LESSONS OF THE STORM.

Otago Witness, Issue 846, 15 February 1868, Page 1

LESSONS OF THE STORM.

(Prom the Daily Times, Feb. 10. ) : There is not much fresh intelligence concerning xhe floods within the Province. It will take* some time to correctly ascertain minute details of the extent of the ■damage done. Meanwhile, most distressing particulars have come to hand of the 1 losses sustained in the neighbouring Province, Canterbury. The district of Timaru, if is to be feared, is a ■very heavy sufferer. The storm com--menced at Timaru on Sunday evening, about twenty hours earlier th?n it began . in Dunedin. The rain continued through4 out Monday, and a little after midnight subsided. But the sea, by the long-coH-ianued gale, had been lashed to fury, and it was when the wind was falling that the William Miskin, by the enormous ground swell, was literally washed on shore. Her fires were quenched by the seas which broke over her, and it seems most fortunate that she escaped being dashed to pieces on the rocks. The 'Captain, before the storm commenced, had gone on shore with his Custom House papers, and was unable to get back, or he *did not .consider the danger sufficient to make it worthy of a desperate attempt to <lo so. The Timaru, a fine ship, loading with wool at Timaru, escaped by what seems almost a miracle. She was lucky -enough to be able to fasten her chains, after the windlass broke, round her foremast, and to hold on, notwithstanding that she dragged considerably. The gale seems to have beaten less directly on the land than at Oamaru — the wind being more southerly. Very fortunately, the Red Hover, with full cargo and passengers, sailed on Sunday morning, a few hours before the gale commenced — just sufficient to enable her to make a good offing. She would have had no chance of riding out the gale : like the Star of Tasmania she was heavily laden. The Timaru was fortunate in being very lightly laden.

Wliat has occurred at Timaru naturally suggests consideration as to Oamaru. With the storm raging so fearfully at the first-named place, surely better precautions should have been taken at the latter. We believe the wire was not -down early on Monday, and Oamaru should have had warning of the coming gale. But it will very reasonably be said that, under the present system, Ho heed whatever is paid to telegraph warnings concerning the state of the weather. The reports are, in fact, regarded as next to

worthless. If we are correctly informed, ■one of the boys belonging to a Telegraph Office pops his head outside, and the opinion he forms of the state of the weather is what is telegraphed to the different stations. 'The New Zealand coast is subject to stormy weather ; there are many roadsteads along its course at which vessels necessarily not very powerful, are con-

tinually riding at anchor.

An early

warning in the case of an approaching -gale, would frequently prove their salvation. The storm signal system established

hy Admiral Fitzroy was found to work

admirably. Of late, since his decease, it "has been allowed to languish ; but recently published statistics have, demonstrated the accuracy with which he was in the habit of denoting coming storms, and the system, we believe, is to be revived in full force. The French Government have earnestly requested permission to share in it. If there is any place where such a system is urgently demanded, Nev.. Zealand is the place ; and we cannot too strongly urge the subject upon the notice of the authorities. In considering it, one is immediately met with the difficulty that the present telegraph line is signally imperfect. It is scarcely too much to say

that communication is broken fully half the time, and that time, too, when under a proper meteorological system, the telegraph would be most needed. But this i 3 a matter also well worthy of consideration : instead of being an impediment in the way of a proper system of storm

signals, the urgency of the latter is an

additional argument in favor of the Tele- / graph being properlyconstructed. Admit-

ting that, in the first instance, the timber -was not properly selected, something more than this is at the bottom of the fre-

quent destruction of the line. The fact w, ihe coast is subjected to frequent storms and floods, and a telegraph line on poles will always be

exposed to frequent damage. Nothing short of a buried line, such as is in use in parts of Europe, and, we believe/ of America, will serve New Zealand. We are aware of the expense entailed by the necessity of thoroughly isolating the line, but the first cost will in the end prove a saving over the constant expenses the breakages entail. Besides, the advantage of keeping the line constantly in work has to be remembered. Our contemporary, Punch, lately observed, with quite as nutch truth as wit, that the first thing which met the eye at the Telegraph Offices generally, was the announcement " Communication "stopped." When the cost of the line, including the cable across Cook Strait, is considered, as also the salaries cf all the officers, it must be apparent, that the line being unworkable half the time, means a loss of half the .interest on the capital, and the salaries of the operators. It is to* be hoped the Government will give the subject good consideration, and make a proposal to the Assembly during the next Session, which will meet the case. Too much has been done not to make it necessary to do more. The Government have accepted the charge of the Telegraph line, and are bound to place it on an efficient footing. Aprovos of the subject, it may justly be remarked that, whilst the line is in condition, it is not always used. To say the least, it is curious that so little was known in Dunedin of the storm at Oamaru. The line, we believe, was up till nearly eight o'clock on Monday ; at least, it was whole up to five o'clook ; but beyond a private message to a firm in Town, no intimation of the danger to the shipping was flashed to Dunedin. How was it that the Assistant Harbor Master did not telegraph ? A steamer might have been senff round, and reached Oamaru before Tuesday morning. Some one, too, is very much to blame f©r there being no rockets at Oamaru. Two lives at least might have been saved, had these indispensable adjuncts for such a spot as Oamaru been obtainable. It is to be hoped the whole subject will receive minute investigation, including the heroic self-reliance of the Oamaru people, which on occasions of this kind impels them to so little anxiety to seek the assistance of Dunedin.