DERELICT REPORTED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18299, 16 January 1923, Page 7

DERELICT REPORTED.

THE HELEN B. STERLING. DRIFT TO MIDDLETON REEF. POSSIBLE DANGER .'TO SHIPPING: The hull of the wrecked schooner, Helen B. Sterling is reported by the Suva -correspondent of the New Zealand Herald to have drifted on to, Middleton Reef, which is about 300 miles due east of Clarence River, New . South Wales. Captain Queen, of the steamer Suva, he states,'has twice seen the wreck. On the first occasion, the hull was lying, bottom up, on the windward side of the reef. During his last voyage from Australia to Fiji, he found that it had been carried over the reef into the lagoon. The opinion was expressed that it would not require a very heavy sea to put th» hull over the lee reef, and set it adrift again, to become a danger to shipping. The Helen B. Sterling, a schooner of 1608 tons,"was abandoned gn January 23, 1922, about 280 miles north-west of Cape Maria, the crew being saved by, H.M.A.SMelbourne, which made a wonderful race to the rescue. The wind was then southwest, and it was believed that >the derelict would drift in that direction, toward the line of traffic between New Zealand and Sydney.. Middleton Reef is over 500 miles distant from the point at which the schooner was abandoned, in an eaet-north-east direction. The reef, which is in the track of shipping between Fiji and Sydney,, has been the grave of many a derelict. It is about three miles long, and is usually awash. ' AM:.r4NOE..'S r s:aSliy BALLdP. Voting closed yesterday. 50,000 WORKERS INVOLVED. [BY TELEGRAPH. ASSOCIATION.] ' . WELLINGTON. Monday. The uallot conducted by the Alliance of Labour on the. question whetner nine affiliated organisationsseamen, wetersiders, drivers, miners, freezing workers, etoremen > traniwaypen, Amalgamated Society of Raflwaymen, ■ and engineering workers—snail cease work, as a" protest against the wages reductions, closes today. Approximately 50,000 workers are members, but not all of them have voted. The secretary of one large federation had returned to him through the post unopened a big parcel of- voting papers Intended for use by • members of the Canterbury branch. ' Accompanying the parcel was a covering note - stating that the votes had not been cast because insufficient time had been allowed for supplyfng all branch members with ballot papers. -,