THE WHITE SWAN CONTROVERSY.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 86, 13 April 1907, Page 6

THE WHITE SWAN CONTROVERSY.

PARLIAMENTARY RECORDS OF

THE WRECK

(Wellington Post.) Though it seems hard in Wellington to get people excited about current matters of great importance, it is not so difficult to enlist interest in ©rents ot long ago. The younger generation may be apathetic about live loan proposals, but their elders are very much concerned about the dead past. Therefore the debate about the White Swan, a vessel which was wrecked -over forty year 3 ago, has exercised the minds of debaters, for they have not been able to agree about the date of the accident. One side declared that the-ship went down in 1866, and the other stoutly maintained that the vessel was lost in 1862. The journals of the House of Representatives show clearly that one White Swan was wrecked' in 1862. Here are a couple of extracts from the Journal of 1862. x On Monday, 14th July, 1862, the Governor, in opening Parliament, said:—"The late unfortunate l&ss of the White Swani will, I trust, not" involve more than a ■,. very temporary and partial, derangement of this service. .■■-, If qannbit,-^however, ludc»" t<6 vthat event without the gratitude which is due to Almighty God for the preservation of so many ■ valuable lives as were in peril on that occasion,-and also the deep sense which is entertained by the Government of the very great kindness and hospitality exercised towards the shipwrecked persons by Mr John Moore, the resident proprietor of the station near to which the wreck occurred." On the 16th July the House's Ad-dress-in-Reply contained the following passage:— <'We express, in common with your Excellency, our great regrets for the loss of the steamer White Swan , while bringing many members of the General Assembly to attend the present session, and our unfeigned gratitude to Almighty God for the providential preservation of the lives of all on board; We also cordially unite with your Excellency in thanking those who offered generous hospitality and gave valuable aid to the persons who were shipwrecked." Other evidence may be quoted to refute the advocates of 1865. The most interesting testimony comes from Mr Robert Sinclair, of Ghuznee Street, who was second engineer of the vessel. Mr Sinclair, speaking to a Post reporter this morning, said that the wreck occurred on the south side of Castlepoint. The White Swan left Auckland in 1862 wits about 80 members of Parliament and officials on board, and she also carried the Government records, the seat of Government having been removed to Wellington. She called in at Napier on a Saturday, and resumed her voyage the same night, and at about 4.30 o'clock the following morning she struck a rock south of Castlepoint. She swung round into a patch of smooth water between some rocks,' and all the passengers were taken ashore in a dingy. The Superintendent of Auckland Province, and the late Mr R. J. Duncan, of Wellington, rode down to Wellington, and sent the Stormbird up to the scene of the wrick, and passengers and crew, who were living in tents near Mr Moore's sheep, station, were brought down to Port Nicholson by that steamwJ? aykng on the> Thursday after the White Swan was lost, Mr Sinclair added that the records were recovered fromthe ship's hold. The boxes in which they were stowed were thrown i overboard m the belief that they would float ashore, but unfortunately the current took them out to sea and they were lost. J It has been pointed out to us that Mr Huntly Miott, when retiring from the Undersecretaryslnp of the Mines Department, in the course of some reminiscences confided to a Post report- : er, gave the date of the loss of the White Swan as 29th June, 1862. which date is also given by the Now Zealand Year Book 1904, p. 689. The Otago Witness Christmas Number for , 18.99 gives the date as 28£h June, 1862.