The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING GISBORNE, JANUARY 23, 1903. PUBLIC MATTERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume IX, Issue 807, 23 January 1903, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING GISBORNE, JANUARY 23, 1903. PUBLIC MATTERS.

As some important local elections take place shortly it is desirable that more liie be ini used into these mailers than al preseiii appears to he the ■ease. 'J'lie first local body before the public in the matter of elections is the I Junior board, which may fairly be. classed as one of the most important local bodies in the district. Nominations for that body close to-mor-row, but although one new member, 'at least, must be elected, in place of Caput.u 'i uciier (who holds now the seat as County Chairman), no mention has yet been made in public talk

of any oLner candidate than those at present, sitting. It has been joenlary said that die people became tired so much after me Band rotunda light Lhat they are still in a state of rest after that astonishing tussle. But die Cook County certainly must clearly he e.Ycmpteii from tiny charge of that kind, for did not me County election

bring out a splendid field ot candidates to take up a task that was dilli-

ailt, and even declared to he thankless 7 Certainly there is very important work to do in connection with

the harbor. The Board is so far committed to a given iine of action, that there is not likely to he any remodelling of policy by decision at the polls. But there is much in the way of detail to discuss, and now is the Lime for the public to speak if it

is a fact that they have anything to say, and not be carping aftenvarus at the action of the Board in regard to details. In the past, we have had optimistic statements from the Chairman, whose zeal in connection with harbor matters must he admitted by all, even if they cannot accept his roseate prophecies. Ere this, Union steamers were to have been sailing up to the wharves, and many oilier great advantages were to have been attained. Expectation and realisation are not synonymous terms in harbor matters. The new dredge that was to have done so much was

for a time practically a “ white elephant, the construction of the sli) threatens Lo become a permanency

and in many respects there is still much to grumble at. iso far from the river at present being lit for

large vessels the channel is in a stale that requires immediate attention. The plain position at present is that the dredge is not able to cope with

the work required to lie done, and it is necessary Unit the Board should

consider whether in lhe summer mouths if, would nuL pay. better to have tiie dredge worked on double .shifts. There are many matters requiring public attention, and it is to be hoped that there will lie equal interest taken in the election for the llatbor Board as there was in lhat of the Cook County Council.

THE OLIVE BRANCH. A remarkable speech lias been made in the Reichstag by Count von Billow, who seeks to again eslabl sli the most friendly relations with Great Britain. The difficulty is to explain away the attitude of the German Government in regard to the Dardanelles, hut the Count does not hesitate to try and smoollie all that over. It is rather a ridiculous sort of excuse, for any nation that takes part in a treaty should he prepared lo in enforcing that treaty. But our German friend takes up the position that because it did not greatly concern hip interests directly—the fact being that he was looking for advantages behind Great Britain's back—it must be considered as somebody Use’s troubles, not his ; but lie displayed wonderful alacrity in enmeshing Great Britain with him in bouncing little Venezuela into a desired line ot action, ‘and lie takes good care that the most lias been made of this “ friendship,” distasteful as it is to the British people generally. There is not much to lie proud of in a friendship lhat causes a large Rower to act as was done in the ease of the Panther, and probably the sharp lesson which the Germans got on that occasion will lie considered by Britishers and Americans to lie richly deserved. For such a tiling to be done just when arbitration agreed upon by all parties is about to take place, is nothing short of an outrage. There is no reason why British and Hermans should not he warm friends, bill, the trouble is that Germany is showing too great a desire to make use of that friendship merely to gain her own ends. That nation has too oftcu been found on the side of those who have proved their strong antagonism to Great Britain’s rightful interests, and all the palavering .statements of Count von Bulow will not alter the position unless Germany in a practical form shows that she has a just valuation of British friendship—not that of the pugilist who is ever ready to side against a friend when some one has sought to smite that friend in an unfair way.

THE ELINGAMITE TRAGEDY

Commenting upon the finding of the Court of Inquiry in regard to the Eliugamite disaster, the New Zealand Herald makes the following remarks Tho press is at last released from the obligation to be silent upon the Elingamite tragedy. The Court ot Inquiry has made its finding. We may therefore, without even tho appearance of ill-timed criticism, ask if the circumstances disclosed by the evidence and summarised in the finding are such as to strengthen the confidence of those who travel by sea ? The Court has abstained from making any recommendation as to reforms calculated to safeguard the lives of passengers and crews suddenly imperilled by disaster, holding that this was beyond its jurisdiction and could only bo satisfactorily done by a special commission. We do not propose to question this ruling any more than we propose to question

the actual finding of the Court. The Court has conducted the investigation to which it was limited with an impar-

tiality and carefulness that has won for it the trust of the public at large. We may regret the position in which Captain Atwood is placed, and recognise that had the engines reversed when he first telegraphed to the engine room nothing would have been beard of “ grossly negligent navigation.” But it is impossible to doubt the soundness of the reasons which have caused the Court to suspend his certificate. As for the engine room, the less said of that the better. It is unfortunate that an engineering breakdown, however caused, was to be found in the accumulation of accidents and mistakes which accompanied this terrible tragedy. But the point which is important to us all, and public attention to which is called for by the fifty fives so sadly—and we venture to 'say needlessly—lost, is not the personal position of Captain Atwood, or of the engineers, or of tho officers, but the position of the individual passenger who finds that duty or pleasure requires him to place himself on shipboard. Any captain might err in judgment, any engineroom may break down, any officer may become confused. These are possibilities which cannot be guarded against by regulations and which must be dealt with as they arise by such Courts of Inquiry as that which has been sitting in Auckland. But the general provision for preventing disaster from becoming tragedy, for providing and prearranging reasonable means of escape, is a matter which can only be attended to beforehand, and is therefore a matter which demands not Courts of Inquiry, but sufficient regulation and most stringent inspection. The least we can do to show our sympathy for the victims of the Elingamite tragedy is to endeavor with all our energies to prevent the recurrence of such wholesale, preventible loss of life. For undoubtedly the loss of life might have been almost entirely avoided, not by a series of lucky accidents, but by such simple and ordinary precautions as are nominally supposed to bo taken upon every vessel engaged in the colonial pas senger trade. We have no desire, in thjs melancholy connection, to reflect upon anybody or to find scape-goat 3 for what is really the result of our united careless-

ness. Tiie Elingainire was in no way a bally-found vessel, as the ample sufficiency of iiie-b.iats demonstrates. If occasional defects were shown they were, however vital to shipwrecked people, so trivial in ccst that it L absurd to imagine that there was any grudging of expense. As a matter of fact, thc-ie is no question of such expense in pas.-enger vessels engaged in a profitable trade, however much there may Ua iti struggling “ trumps ” of dubious reputation. What was realiy at fault was organisation. We get a strange picture of how hupi.-lr.ssiy this was wanting in the

spectacle of a single steward, stumbling on a slippery doc!., iaden with biscuit boxes and whisky bottles for tiie provisioning of nciiiiy 2UU persons. He was willing, everybody was willing, but nobody knew what to do. Instead of captain, officers, engineers, stokers, deckhands, stewards,

having their duties upon emergency known La fur; hand—as the law is supposed to require—they knew practically nothing. Tiie crash iuund the Eliugamne sufficiently equipped, with piuck enough on board to have saved every liv-

ing soul iii five minutes, but without preparedness enough to get her people properly ufioat in fifteen. And this, as far as we know, is such an ordinary, usual, normal state of affairs on our coasting vessels that no just man can specially oiame anyone but the public at large. The pubiic, which is all of us, are to blame, occuuse we have ignored reasonable precautions as completely as have shipowners and shipmasteLs. Everybody who has travelled by sea knows thoroughly well that boat-drill is more honored in the breach than in the observance; is, in tact, practically not observed at all. We did not need a Court of Inquiry to tell us that. And all who are versed in the sea-customs —who are myriad throughout our people —know as well that a ship's boats rarely touch the water. Yet we have raised

no outcry against it, we have not clamored for reform, wo have not felt any great uneasiness. For we are so used to the sea that we ordinarily ignore its risks almost as nonchalantly as the sailorinen who think it useless to

learn to swim. Until, again and again, tragedies like this of the Elingamitc rouse us from our apathy. We see scores of gallant lives needlessly thrown away, scores of homes plunged in grief, horror itself added to the natural bitlerness of death. Then we ask ourselves : why should this be 1 Tiie risks of the sea are sufficient without adding to them. The unavoidable peril to life is enough without casting hack to the waters those whom the waters would spare. As we can all see clearly that wherever compasses should be kept, wherever provisions should be kept, whatever boat or raft arrangements should be made, whatever precautions against striking or against engines refusing to act should he taken, this one safe-

guard is imperative—for without it no other precautions are worth the paper they are printed on—that a ship’s company, from cuptain to stewards, should be kept ever ready to meet every possible emergency by means of repeated and exhaustive drill. The law should make the Customs officials inspectors of such preparedness, with power to practically inspect and instructions to persistently inspect, should matte the penalties for negligence of drill by ships as great as for covering the Plimsoll mark and should eaucel the certificates of captains who cannot thus keep their crews well in hand. Fo< although the Court of Inquiry declines to make any recommendations, its finding shows that, in its competent opinibn, had things gone as they should have gone after the Elingamite struck, although there would still have been an Elingamite disaster, wo should not havo had such grievous cause to remember an Elingamite tragedy.