AN INCIDENT OF THE REVOLT IN BRAZIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2106, 5 July 1894, Page 17

AN INCIDENT OF THE REVOLT IN BRAZIL.

A Dalziel correspondent sends the following story from New York :—: —

Upon the arrival of the British steamer Delcomyn on April 26 at this port from Buenos Ayres, Captain Keen, her commander, reported to the customs officer at Quarantine that he had no passengers aboard, but wished to see Collector Kilbreth, to make an explanation of his extra large crew. He was ordered to appear before the collector, and thon he made tho following explanation :— " Oil February 25 his steamer loft Buenos Ayres, and the day before sailing three ladiea and Captain A. E. Goddard, United

States consular agent at Ecuador, applied to him for passage. A difficulty arose in taking them, owing to the fact that the steamer was to stop at Rio de Janeiro, and the Government at that place would permit no passengers to be brought in or taken out of the harbour." Captain Keen continued :— " I heard how the Brazilians were treating passengers on ships, so I sad to the folks I had on board if they wanted to save themselves they would have to go in as part of the crew. The ladies were willing to do anything ; so I told them to put on odd dresaeß and get themselves up as stewardesses, and do the work a stewardess would naturally do. They did not have any time to lose in getting ready before the Brazilian officers boarded us. I told Captain Goddard, who is an old sailor, to pretend he was the third mate, and I put them all on my ship papers as part of the crew. Then I was ready for the Brazilian office! s. They came aboard and searched high and low, and did a heap of questioning, but the three ladies were busy working in the cabins cleaning up things, and they saw Mr Goddard giving order 3to some of the crew, and didn't suspect anything wrong. "We bad to stay at Rio 20 days. It was terrible. We couldn't go ashore, nor would they allow anyone to csme aboard. When we finally drew in close to the dock to get some of our cargo of coffee, a Brazilian officer stood at the gangway with drawn sword, and refused to let anyone pass. When I got ashore I couldn't get back again. I had to go to the British Consul and get an order from him, and then it had to be signed by four Brazilian officials. At Rio the consul begged me to help him to get a lady there away from the city, where the fever was beginning to rage. Lots of people were dying. ' She was Mr 3 Annie dishing, wife of Captain Cushing. Wo took tremendous chances in getting her aboard, but were not caught. You see, the Rio authorities would not allow anyone to leave the port for fear some of the rebels or rebel sympathisers would (jet away. But directly I got them on board I explained that they must, for their own safety, become a part of the crew. If I had put them down as passengers they would have been taken off again. So Mrs Cushing became a stewardess, along with the others. The day before we sailed five poor devils got on board somehow. They must have swum off to us, and they begged me to take them out of the ' hell-hole.' I hadn't the the heart te refuse, so I put them down on the papers as part of the crew, and told them to keep hard at work when the authorities boarded us for a last inspection. We passed through that ordeal the next day, and although the ship s papers were looked over several times, and every nook and corner of the vessel searched for refugees, the officers didn't detect our fixing of the passengers as part of the crew. Had those women gone ashore they would have died with the fever. And now you know why I had them all down as crew instead of passengers." Technically Captain Keen violated the revenue laws in bringing in the passengers in the way he did. The offence is punishable by a fine of lOOOdol. "I am sorry I violated any law, and I don't want to be fined," said Captain Keen at the custom house; "but, fine or no fine, I'll do the same thing again if the circumstances are the same." Captain Keen told his story in Deputycollector Phelps's office, and several of the customs officials were present. When he finished, Collector Phelps told him that ho deserved the greatest praise for what he had done for a lot of unprotected women at such great risk, and the other officials lauded Captain Keen in the highest terms. It didn't take Collector Kilbreth many minutes to decide that it would be rank injustice even to think of imposing a fice on the bighearted Englishman, and the next morning, when the captain called at the collector's office, he was commended and not fined.

During the week ending July 1 seven vessels, with a total of 4433 tons, arrived at, and six vessels, with a total of 3220 tons, left the Dunedin wharves. The s.s. Invercargill steamed alongside the Gothic yesterday morning to discharge 1300 cases preserved meats and sfj bales of rabbitskins. The R.M.S. Gothic has put out about 700 tons of cargo into the railway trucks at the Bowen We (Southland Times) are informed that the New Zealand Shipping Company, Ohristchurch, have received a communication from the chairman of the Marine Underwriters' Association of New Zealand to the effect that, in the opinion of Lloyd's surveyor (Captain Thomson, of Port Chalmers), it would not be safe to send the company's 8.8. Ruahine to the Bluff to load. This is a serious matter for shippers and the port, as the Ruahine was to have been here next Monday, and arrangements had been made for loading her with large quantities of frozen meat and produce. The Harbour Board will doubtless endeavour to ascertain in what respect the harbour is, in Captain Thomson's opinion, unsafe. It can scarcely be deficient depth of water in the channel nor at the wharf, as the vessel would not have been at her greatest draught going out, and although the Ruahine is a larger vessel than others that have safely used the port as full ships her draught is not more— probably less— than that of some of these. ■ The Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company is one of the few fortunate shipping undertakings which have during the past year been able to battle successfully with trade depression, and to show even better results than those declared 12 months ago. At the annual meeting Mr Ritchie, the chairman, was able to present a very favourable account of the operations during 1893, and to hold out still more encouraging hopes as to the future. After paying £13,900 for debenture interest and j£35,563 for depreciation, £18,640 remained for distribution among the shareholders. This enabled the directors to pay a dividend at tho rate of 4} per cent., or 2 per cent, more than in the preceding year, and the amount would evidently have been even more but for the -fact that an interval of several months had occurred in which, pending an exchange of vessels, the profit of one voyage had to be sacrificed ; but as the company have in the new Maori got a boat of over 3000 tons deadweight cipacity in excess of the old Maori, without having at the same time to prepare for any increased coal consumption, the shareholders realised that full compensation is likely to be obtained for this temporary loss. A pamphlet has just been issued by the Shipowners' Association of the Pacific Coast on the subject of " Blood Money in San Francisco," with the object of inducing shipowners sending vessels to the Pacific ports " to instruct the masters, peremptorily and without option, to obtain their crews at the association offices and under the association rules, $he association to charge a shipping fee of 3dol a man." The pamphlet describes the system that formerly obtained at San Francisco, under which owners were compelled to nay blood money to obtain crews, but organisation amongst owners on the Pacific Coast has been attended with results similar to those secured in Great Britain, and the Sailors' Union of the Pacific is no longer supreme. Since the opening of the line from Sjdney to Vancouver a new interest has been attached to the port of Southampton with the hope that it will become the British terminus for the delivery of the mails sent from these colonies to Canada and thence via Halifax Home by the proposed 10,000-ton and 20-knot steamers. Referring to Southampton is the following by the last English mail :— " The superiority of .Southampton over the Queenstown route as the port for the American mails has been practically demonstrated by the race between the Majestic and the New York on their last east-bound passage. The speeds at which the two steamers travelled are now available, and these terve to confirm the opinion as to the advantages of Southampton. The mails, by the New York were delivered in London 29min earlier than, those by the Majestic, although the last-named vessel steamed the faster of the two, and it ia on this latterfactthattheson them pojtbu'-ed its claim to bo the quicker route. The New York maintained an average speed for the voyage of 19 14 whereas the Majestic's speed wai l'J"4l. Now, had the Majestic gone to Southampton aud maintained the same speed, she would have reached there 2hr 14min sooner than the New York, and this saying of time wonld have been effected in the delivery of the mails in London, to which place_ the great bulk of the mails are consigned, it is interesting to note that the Paris succeeded in breaking all previous mail landing 3 tince the American line has been at Southampton. Passing Hurst Castle at 6 o'clock she made a quick run up, entering tho dockh«.ad at 7.15, and the mails started for London by bpecial train at exactly 8 o'clock, 14min ahead of the previous record."