The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1912. SUPERSTITIOUS SAILORS; OR WORSE.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 18 May 1912, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1912. SUPERSTITIOUS SAILORS; OR WORSE.

Onk of the most disquieting items of cabled news received in recent days was that which detailed how the steamer California!! :, missed" the calls of the Titanic although she was within twelve miles of tho vessel. The eahlojxrants necessarily are brief, but people will not havo forgotten the distinct .statement by the captain of the California!! cab-

led from America two or three weeks age - that his vessel was nob in the vicinity of the Titanic when s'.ie was wrecked, and that he saw no distress signals. The evidence iiiven before the liriiish Nautical Court disproves this plainly enough. LONDON, May T>. At the Titanic inquiry, during the examination of .Mr Stewart, chief oflic.er of the steamer Culii'oniian, Lord .Mersey, I're.-ident of the Court, stated that personally he wa.s of opinion thai the rockets seen by the CaliforJiian were sent up by the Titanic. LONDON. May 1(5. Mr (Jroves, third oilicer of the Californiai!, said that, he saw at ten minutes past 11 on Sunday night. April I Ith. a .steamer twelve miles distant. Me (old Captain Lord that, judging by her deck lights, the stranger was a passenger steamer. Captain Lord remarked that the only passenger steamer in the vicinity would be the Titanic. This M'as at 11.10 p.m. Witness could slill see the stranger's mast-head lights, and he told ! .Mr Stone, the .second ollicer, who relieved him on watch, about them. Owing to ihe vessel's change of position her deck lights Wfro shut, out from view. Witness then proceeded to the wireless room, awoke the operator, and asked what ship wa,s In touch. The operator replied: "Only the Titanic." Witness put the instrument to his ears. hut Ilea r<l nothing. He was only listening, however, for fifteen or thirty seconds. The court was thrilled by Mr Grove's evidence, which indicated that the Titnnie's calls for aid missed, by a few seconds, a liner twelve miles distant. Lord Mersey asked: f< Do you think, from what you heard .subsequently, that the steamer was the- Titanic? Mr Orov<\<: Yes; decidedly. The officers admitted thnt they nad not recorded on t>o log-book tlie fact thnt distress signals were observed.

In the. light of these statements one is driven towards two discomforting reflections. One is that sailor men are callously regardless of the helpless upon the ocean or in the aitei luiiro thr.l -/here is a tradition of the son—or an 1111reasoning superstition — which nnakes them disinclined to speak of any tragedy of the sea with which they may have come into contact. Tho steamer Tottenham 'Grange saw the dead bodies of victims of the wreck of the steamer AVaratah floating about the ocean near Durban, but the crew were sworn to secrecy, and it was not until the Tottenham Grange had left New Zealand, and «■ drunken sailor left behind at AVestport told all that ho blew, that this incident became public. It will bo noted that a similar deplora'ble reticence was observed on tho Californian; otherwise, why the failure to record in tho ship's log the. fact that rockets wore seen on tlio night of the wreck. If the British

Court of Inquiry directs its searchlight on this mysterious aspect of soiv life, and elucidates the reason for such strange reticence, it will do good service to seafarers and to the world in general. -But wo must confess that in the light (or rather darkness) of the extraordinary finding of the British Nautical J liquify into the loss of the Wnratoh—a finding palpably against the weight of evidence—wo have had shaken our faith in the perspicacity of such trihunals as exemplified i» Great Britain. POULTRY FARMERS PROSPECTS. .TlisiNC markets for wheat and pollard are reported from Wellington, mud unless the late threshings in Otago tend to bring doAvn prices of secondary wheat (which some Dnnedin authorities prophecy will he Hie ease) a linn high price for foodstud's will have to he faced by local poultry keepers. However, there are two .sides to the picture nt present, for new-laid eggs are bringing exceptionally good prices in Wellington just now. Wellington, in f-hort, more than compensates poultry farmers for the higher prices of its field produce when it absorbs farmers egg outputs at prices 2d to od per dozen higher tlw\n those ol>laniinir in Christchureh and T)unedin. The latest of eggs from Wellington run from £s to 2s •3d jier dozen, wholesale, for best brands, and all in all it beenmes apparent that for those whose fowls are of good strain and inclined to mala l winter egg production their heiini.sh hobby ilure is "money in poultry" even :i'; tin , present high price of produce.

THK .MONKY MARKET. Vkiiy little allcnitirtji lias taken place in liiKinciiii conditions siiu-o the bo.tji lining of t!io inontli fs:iys I lie X<>\\- Zealand Trade Roviow). The supply of money is still snmowhat light, hut we do not gailicr tiiiit tlio supply is any loss tlmn it Mjis M iDoiitl) iiiid tlnMc is no i'ccliiijr of a pinch. T!u> imjjorts and exports for tlic your to 'Mat Marcli <lo not compare well with previous .wars. Following rm» the' total values, apart from specie, for the pa.st three yoaiw to 'A]sl Mavvh:--Kxports: 1!)11-1-J, tIiI.OCKJ.SoI; 1910-11, L-J1.tU7.187; I'JOU-10, €21,ii; 7.:387. lni|)orl,s: IWII-12. fJ!),771..">17 : IDIO-H, 1'17,38."),0(JG: IUOU-K), JL'M,- | 778.821. Kxcess of exports anioiiiited to Ct.ll2,lL>l in 1!)1(M1 and to C«.(i!W..")(l'i in ]!)U!M(). Kxcess of imports ;amounted to J C77O,Utjli. An increase of Jive millions in imports in two ye.trs. with exports decreased nearly two ami :i half millions, is not a satisfactory position, and this is the main factor in hardening the money market. A reduction in the scale of importation is needed to brinjf back easier Conditions.