THE WAIRARAPA DISASTER.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1188, 7 December 1894, Page 32

THE WAIRARAPA DISASTER.

The sum of .£4 17s has been collected in Shannon by Mr Keith, sen., towards the Wairarapa Fund. ■ - A Napier paper says one of the survivors of the Wairarapa disaster, .who wasi a passenger to Napier by another -of the Union Company's steamers, called at our office this morning to draw attention to the condition of some of the life r belis on the latter vessel. After his experience at the Great Barrier, naturally he felt a little uneasy on once more taking passage by sea. Having considerable knowledge by this time of the usefulness of life-belts, he examined some of the belts in the cabins of the steamer on which he was travelling, and says that he found several of them unfit for use ; in fact they wore rotten. The latest subscriptions ,to the Wararapa Relief Fund are as follow. Amount already acknowledged, <£1424 Is 2d; A. E glint on, 10s; E. Feist, 10s 6d ; Lower Hutt School, per Mi- Barry, £3 ; Tui Minstrels’ entertainment, £l4 6s; C. Baspherson, £1 ; F. Cooper, 10s 6d ; Paraparaumu Public School, 18s; amount collected on s.s. Tasmania, <£7 11s 9d; other sums collected brings the total up to £I4BO 12s lid. Tire sum of £7 14s has been collected at Pahiatua in aid of the Belief Fund.

Mr William Ferguson, secretary of the Wellington Harbour Board, has consented to become a member of the General Committee of the Wairarapa Belief Fund.

Those Ayho consider themselves entitled to . participate in the Wairarapa Belief Fund, and the friends of those loft in necessitous circumstances, are requested to give information of their circumstances to the secretary of the committee, at the Wellington City Council offices, by Wednesday, 12th. Auckland, December 3. When the Wairarapa enquiry Avas resumed to-day, Mr Cooper put in the evidence taken at Wellington and Dunedin. A letter from Captain W. Manning, master of the Penguin, was put in stating he had anchored, stopped, or slowed doAvn whenever he thought desirable, and had never been censured by the Company or its agents. Mr Cooper then addressed the Court upon the evidence, saying that he did not consider his position was that of prosecuting counsel. His duty was to assist the Court to find out the cause of the Avreck. The duty of the Court was to ascertain by whose fault the ship was wrecked, and if that were ascribed to the captain, then the next question was whether any life was lost at the wreck or afterwards through/ the neglect of the officers. If they assumed that the loss of the ship was due entirely to the action of the captain, it would be unfair to deal with the certificate of any of the officers unless the subsequent loss of life Avas found to be due to the conduct of the officers. Mr Cooper quoted several authorities, including the case of the Golden Sea, which he said showed that the Court, if it deemed advisable, had the poAver to deal with the owner of the ship. He thought all were agreed that the primary cause of the | Wairarapa casualty was the recklessness I of the captain. It was shown that he had not taken even ordinary precautions. He neglected particular v regulations by not using the fog - horn or slow-

ing down his ship, both of which WetC required by law, and there was also the neglect to take soundings. Apparently the captain did not know where he was with any degree of certainty from 7.30 o’olock until the vessel struck. He did hot think that any blame attached to the second officer, although it Was his watch when the vessel struck, for the captain was on the bridge at the time. He did not think any Blame attached to the first, second and third officers up to the time the wreck took place. While perhaps they might have remonstrated Avith the ©aptain> it must also be recognised that it was requisite for the captain to be supreme;, attd if he was in charge of the v-essei at the time she struck, theii it relieved the other officers of the' responsibility. There appeared to be a general feeling on the part of the passengers that there Avas time to haVe got the boats out before the vessel listed. The officers of the ship did not agree with that idea, but of course their, interest was to put the best face on the mattery while on the other hand it must in fairness be remembered that the passengers were not the most competent persons to judge upon that point. He considered the Court was fully justified in commending the engineers, nor could the third officer be in any way blamed. He did not wish to press the case against any of the officers, but at the same time there was no dou.br but that the evidence of passengers tended to slioav that Moyes did not rise to the occasion, and that he did nob take steps promptly to do what he could for passengers. He did not think: any blame Was attachable to the officers as to what was done oh the rock. Mr Northcroft said there was no need to go into that point. The Court had seen the rock, and it was not much larger than the floor of the room.

Mr Cooper.said that then the only question would be as to whethei, after the vessel struck and until the passengers wet e Safe on shore, there had been an absence of any prompt steps being taken by the officers, and also Avhether there had been anything that could be considered unseamanlike conduct. Mr C. E. Button said that all must admit the sole responsibility fell upon Captain Mclntosh, but he did not think Mr Cooper was justified in applying' the term “reckless" to the captain, who was a matt with a long reputation for carefulness. Of course he had on this occasion neglected precautions, but that was not recklessness. . He was at his post all day carefully attending to the navigation of the ship. No doubt when the fog became dense he should have taken' proper precautions, but he was not there to tell why he had not taken those precautions, nor did the evidence give any information upon that point. He would ask the Court to bear in mind the captain's good reputation for seamanship in the past. < ■ ' ; Mr Cotter pointed out that the cases quoted by Mr Cooper were very strongly in favour of the surviving officers. The Court had no power to deal Avith the officers’ certificates under the circumstances, as the captain was in absolute and unqualified charge of the vessel the greater part of the day and in the evening right until tbe vessel struck. The officers had done all that could have been fairly expected of them under the peculiar circumstances. Mr Campbell also addressed the Court for the Union Steam Ship Co. He was glad he could congratulate himself, the Bench, and the community that after such an exhaustive enquiry not a single shadow of suspicion or blame could be attached to the Union Company Avith regard to equipment of the vessel in any single respect. He quite appreciated the fair way in which Mr Cooper' had presented the case, but he thought the language used with regard to the captain was exaggerated. He had felt indignant when he had heard Moyes spoken of as he had been. He had heard of no act of greater heroism than the giving up by Moyes. of his life-belt to a woman and child when he thought the vessel was bound to go down. THE FINDING OF THE CONST. . Mr Northcroft said that the Assessors and he would go through the evidence, and inform counsel when they AA r ere ready to deliver their finding. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, November 29. The police havo received from the Great'Barrier several articles found on the beach. They consist of a purse containing £2 15s 6d ; a shearer’s ticket, tbe property of David Hastie, survivor, of Oamaru, believed to be in the Napier district now; several documents and letters in the name of Jas. Charles White ; Post Office Savings Bank book in the name of Elias James, of Seacliffe, Otago. A difficulty has arisen as to the OAvnersliip of 133 sovereigns found on the body of Mr George Bird, who was identified by Mr Johnston, third officerof the Wairarapa. Mrs Manderson, of Westport, claimed the money on the statement of two survivors. They identify the bag in which the money was as that of Mr Manderson, and state that Mr Manderson should have had about 140 . sovereigns, as they came from Coolgardie Avith him, and knew him. Among the documents found is a steerage ticket in the name of William Johnston, aged 32, for steamship Austral. Mrs Foster Brown, wife of the stereotyper in the Herald office, has been identified by the description as among those buried. Auckland, November 30. A movement is on foot in the direction of presenting a testimonial to Sergeant Gamble and the police party of constables under him as a mark of appreciation of the way in which they have performed their duties at the Great Barrier in connection Avith the recovery and burial of bodies from the wreck of the Wairarapa. Auckland, December 3. The captain of the barquentine Pendle Hill, from the Bluff, reports that after passing the East Cape he met with a

running .in an E.N.E. direction which lasted till the vessel was off- the Barrier. The current was running about two knots an hour.. Christchurch, November 29.

The fete in aid of the Wairarapa Relief Fund was held at Sydenham Park to-day. A procession of friendly societies, &c.» preceded the sports. There was a very large attendance, and the proceeds Will be substantial, , In one of the bicycle events two of the competitors had several falls, owing to a collision with cliildreii who were running across the track. Thereupon the bicyclists, both amateur and cash riders, refused to take part in the remaining events.