MARITIME MATTERS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5474, 31 December 1904, Page 16

MARITIME MATTERS.

(By “ Mainsail.”)

The final meeting of the Nemesis Relief Fund committee was held at Sydney recently. The Lord Mayor, who presided, said that the effort had proved very successful as the committee had still £oo 11s 8d in hand after distributing £3430 to the wid ws and familes of the victims. Th- expenditure had been less than 1 per cent of money subscribed, and was incurred chiefly in advertising and printing. It was decided to give the Lord M yor power to distribute tho balance in hand to the widows as a Christmas box. A voto of thanks was passed to the National Mutual Life Association for its gratuitous work in distributing the fund. H.M.S. Tauranga. after many years’ se vice on the Australasian station, took her final leave of Australia a fortnight ago, in command of Lommander Drummond, who recently arrived in Sydney by the u.M.j. Omrah. for tho purpose of I taking me vessel heme. The T„u,a,.ga is maimed by blue jackets from various I ships of the fi-et, who have been displaelea by the introduction of Australian 1 naval recruits. As the warship steamed down Syoney Harbour the homewardbound sailors were heartily cheated by their comrades on the other warships in port. Cihe crossed out of the Heads shortly before 5 p.m., and was aoon lost to Eight, j-he Tauranga is proceeding home via the Torres -Straits route, and will make calls at Thursday Island, Batavia, Lol mb , Aden, Suez. Port Said. Malta, and Gibraltar. her destination being For .smooth. j The New York “Syren” says that the log of Christopher Columbus, wrirten on his first trip to America in 1403, lias recently come to light, with oth.-r valuable papers of the great explorer, in. the library of M. le Due d’Albo in Paris, and the United Sta.es may acquire them all. The value of those docu ents, of course, lies mainly in their quaint' record of coin bus’s impressions and methods. Should the government, get tho papers it would do well to permit ,their publication in fil l. Advices from London state that the P. and O. lin ;r Ballaarat, which many years ago was employed n the mail service betwen England and Australia, has been disposed of by auorion. The Ballaarat wil. b? remembered as a frequent visitor to Sydney, and she was regarded as a very fine type of vessel of her day. She was a vessel of 4870 tons, as compared with liners of 10,500 tons of to-day, and her speed of 12J knots would not suit the convenience of travellers who are aocus-t-med to 18-knot boats. The Ballaarat, which was built 22 years ago, had acC'mmodation only for 113 first and 45 second class passengers. Quite recently she made a voyage to India. Bidding at the auction sale commenced at £4OOO. and eventually the vessel was knocked down to an Italian firm for £B6OO.