TOWN EDITION.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 9819, 19 July 1900, Page 8

TOWN EDITION.

Captain Edwin wired at 12.50 p.m. tofl ay : _« F r ost to-night; glass rise; good tides."

At nine o'clock this morning the tb r . mometer readings at the places lioned were as follows : — Rus* 41 Auckland 51, Gi&borne 47, Spit ° Wanganui 35, Wellington 50, Ob* /tstchurch 34, Bealey 21, Dunedin 43, 42, Bluff 42. The reading j n Napier at 9 a.m. was 46 in the shadr^

Messrs Nelson Brop^ t Limited, Tojnoana, received the bellowing cable from London to-day reference to the meat market: —'-To-day's quotations are: —Best Canterbury mutton Dunedin and Southland, not quoted; best Napier A nd North Island 4d. LanVb —fivst quality 4|d 7 second 4£d.

The' commander of the barquentine Price, Captain Hughes, is a. heavy loser by the wreck of that vessel. Hβ had a half share in her and she was uninsured, while all his personal effects, valued at over £200, were likewise lost. "The latter were insured for £150, but unfortunately Captain Hughes has just received from his Sydney agents notice that in his absence they a)lowed the policy to lapse.

The case of the unfortunate young man Georpe Hildred, who died at the hospital on Tuesday as the result of injuries received whilst playing football on Saturday, provides an object lesson in life insurance. Some time ago he effected an insurance with the Citizens' Life Office for a substantial sum, but allowed the policy to lapse, so recently as April last, and by his neglect the relatives of the •deceased are prevented from participating in the benefits assured. *

A Magisterial enquiry into the cause of the wreck of the barquentine at Mahia •was held in the Courthouse this morning, before Messrs J. H. Vautier and J. IS. Large, J'.-.P., and Captains Davidson and Owen, Nautical Assessors. The Collector of Customs, Mr E. E. C. Bowen, conducted the enquiry, and the evidence previously taken by him, the effect of which has already been published, wa3 read over to the witnesses, sworn to by them, and accepted hj the Court. The finding, after -detailing particulars as to the vessel's tonnage, cargo, voyage, and loss, concluded as follows :—" Considering the exposed situation of the anchorage more care might have been exercised in keeping anchor watch by using the deep sea Jead, so that immediate steps could have been taken to let go the second anchor. Otherwise every precaution seems to Jiave been taken for the safety .of the vessel." The certificates of the captain and mate were returned.

Sir Thomas Mcllwraith, whose death is announced by cable, was born at Ayr, an Scotland, in 1835, and was educated in his native town and at the Glasgow University. He arrived in Victoria in, 1854, and was employed as a civil engineer on the Victorian railways. In 1861 he became largely interested in -squatting interests in Queensland, and in 1870 finally settled in that .colony, where the year before he had been' returned to the Legislative Assembly. He was Minister of Public Works and Mines in 1884, and in 1879 became Premier and Colonial Secretary. The most important event of his administration was the annexation of New Guinea, which wa* carried out under his instructions in 1883. This act evoked the unanimous approval of the Australasian colonies, but, much to the general indignation, it was disallowed by Lord Derby, then Secretary of State tor the Colonies. Sir Thomas retired from public life ia 1886, but two years later re-entered it, defeating Sir Samuel Griffith for North Brisbane, and again became Premier. His subseqne< t public career is well known to >•. 11 i n terested in colonial politics. It may be added th*t Sir Thomas took an active interest in the experimental voyage of the Strathlf-veis, -which led to the establishment of the -frozen mea* trade and conferred an .enormous boon on the paßtoral industries of Australia and New Zealand.