THE Otago Daily Times. SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 1874.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3740, 31 January 1874, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 1874.

Now that the complete case as against the late Captain of the Surat has been disposed of, we feel no longer restrained from commenting upon the proceedings of the shipmasters in their efforts "to get up sympathy on his behalf. We confess that when we first became aware of the action taken by the masters at their meeting on board the "Warrior Queen on the 22nd inst., it was accompanied with so great a feeling of surprise and regret, that nothing but a sense of fairness to the ex-Captain himself prevented us from at once giving expression to our disapproval of the course taken by the masters in very strong terms indeed. What struck us at the outset as one of the most objectionable phases of the whole affair was this : The assembled masters had no word of commiseration for the hundreds of their fellow - creatures whose lives had been jeopardised, and whose earthly all had been sacrificed ; they had no expression of regret that an irreparable injury had been done to the Province and the Colony by reason .of the very serious blow that had been dealt out to our coßtly system of immigration. The lives endangered, the property sacrificed,.the injury done, and the disgrace cast upon the profession to which they themselves belonged, were altogether ignored, and the meeting began aid ended simply with sympathy with Captain Johnson. Now, we would very seriously ask these misguided shipmasters to place themselves for a moment in another post of observation than that they occupied on board the Warrior Queen. Let them for a moment, and in imagination, take up the position of the many friends and relatives of the Surat's passengers in the homes from which those passengers came. Let them hold in their hands their friends' detailed accounts of the horrors they had endured, the injury they had suffered, and the loss they had sustained. Let them also have before them the report of the evidence taken before the Court of Enquiry. The wild scene of indescribable horror, confusion, and imminent danger, that ensued after the ill-fated vessel first struck, and which was caused mainly by the proved state of utter, helpless, and disgraceful drunkenness to which almost all in authority from the captain to the cook had most shamefully disgraced themselves. We say let them realise all this if they can, and then, while still occupying the same assumed position, let them read side by side with the evidence and the letters, the account of their own doings in their own proper persons on board the Warrior Queen. If they will take the trouble to do this they will not fail to see that one result of the course they have taken will be to instill into the minds of thousands of would-be-passengers the uncomfortable thought that the life and property of people who go to sea are regarded of but little value indeed, in comparison with the reputation and immunity from punishment of those who ara justly held responsible for their safe keeping. In respect to the charge contained in the first resolution passed at the meeting, viz., that the punishment awarded by the Coutt of Enquiry " was extremely in excess of his (the late Captain's) deserts," we think now, as we thought and expressed our thoughts on the 21st inst., that the Court were amply justified by the evidence in coming to the decision they did. One of the arguments urged by the masters in support of this charge of " extreme excess" of punishment.

was avowedly based upon the proceedings taken with regard to the Captain and officers of the Atlantic, and other vessels that were assumed to afford parallel illustrations. But a moment's reflection will show that the cases compared were wholly different—in one, at least, of the most important points of comparison— namely, after the vessels had actually struck. On the one side, we have men acting like men ; like brave, courageous, feeding men ; men who strained every nerve to save the lives and property of all on board, and who had sufficient control over themselves to enable them to do all that men could do so long as it was possible to do anything at all. On the other s;de, we have—well what have we 1 Let the evidence shew. We sum it up in just two words —" the reverse." Instead of doing all that men could do to repair the injury already done, or to mitigate its evil as much as possible, Captain Johnson and his officers seemed to have done what the very lowest grade of common seamen, left unrestrained by any authority whatever, could hardly be excused for doing. They got drunk and left the vessel and its freight to sink or swim, to life or death, as chance might direct. Another thing that stniydj: us as most peculiar about this manifestation of sympathy is this : that it was wholly confined to Captain Johnson. If the cancelling of the Captain's certificate " was extremely in excess of his deserts," what, about the cancelling of the certificate of the Mate 1 We all know that as a i matter of necessity " the line must be drawn somewhere," but the attempt to draw it in this particular instance between the Captain and the Mate is a specially unhappy one. It should surely have been borne in mind that Foreshaw, though acting as mate for this special trip, was really, by virtue of his certificate, as much a captain as was Captain Johnson. We suppose it will not for a moment be argued that he was more to blame than the Captain ; how, then, comes it about that the assembly of shipmasters have no sympathy for him 1 It seems to us that if any plea at all for remission of penalty were really admissible, it wa3 far stronger in favour of the Mate than the Captain. The very generous sympathy lavished upon Captain Johnson, while the Mate is left out in the cold, wholly without a single crumb of comfort, or a drop of consolation of any kind, looks as if the movement were one got up by the shipmasters merely because the offender Johnson was one of their cloth, and casts an air of ridicule on the whole affair.

The decision of MrMaitland, KM., re the criminal information against Captain Johnson for neglecting to signal the steamer Wanganui when the ship Surat, of which he was master, was in danger, was delivered in Court yesterday. The judgment of the Court was that defendant be imprisoned for two calendar months. The Crown Prosecutor withdrew the counter charge of having no proper charts on board.

The Platypus, or Submarine Boat, was successfully sunk and risen in Pelichet Bay yesterday afternoon. The trial was in every respect as successful and encouraging as the launch, which was accomplished a few weeks ago. At the trial yesterday afternoon Messrs Villaine, sen. and jun., the Company's engineer, Mr W. R. Douglas, Mr Harvey, one of the promoters and directors of the Company, and a representative of this paper, entered tho boat, and were submerged for fully three - quarters of an hour. A public trial will take place to-day in the Upper Harbour, when arrangements will be made by which the public will be enabled to see the trial from the deck of a steamer which the Company has engaged for the convenience of visitors, and also to tow the boat into deep water. There is every reason to believe that from the results of the trial made yesterday the hopc3 of the promoters will be realised.

The annual meeting of subscribers to the Athenaeum was held last night, the proceedings being somewhat lively. The report was of a highly satisfactory character, and along with the balance sheet, was unanimously adopted. The sheet showed that the balance to the credit of the Institution at the eud of the year was £565 Os lid. Of this amount £500 had been since spent in paying off the debentures. A resolution was carried to admit youths under eighteen as members on payment of 10s 6d per annum; and after a stormy debate, a resolution was carried to the effect that the Institution should be kept open for four hours on Sunday. We understand that steps will be taken to reverse this decision, by demanding that a poll be taken of the whole of the members of the Institute, seeing that out of the 800 members, or thereabouts, only 174 voted.

The half-yearly examination of teachers and candidates for employment as such, and the annual examination of pupil teachers under the Otago School system, was held in the University yesterday. The examiners were Inspectors Hislop and Petrie and Mr Mackay, of the Port Chalmers Grammar School, the last mentioned gentleman being an examiner by virtue of his office as President of the Otago Schoolmasters' Association. 15 males and 38 females, being 53 in all, pre. sented themselves for examination. The papers given yesterday were in geography and arithmetic. The examination will be continued to-day, and will be in grammar, history, and other subjects.

The Dunedin School of Art will re-open at the University Building on Monday next. The ladies' afternoon class is open from 2 to 4 o'clock on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; and the teachers' and pupil teachers' class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The evening classes at the same institution will commence on Monday and Wednesday evenings, at 7 o'clock—the subjects taught being free hand and model drawing, aiso drawing from the cast and paiuting.

We notice by advertisement that the remaining unsold sections in the townships of South Dunedin, Forbury, and Kevv, are to be submitted to auction by Driver, Stewart, and Co., at their Rooms, Custom-house Square, to-day at 2 o'clock. Judging from the present dearth of houses in the city and suburbs, we have no doubt that those sections will be eagerly competed for with a view to being built upon forthwith. The unusually easy terms of payment offer special facilities to parties of moderate means desirous of acquiring freehold building allot-

merits.

To-morrow afternoon the Rev. B. Backhouse, of the British aud Foreign Bible Society, will give an address to a united juvenile gathering on the Bible in India and China, accompanied with pictorial illustra. tions, at Knox Church. In the evening he will preach at Trinity (Wesleyan) Church on "The Bible in Europe." The lit vs. Dr Cameron, Allan Webb, &c, will also address the public meeting at First Church on next Wednesday.

Captain Hutton has just returned from Hamilton, where the discovery of a large quantity of moa bones was lately made. The bones do not appear, as was first stated, to be those of. birds that died there, but have apparently been washed into the place in which they were found, in great quantity. There are bones there of a considerable variety of species of the moa. There were also found the head of a bird something like the woodhen, and the top of the bill of a goose of an extinct species. The " finds " have been made in two holes ten or twelve feet square, and which are not more than four or five feet deep. It is at present impossible to tell, except by fol-

lowing up the lead of bones, over how much ground they extend. The first waggon load of bones is expected to reach town in about a fortnight.

Some relics of poor humanity were found yesterday at the point of Deborah Bay, Port Chalmers, where the prisoners are cutting the new road. The excavation where the road goes round the point of the bay is rather high on the one side, and on nearly at the top of it, in the loamy surface soil, a complete skeleton was discovered. The bones were huddled together—evidently the rites of sepulture bestowed upon the corpse to which they belonged were hurried and primitive, for there was not ihe slightest vestige of coffin or grave-clothes ; the body had just been deposited anyhow in a hole scraped to retain it. This fact, together with the formation of the skull, forehead low, and retreating jaws, point with tolerable distinctness to the Maori descent of the being to whom the skeleton was once a habitation. Some of the bones are considerably decom- • posed, whilst others are in a good state of preservation, but from their general appearance it is inferred that they had been in earth's keeping for nearly a century ; also, that the skeleton is that of a female—this conclusion being led to by the formation of the upper part of the thigh-bones and the small size of the skeleton generally—whilst the worn tee.th indicate that the owner of the bones had reached her full term of years. The skeleton was carefully gathered together and removed to the Police Camp, where it was viewed during the afternoon by many carious in such matters.

A very happy settlement was come to, at the suggestion of Mr Strode, in a case heard at the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday. The litigants were property owners and neighbours, both tolerably well off, and good friends, until some cattle trespasses occurred, which caused an action at law, and judgment against one of them for £9 and costs. A cross-action was instituted, with a claim of £20, and the Magistrate, in his characteristic manner, strongly recommended the parties to settle the matter between them, and become friends. The solicitors consulted, and the former plaintiff agreed that the judgment given in his case should be quashed, and both parties gave £5 to the Benevolent Institution.

In the report of the Coroner's Inquest that appeared in yesterday's issue, a mistake was made in connection with the evidence given by Dr Drysdale. He was made to remark that he had given deceased a " ticket for the Hospital," instead of which it should have been a second-class railway ticket to take him to the Hospital.

Otago farmers will do well to note the following, which we take from the last report of Messrs Burrows and Perks, the wellknown London corn merchants :—"The late arrivals [of wheat] from New Zealand have been of decidedly inferior condition and quality, many parcels being much sprouted and very damp, and the sales made have, in consequence, varied from 58s to 61b per 4961b5., landed."

A number of extensive orders have been entrusted to Messrs Wilson for execution at their foundry, Cumberland street, and their early completion necessitates the workmen being engaged night and day. An iron surfboat for the Timaru Landing Service, 40ft. long and 10ft. beam, intended to carry from 16 to 20 tons, is also in course of construction, combining several improvements. A tubular boiler, 4ft. Bin. in diameter, and 13ffc. long, is being made for Mr Hudson's new biscuit factory; and a quantify of fluming, consisting of 850 pipes, each llin. in diameter, are being manufactured for sluicing purposes," to the order of Messrs Grayson and Go., Naseby.

The Free Church Presbytery of Tasmania have a missionary who preaches in a number of places in a wide district, his addresses being in English or in Gaelic, according t» the nationality of his hearers. A report laid before the Presbytery during its sitting, held at Hobart Town on the 13th inst., states that this missionary, whoae^name is M'Lean, " is much esteemed by the people, to whom he ministers for his faithful preaching, both among the English and Gaelic-speaking population. "

Six young children were arrested at Auck. land on charges of larceay, in a single week lately. f

Although Mr Grace's Eleven have naw been in the Colonies for some time, the following paragraph from the Graphic, relating to their first experiences on the voyage out, may not be without interest:—"A letter has been received from Mr W. G. Grace, dated ' the Mirzahpore, off Cape St. Vincent, October 27th, 1873,' stating that the team of English cricketers for Australia bad gained their sea legs, and were hi the best health and spirits. M'lntyre seems to have been the best sailor of the party, though, as Mr Grace says, he acknowledges that the ocean is the 'roughest wicket he has played on this year, and that it would be better for having the roller over it. 1"

The complimentary benefit concert ten. dered to Mr A. J. Towsey by the Committee and members of the Choral Society, took place last night, at the Queen's Theatre. As far as the attendance went, the entertainment was a complete success. We cannot, however, go quite the length of asserting that the performance itself wa< successful. With the exception of one or two releeming instances, the singing was dicidely mediocre. Mr Towsey had not been successful in mustering a very imposing orchestra, although he se cured the services of Mons. Fleury, and other well-known musicians. Haydn's Symphony, No. f>, did not meet with sufficient justice, there being a perceptible lack of decision in the playing. Added to this, we do not think that such music is rendered by any means pleasant when left to the tender mercies of a few instiiunents. In the second part, however, Symphony No. 2 went very much better, the performers entering more heartily into the spirit of the entrancing music, and playing with greater determination and freedom. Mr Towsey's pianoforte solo, Beethoven's " Andante in F," was very carefully, correctly, and tastefully played, and appeared to be thoroughly appreciated. The rcmaiuinginstrumental piece to be mentioned was the grand duo "l'Etoile du Nord" (Meyerbeer), in which the plaintive air "0 lietidi" was introduced. This selection was magnificently played by a lady and Mr Towpey on two pianos, the rendering eliciting enthusiastic applause and an encore. In the matter of vocai music, the part songs were very creditably rendered. The. double quartettes for tenor and bass were extremely well sung, but did not meet with the full amount of approbation whkh they deserved. < On the whole, the entertainment was a very ( pleasant one, though not quite what might be styled a concert.

The Princess Theatre was largely patronised last evening, being the occasion of a benefit to Miss Grace Follande. In the open ing piece—"The Colleen Bawn," Mr Bur ford made his reappearance in the part o" Danny Mann, and the beneficicdre in that o Anne Chute, both of which were ably filled There was an interlude of dancing, followed by the farce* "A Quiet Family."

The Bev. A. Webb, of Sydney, will preach to-morrow morning, and eveaiug in the Hanover street Baptist Church.

Mr T. H. Bates will preach in the Christian Chapel, Great King street, to-morrow evening at 6.30- Subject—"The Jaw of Liberty."