FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 98, 27 April 1935, Page 27

FIFTY YEARS AGO

MORE AUXILIARY CRUISERS

The Coptic was reported to have been chartered by the Imperial Government as a fast cruiser for the New Zealand, coast. She was prevented from leaving New Zealand on her homeward voyage, and towed the ship Northumberland to Napier to load her frozen meat. Afterwards she was to return to Wellington for fitting up as a cruiser. ■ Other ships to be taken over by'the Admiralty during the week were the Orient Company's 3832-ton screw steamer Lusitania, and the Oriental Company's 3502-ton ship Rosetta. The Lusitania was intended for service as a cruiser in Australian waters, and the Rosetta w^s to proceed to the China station..., The Eastern Extension Cable Company's repairing steamer Magnetic, which'had'been overdue for some time! was. considered, to, be> lost when information; was received that the Cunard liner Palmyra, when about 200 miles north of Cape Fihisterre, had picked up the small vessel's lifeboat. The Magnetic was bound for Australian waters io relieve the Agnes. '' • News of the.wreck of the Hamburgowned barque Fladen was brought' to, Lyttelton by the brigantine "Omaha. The Pladen, while en route from Levuka for Falmouth in February, 1885, with copra, sprang a leak. When making tor the Chathams .to/ be berthed, she piled up on a sunken rock off Mataraki Point, and became a total loss. The crew spent seven weeks, on the island before they could leave. No luck was met with by an expedition fitted out in Auckland by Mr. W. Jf. Hunt to search for treasure in the South Sea Islands. An investigation of the wreck of a large ship at Wallace Island in the hope of recovering a quantity of oil proved fruitless. Another wreck at Refuge Cove, believed to -contain treasure, was found to have broken up. The Hinemoa arrived at Auckland on April 20, 1885, from Wellington, with Auckland's torpedo boat in tow. Captain Fairchild described the voyage as one of the worst he had experienced. The steamer Glaucus, en route from Newcastle for Lyttelton, put into Sydney on April'2l to repair damage sustained during a heavy gale. During 1884 the number of vessels entering Wellington was 1970, of, a total gross tonnage of 565,702, as against 1745 vessels of 459,742 tons in 1883. The total receipts of the Harbour Board for 1884 amounted to £61,795 18s Bd, and the credit balance was £17.574 14s Id. . \ The United States Senate had [ authorised the . Postmaster-General to j contract with the lowest responsible . bidder for the carriage of the mails, i the rate not to exceed 50 cents each ■ nautical mile on the trip each way

actually travelled between the teg minal points. Such mails were to be? carried in American ships, and tha? aggregate of such contracts were not to exceed half the sum appropriated by the amendment (800,000 dollars). The steam yacht Torea was tested in the harbour on April 11, 1885, liter having been overhauled and teengined by Cable and Co. and Coffey and Co. Her after deck had been! raised, and a new low-pressure cylinder and propeller had been-fitted, increasing her speed. She made the run. from Petone Wharf to the Railway Wharf, a distance of 6} miles, in 35 minutes, shorter by 10 minutes thaa previously.