The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1914.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12253, 2 June 1914, Page 4

The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1914.

The world-wide shock which the Titanic disaster occasioned had Tha Empress Cf scarcely been overireland. come when another, almost equal in its severity, thrilled all peoples. The Titanic was the latest say in marine architecture. She was pronounced to be unsinkable, but she slit and crumpled up like a child's card boat when she hit the iceberg. Then thcra was- a fluttering in the dovecotes of maiinedom, whose conclusions had been too flattering to the ability of this human achievement to contrnd with the direst ccc-a;i dangers, and a Safety-at-Sea Commission was appointed. That body lias just issued its recommendations, which are, doubtless, excellent; but there is one thing that surpasses the- wit of man, and that is. the construction of .huge steamers thai can forge ahead at 20 miles, or more, an hour, collide with other vessels, or icebergs, and yet proceed oil their way. The Empress of Ireland, the finest boat in the Canadian-Pacific fleet, was built in 1906, was over 14,000 register, and was constructed' on modern- lines, and yet a comparatively insignificant coal boat sent her to the bottom so rapidly that there was no time to get out boats or rafts, even though they were swung out. Tho quality of the modern liner is such that her passengers and crews are secure against almost any misadventure save collision, the only safeguard against which is caution. The captain of. the ill-fated vessel was observing this wise precaution when the collier ran into his great floating palace and hopelessly gashed her side. Hence there appears to have been a lack of ordinary caution which should bar the perpetrator for ever from the ocean highways. Here is another evidence that the safety of a man is not due solely to his own. conduct, but largely depends upon the conduct of his fellows. For the thousandth time the wails of souls sinking helplessly and without warning into the ocean's depths imply a pitiful, protest against the craze for rash speed at times when everything is not clear ahead. If a great passenger steamer with its 1387 souls could ease down for the sake of its own safety and that of other vessels; surely there cotild be no valid reas...on for such haste in the case of a mcr-e carrier of coal that all caution was thrown to the winds in such thick weather. There is only one way in which such accidents as those which happened to the Titanic and the Empress of Ireland -a-ncl other great liners can be avoided, and the dangers of the sea be minimised, and that is by an international resolve that there must be the most scrupulous caution in fogs—that all captains of vessels must, under the force of the most severe penalties, do, in fact, what the captain of the Empress of Ireland appears to have done.