WAR NOTES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 219, 7 November 1904, Page 1

WAR NOTES.

THE PORT OF VIGO. HISTORIC ASSOCIATIONS. It is moro than two centuries since the little Spanish port of Vigo last attracted world wide attontion, and, ominously enough, that was when Admiral Booke's fleet attacked and utterly crushed a Spanish squadron. Hi-tory relates that in 1702 the W;ir of Succession was in progress, and for four years Spain had dared to trust her American treasure fleet on the high seas, which wore patrolled by the British and Dutch war Teasel***. At that time, however, Spain depended Very largely npon the mines of the Now World for the moans of maintaining her empire, and it became imperative that monoy should be obta : aed, and the treasure fleet was thereforo ordered to sail from tho colonies under French convoy. It was on September 21, 1702, that it slipped in Vigo Bay. There aro two harbours at Vigo, an outer and an inner one, The inner harbour is reached fn>m the outer jne by a com paratively narrow channol. The galloons wero in the inner harbour. Across the narrow channel between two points a boom barrioado, mado of chains and trunks of treos, was stretched, and on the two points there wore weak forts. For a month tho treastlrc-'aden galleons lay In saf.)ty, while the Spanish authorities of Cadiz} Wrangled with the authorities of Vigo as to landing the treasure. Cadiz' claimed the right to handle royal treasures from America, am] the Madrid Government ordered the lauding of tbe gold and sliver to bo Btopped. jPinally, fn October 23rd, Ihe combi ne<l British and Dutch fluots sailed into the harbour, landed 4000 men, and captured the forts, broke through the boom barricade, and captured niuu galleons. Tile rest of the treasure flout tho Spanish burned, eucceoding in landing only a small part of the treasure, most of which was stolen in the coafusion. One of the British prize galleons wont on the rocks and sunk while she was being taken out of the bay. The value of the treasure that was on board lhe 23 gn Ileoiis is tfarionsly 'estimated, but tho gold aud silver now at the bcttom of the sua is said to bu worth twenty-eight million sterling. The money value is cortainly not so much. The whole cargo was probably wortli £10,000 000. Of this tluSpaniards secured perhaps £1.250,1)00, while the Dutch and British fleets took awft> about as much more, leaving trea sure to tbe ▼aluo of £7.000,000 or £8.000,000 dr, tlib bottom -*f the bay. Attempts htfv'e boen" riiado rtt various times to raiso this sunken treasure, and a French company, in 186S, managed to raise a small quantity of gold and silver ingots, and at the present time a British company is endeavouring to recover the treasure. It was ropoited some months ago to have raisoel ono galloon, containing silver to tho value of £60,000. a— , !

Tho hot of storage passenger rates bctwson German and American steamer linos, which has, according to a recent London cablegram, cosb tho Euglish lines .£150,000, and Lhe Gormau shipping firms s. ill more was (ays an exchange) la**. month being waged relentlessly. Ti 1 theii only the German lities had carried passengers to America at thei 2 rates, though the charge inadu by tlie Cunard might be said— afterallowing for tho cotffc ot* convoying European imuiigrunts-icioso England to Lil'orp'o'o!— to bo almost as low. A few days beforo the fate fot third class passengers from England was £2 10a to £3 (it had formoiiy boon £o 15s to .£6.) Thori the «fh.:to Star Company has come to 40s, and the bther firme i a tlie Morgan combino followed. The Cunard, tho Allan, and the Canadian Pacific linc-B wore obliged to make corres» ponding reductions. It was Biiggestod by some elose observers of tlie fight that a secret wor&iffg ffrrao^ement might exist between the companies' in the itlantic oombiuo and tho Ger.uan companies, designed for the discomfiture ot tho Cunard and othor independent British lines. Tho White Star lino, in announcing its reduction to tbo 40s rate, stated that " passougers ironi tL'o Continent must not bo booked third class unless they had resided at least five weeks in Britain.'' It would appear, thorefore. that the object of lho reduction was not to interfere with the Continental trade, but to tike tralHc from the Cunard ri the English ports, A radium clock, whioh <vlll beep time indefinitely, has boen constructed by an English clock makor. Tiio clock compii3es a small tubo in which is placed a minute quantity of radium stfpjfortfcd in an ex hausted glass vessel by a quart* rod. IV the lowor end of this wonderful little tubj, which is colouied v.olot by the action of the radium, au electroscope to med of two long leaves or strips of dilver is attached. A. charge of electricity m winch theru aro no betu rays is transmitted through the activity of the radium into too k-uvos, and tne lattoi thereby expand until they touch the sides of the vessel, connected to tho earth by wires, which lastantly conduct the electric charge, and the leaves fall together. Phis vory simple operation is repeated incessantly every two minutes until the indium is uxuaustod, which in this instance it is computed w 11 occupy 30,000 year* Thc recent thunderstorm at Wanganui was productive of several sew-utions. One of thc Express Company's drivers was driving at the back of tho racecourse when thc KU-nu broke. The tart was struck oy lightning and shifted a co:ip!c of feet tho horso stunned and tlrown to the ground, and the driver blinded for a few minutes. At M.* K. llorsley's residence at Sedgebrook, throe young girls (according to thc " Chronicle ") had an experience of a terrifying nature. A thunderbolt burst, in the room in which they were sitting, and smashed to niatchwdod the wall through which it made its exit. A piece of board was hurled some twenty yards away, and a piece of 4x2 scantling was smashed. That the occupants of thc room cecaped death is marvellous. There were 1175 telegraph offices open in the colony during the Sep-' tember quarter of the present year, as against 1541 open during tho same quarter last year. The number of ordinary telegrams sent during the three months ended 80th September last was 853,207, for which £28,968 was paid, £25.60 was paid fot 40,518 urgent ordinary telegrams, and £3969 for 93,000 kress telegrams. The Government telegrams numbered 62,943, for which the Department was credited with the sum of £4814. The number of Government telegrams sent out during the September quarter of last year was 57,186, valued at £5500. The total number of messages sent out by the Telegraph Department during last quarteri including 147,593 bureau communications, was 1,134,318, exclusive of Government messages.* Burns and Cuts.— Slight injuries of this character aro of frequent occurrence in almost every household. While they are not danger ous, except when blood poisoning results from the injury, they are often quite painful and annoying They can be quickly healed by ap Dlying Chamberlain's Pain Balm, tt allays the pain almost instantly and heals the injured parts without matter being formed, which insures a cure in one-third the time that the usual treatment would require. Tt Is the most perfect preparation in use for burns, scalds, oU t- s bruises and like injuries. It should bo applied with a feather, and *bo» •fore the parts become swollen t possible. For eale by R. Snodgrass & Sons. im