WRECKS AND FLOODS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13234, 20 July 1906, Page 4

WRECKS AND FLOODS.

Exceptionally . severe weather always inflicts a considerable amount of damage, but that which has been recently experienced will long be remembered for the lamentable loss of life that has accompanied it on the East Coast. Thanks to the energetic rescue work of the people of the Gisborne district those endangered by the great flood escaped with their lives, so that severe as are the local losses the sufferers have the greatest reason to be thankful that things were no worse. Unhappily we cannot say the same of the disaster to the Aotea and the Sir Henry, for of their respective companies not one escaped. In the case of the Aotea the tragedy was made more, gloomy by the presence on the doomed schooner of the captain's wife and' child, sufficientguarantee that no unusual risks were taken and that nothing was left undone which might have insured safety. On the Sir Henry the captain was an owner and reputedly a cautious man, so that here again 'we have.reason to assume that the disaster could hardly have been avoided. This is a sad and sharp reminder of the perils faced by those who carry on our important coasting trade. The profoundest sympathy of the public will be with the bereaved; nor will it be forgotten that when a sailor goes down with his ship he dies doing his duty. It will also be asked of the authorities if it is not possible to take steps which may reduce the terrible liability of coasting schooners to capsizing under stress of weather. Although such gales as we have recently experienced are exceptional, the capsizing of a schooner on our coasts is most lamentably frequent. If this .is unavoidable we can v only admire the courage and daring with which sailors take their lives in their hands when they go down to the sea in ships, but if it is avoidable by more stringent regulations, then there will be a unanimous public opinion that such regulations should immediately be made and enforced.