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Otago Witness, Issue 2734, 8 August 1906, Page 22

teing" a virtually unheard-of thing for so higJi a premium to be paid on a sailing veeeel which had not completed much more than half of its normal passage-time for a sailer. In the case of a large passenger liner, however, the matter is naturally all tiie more serious, and the case will need to be very thoroughly looked into and much more stringent precautions taken if confidence is to be restored. The underwriters will assuredly be st.ill more exacting in their demands for precautionary measures. and the case is one whioh ought to be dealt with by the Government at the earliest possible moment. In this connection Mr C. A. de Lautour, who came Home in the s.s. Gothic, writes to me as follows: — "Mrs de Lautour and myself came by the s.s. Gothic, which was in some danger of fire after leaving Teneriffe. The cause was no doubt damp wool, which has been responsible for so many fires upon ships during a very recent periods The wool, so far as I can ascertain, has been that which has been treated after leaving the sheep-farmers' sheds, and has been sent Home as scoured or as elipe wool. This rather points to somewhat culpable carelessness is the fellmongeries, and requires strict investigation, otherwise the high character of our direct HneTS will be impaired. The Gothic was a full ship from Monte Video, and a day's delay in reaching Plymouth would have been a very Eerious matter. As it was, Captain Bartlett so thoroughly had acquired the confidence of all on board that although it was known five was on board no alarm was felt, and everything was oarried out in ordinary course until tho passengers left the ship." The special correspondent of The Times Writes -as follows on tii© subject: "The owners of tho British ship Pitcairn Island, burnt recently with her cargo of New Zea. land -wool, learn that, as the result of an Official inquiry, the fire is attributed to spontaneous combustion of the wool. It •has been suggested to me that the series of fires due to the heating of the wool from New Zealand may not have been caused by the dampness of the wool when shipped, but by the chemical constituents of the sheep daps used. There have been six wool fires within a short time, and it might be worth while for the authorities in New Zealand to look for a cause other than the ratner obvious on* of damp bales." Another reference hae been made to th© matter by the insurance contributor to The Times, who says : " Underwriters have been so persistently hammered with losses during many weeks past that a neriod of three days without a serious casualty becomes quite Jioticeable. The fires in New Zealand vessels have been the 'ast blow, and in some ways were the most important, since the common cause of the outbreaks, whatever it mar be. must be still operating in the vessels at sea with wool cargoes. Those with Ion? memories recall a similar series of wool fires in 1892 when the cause was traced to the hurried shipment of wool in a damp state. The present high price of wool may quite r;o.<>siblv be tempting exporters now to ship bales in a danarerous condition of damnnes?. As much a« 25 guineas oev cent, have been paid on the British ship $ardhana, from New Zealand (April 29). with wool, a rate which under ordinary conditions would be preposterous seeing that the ship is not vet due."