THE STERLING'S SEARCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2363, 8 June 1899, Page 17

THE STERLING'S SEARCH.

' KAIPARA HEADS, June 3. After a -fruitless search the Sterling returned on Saturday, attaining a latitude of 32.30 S., and longitude 165 E." She zig.-gagged between the former, and 35 S., north and south of a - line between Cape Maria' and Sydney. When 400 miles west of ■ the Cape, near where the Northern* Chief had seen the Perthshire, the Sterling encountered heavy gales from the southeast to north-west, and the barometer whs down to 28.80 at times. Captain Robertson is fully confident that had the weather not been so thick and stormy d;ot being able to see two miles ahead) he would have - found the Perthshire. During most of the search the Sterling was battensd down fore and aft, and had all cooped in the engine room. CAPE MARIA VAN DIEMEN, June 3. The Government steamer Tutanekai passed west at 1 p.m. to-day in search tff the Perthshire.

WELLINGTON, June 2. The Waikare, which left for Sydney tonight, has taken 250 tons extra coal and 20 dozen blue lights. She will make fo* the last reported position of the Perthshire, and zig-zag along a line' between it and -tha North Cape in the hopes of finding tha steamer. . •■ v

(Fkom Our Own Correspondent.) '

WELLINGTON, June 5. There is considerable criticism in ship* ping circles at the action of the Government in sending the Tutanekai to look for the . Perthshire. Experts say that if rough weather is experienced a small vessel like the Tutanekai ' would be endangered in towing a ship of the Perthshire's size. Recent barometrical readmgs and advices from Sydney point to the -prevalence of easterly winds in the Tasman SSeta t in which case the Perthshire would be drifted back towards the coast of Australia, considerably beyond the longitude in which she was last spoken. She would thus probably be about 350 miles east or south-east of Sydney. Yesterday ' there - were no fewer than nine steamers on the lookout for the disabled vessel — viz., the Mararoa, from Sydney to Auckland; the Waikare, from Wellington to Sydney; the Ducken•field, from Sydney, via Nelson, in search j' the Stella, tutanekai, and Sterling, from Auckland, also in special quest ; the Delphic, from Hobart to Auckland; and the Wakatipu, from Sydney to Wellington. Captain Neville, of the Wakatipu, which arrived in Wellington from Sydney this afternoon, reports that he steered west from Sydney until within 150 miles of Hokianga, and then came south to the port. He saw nothing of the Perthshire, though he adopted the same measures as to lookouts and night signalling as the master of the other searching steamers. Up to yesterday strong south-east winds were met with. y

The Whangaroa, it will be remembered", came across the Perthshire on May 13, in lat. 35.40 S., long. 160.40 E.. or some 450 miles east of Sydney. The Northern Chief saw her on the 25th May, or 12 days later, when she must have been somewhat close to the track' of steamers from and to Sydney and Auckland. With the information now available the Perthshire should be heard of again in the course of a few days.

Mr W. A. Moore, New Zealand agent for the Shire line, received cables from the company's Sydney agents and from Lloyd's agents in Sydney confirming the press cable that the barque Northern Chief had spoken to the Perthshire on the 25th May about 400 miles from Cape Maria Van Diemen.

The old-established Cromwell Argus and itp newly-founded rival the Cromwell Times both appeared as bi-weeklies on Saturday. The U.S. Chicago has sailed for a six months' voyage, undertaken for the purpose of displaying the American flag in unfamiliar waters. She will steam round the entire African continent. She will stay some time at Capetown. A prepossessing young American lady makes a good living getting married. She may justly be called the champion bride, and according; to her own statement has been married about 200 times. A number of the great merchants of Chicago adopt this method of advertising their wares. The'bride stands in the window with her husband, and a clergyman performs the marriage ceremony. This, of course, attracts a great deal of attentkm, and the exploit is published by every paper in the United States. The merchant reaps a golden harvest, and the blushing bride is paid £4-. The marriage ceremony takes place about three times a week, each time for a different firm, and so the lady makes a very good thing out of it. "Soilence in the Coort! ' the bobby cried, And I really thought I should have died, With the coughing here and the sniffing

there, Till the Judge, enraged, said: — I declare, This row no longer I'll endure, Just send for Woods's Great Peppermint Cure*"