A TALE OF THE SEA.

New Zealand Mail, 8 February 1900, Page 46

A TALE OF THE SEA.

Full details of a terrible tale of shipwreck and loss of life were received at Shields (England) recently. The vessel lost was the steamer Zurich, of Lon- ,y don, and Captain Ferguson, the commanner, is the sole survivor of the crew of nineteen hands... The vessel at . F The time of the disaster was on»a voy- y age from Archangel to- London, six days r “but from port. . The Ziirich r encounter-? ed a fearful gale, her deck cargo., gob;*' adrift-, and the after-deck , wa3 stoveror .. Through tremendous seas- the after part'A of the vessel gradually settled down, ‘ The crew were not able to procure any provisions. An effort was made to launch the only boat left, but it was smashed to matchwood; by the waves, A twelve of the crew being thrown into Y the sea. These men regained their vessel after a desperate struggle, Two rafts were then constructed. On one were the captain, tliree engineers, the ’ second mate; steward and four others. ' On the second raft were the chief officer, belonging to South. Shields, '• the boatswain, and seven others. On. the second night after leaving the ship , v the mate’s raft Was lost sight "of, ahdy nev“or seen again. Shortly aft or the chief engineer, second engineer vnd second mate were carried overboard ftom . the master’s raft, the second.officer be- - ing the only one who succeeded in regaining his position. Through continu-ed-heavy seas, the raft was overturned, but only five out of the” eight men got aboard again. The raft on a second occasion was capsized, and the other two. of the crew perished. The third engineer and steward died on the raft. The master was then the only survivor. / Captain Ferguson was ultimately rescued by Norwegian fishermen in an. ; unconscious condition, his- limbs being swollen to a terrible extent. i ; ‘ .

m ' . ; - -■ : N "i :: :[ Tlie largest match factory is in Austria, ’> and each year it uses 22,0001 b of phospho- ~£ rus, turns out 2,500,000,000,000 matches, and for the boxes 160,000 ft of wood. K 7. _lu Jewish marriages the bride is always placed to the right of the bridegroom. With-. \ «very other nation of the world her place... iii the ceremony is on the left.

, i; rWELLINGTON .GAS .GOMEANYi^c i k ,-The thirtiethnnxmal; general ’fig!. tnK of ■shareholders of. the WelliAgfeSiS:* Gas , e» Coihpaiiy, Limited; itas held ' la)iV.%eek’ at' the Chkmberf of ' Commence. : * r ; v Mr --- David Anderson*, cbairinah: of 'diretftor&j ‘ presidettf add Jthere Were ‘aboilti tWfenty' " shareholders present. ..' ... ..: ; '■' ’ > - The following report" wafl presente 1 f l_The directors, m presenting thp an-- ;. . jiual statement of accounts, are gratified to report to the shareholders that' the increase in the company’s business during the year has been of a,, satisfac- : tory character. There has been a considerable increase in the consumption of gas. Sixty-seven and' a half chains of new mains have been laid during the year, and the number of new servi.es put in lias been greater than last year. The work of extending the mains into the Melrose Borough is now being curried out. A dividend of 10s per shore on the fully paid-up shares, ana os per share on the partly paid-up shares, was paid in July, and the directors recommend the payment of a similar dividend for the past half-year. A sum of £2OOO lias, been written off for depreciation, and the balance carried forward to next year. The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the report and balance-sha-t, said be had great pleasure in being able to meet shareholders with so favourable a statement. An examination ... of the accounts showed that as .comi pared with last , year there had been a marked improvement in all the impori tant items. . There had been, also a considerable increase in the .consump- , tion.of gas, amounting to;over lion cubic feet more than the previous year, a result which, had far exceeded anticipations, and though the continued expansion of the city had much to do ► with such increase, yet he thought perhaps the truer reason might be found in the reduction in the price of gas which was made last April. During the past year a contract had been made with the Melrose Borough Cornu i], and a Bill passed through Parliament,’ giving the company power to extend its mains into the Melrose Borough. Jrle might mention that the price of gas to consumers resident within the borough would be the same in all respects as charged to consumers resident within the city of Wellington. The recent advances in cheap and effective lighting by means of the incandescent system would no doubt be further increased. During the past year the company had endeavoured to show the advantages of the Welsbach incandescent system for outside lighting by fixing a row of three-light are lamps in Vivian street-, which, for effectiveness, convenience and economy, he ventured to say co-id not be surpassed, the cost of gas for each three-light lamp being a lictle * o; under , one penny per hour. He might also mention that the company had received instructions from the directors of the Bank of New Zealand to imual the_ Welsbach incandescent system into their new premises. During the last few. months Mr- D."J. Nathan, the late chairman of the board, had been'absent in Europe, and had- made inquiries with regard to the best possible means of heating and cooking by gas in -America 'i and elsewhere. Before concluding he would like to- bear testimony to thecontinued zeal’and attention to duty displayed by the officers and men employed by the company. ' • - pssffi Mr Harold Beauchamp, in secon ling the motion, said he desired to .very cordially - congratulate; the directors on the very excellent results achieved by the - company during the past " year. When last year a reduction in the price of gas - from 6s' '3di; . to' 5s - (104 -. per 1000 feet was 1 proposed, he ventured to predict that the increased consumption. of gas would more than‘provide: fori.that concession. He J was happy td see. from the balanfce-sheeb that ms prbpheey, had been amply fulfilled-, “ for OK to making a eohcesEion'whicfi/'Was* equal to £2OOO per - aimuirf, :‘thei- J company’s , revenue showed-mr increase I 'of ■ close on £IOOO. That had 1 been, achipve.d by the excellent management of the affairs •r company by the secretary .Mr Jf- Howell) and the manager (Mr Beirry Birch) and “-by .the care y each individual director. . Mr G. M. Eebbell said that twenty years ego he had said that the price charged for gas by the company was too high. After comparing the balancesheet now under consideration with that tor the previous year," he. said that the price oi gas should be'further reduced. Ihe reduction of 5d pej* 1000 feet made curing the past year' h ad 1 been followed by successful results,\ AndMf a further reduction of od were'ifidde "he believed vne public would re'spdhd and burn so muen more gas that there would be no o&s. in Auckland the price was down to os, and he had been told that he company there was thinking of going P v ’ r ; r . A little time ago the company had the advantage ~ tlie . c-Ilir.gton company as regarded; the Efe slippid say '-hat 11 e . pelhngton companv now got its coal cneaper than the Auckland company „ Again, the retail price of coal was aY ellin^on ’ 311(5 tliere iriAsf;« dlfficulty of getting female dowas hire Price of gas gas fer down The consumption .of iust n<3 coking purposes would increase Etrfe r w l ' don ® in Auckland. The them - - . s,m Piy waltzing round that he'e D ■‘iio'omant, and to prevent ' dot h t|f* ri ”“ 0 but £ Dr iu g

viable said he didsnot- think '"diofate the ' shareholders-'to chotate to the directors a§ to what they-’ .regard to.the.price of gaf > He tliought the Wellington Comply had . stronger opposition than any other . m Ne.w, Zealand had | IA ~T hf y;- mightwell-JeaVe'* o f :,pnce to the dir'ectorfe;’?, tW+i natlu ' al mterest .it was to see d that the company made the most profits < ccrild as a mercantile concern. No one 1 g r 3t ■ the company’s balance-sheet ! could fail to see that the margin, be- \ tween its cost of production and its selling price was getting smaller. It was • just possible that if no reduction in the • s ®r|l n S price had been made there would ■ still have been an increase of revenue ] caused by the increase of population. The secretary said that some of Mr ; Keobell s remarks were likely to lead to misconception. As a matter of fact 1 the company’s sales of gas for cooking s purposes had during the past year in- 1 creased Dy leaps and bounds. The com- 3 pany haa also sold more gas-cookers durmg the year than it had in any similar period previously. Although the directors had the matter under their serious ] consideration, the company had had no comp. amts as to the price charged for gas lor cooking purposes. Dr C. P.. Knight said he thought the , question of price might be left to the directors. A Mr Beauchamp said it was only natu- ! ral that matters of finance should be ■ left to the directors. He understood, - however, that at present the directors 1 had in contemplation some large extensions; and he thought it was most desirable that the cost of extensions should not be debited to plant; but should be charged to maintenance. It would be far better that such a charge should be debited to maintenance and not to At present, in view of the policy of the company, he should certainly tmt support any recommendation to the directors, but leave them to consider matters which had been mentioned at the appropriate time. The Chairman said the directors' were all anxious to reduce the price of gas. so soon as they could do so consistently with their duty to the shareholders. He was anxious to get down the price of gas, but he did; not think they could do anything more in that direction mst yet. The motion was carried unanimously. The retiring directors, Messrs D. Anderson and James Barry and the Rev C. S. Ogg were re-elected without opposition, and the chairman returned thanks for . the renewal of commence. On the motion of Mr J. Banks, seconded by Mr E. R. Brown, the retiring auditors (Messrs Harold Beauchamp and John Scott) were re-elected; and Mr Beauchamp returned thanks. Mr Danks remarked that he understood that one object of a meeting of shareholders was that expression might be given to the opinions of shareholders. He was very much surprised to hear some of the shareholders present say that financial matters should be left entirely to the directors. Directors were not infallible, and he thought that from a meeting of shareholders beneficial. suggestions might sometimes be got. As a shareholder, he thought that a reduction in the price of gas was practically . necessary.-. The directors were not gasfitters, hut if they were, as he was, he could assure them that they would find the competition of the electric lighting people something very keen. There was no doubt that unless .the. Gas- Company took the bull by the horns, and volun-tarily-made a reduction in-the price .'of gas, it would, in consequence of strong competition, have to come down. On the motion of Mr William Watson, seconded by Mr P. Nathan, and supported • in a patriotic speech* by Mr Brown, the sum of 100 guineas was unanimously voted to the “More Men Fund,” the motion being carried amid : applaiise. -t;' “k- v!' '■ • Mr Brown proposed' a vote of thanks to the directors and staff of the company. He said he had a certain amount of doubt in his . own mind, caused l by the smallness of the amount, £1896 3s Id, set down for salaries, legal, printing and advertising, and general expenses. He hoped there was no sweating about it. The amount seemed to him a very : small cne. Mr Milne seconded the motion, which was carried by acclamation. ; The Chairman acknowledged the vote ' on behalf of the hoard of directors. The secretary, on behalf of the staff, ' assured the meeting that-the members of tie staff, one and all, used their ut- : most endeavours to further the company’s interests in every possible way. 1