gedaref, while captain in command or a camel corps detachment, the yelling Dervishes were advancing, when he saw a wounded Egyptian officer lying in their path. Already the Dervishes were within fifty yards of him, but Mr Alexander dashed up. lifted the wounded officer, and carried him back to the battalion. Two or three times on the wav be had to drop his burden, turn around, and fire into the pursuing Horde in order to stop them. For this act of callantrv he received an Egyptian decoration. as well ns the Victoria Cross. Born in 1872. at Windsor, and educated at Eton College, he became attached to the Highland Light Infantry. After the Sudan trouble was over, he was sent to Somaliland as a special service officer. He was military secretary to the Viceroy of Ireland in 190;>6. and two rears afterwards came out to Australia as military secretary to the Gov-ernor-General of the Commonwealth. Sir Alexander Hore-Ruthven served both in Gallipoli and France during the Great War, and was severely wounded. He won the Distinguished Service Order. a bar to that decoration, and was mentioned in dispatches five times. After the war be held several important military posts in England, and commanded the Firstlnfantry (Guards) Brigade at Aidershot in 1924.