TIE TITANIC.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143773, 23 April 1912, Page 3

TIE TITANIC.

THE SENATE GOMMMISSION. RECEIVES EVIDENCE. CHARGES AGAINST MR. ISM AY. By Electric Telegraph.—CopyrigbtLONDON, April 22. The Olympic has arrived. The officers state that they ivcrc 500 miles from the Titanic when a wireless message was received through the Celtic. The Olympic’s stokers and engineers worked like Trojans and forced the speed to 24 knots for thirteen hours. Tho tension was relieved temporarily by a wireless message stating that all on board the Titanic had been saved, but tho Carpathia later informed the Olympic of tho truth. Tho Olympic .then resumed her voyage.

Tliio Virginia states that she received a wireless message from Cape Race notifying that the Titanic was in danger at 12.40. She was then 178 miles distant. Tho wireless messages ceased at 1.47 a.m. abruptly. Throe pearl necklaces the property of survivors, were insured at Lloyd’s for £140,000. It is believed that they wore saved. NEW YORK, April 22. Wild wporte, abetted by excitable members of Congress, declare that Mr. ismay was responsible for the wreck. He virtually superseded Captain Smith, and compelled him to take an unusually high northern course and maintain an excessive speed. Referring to Senator Rayner’s violent attack on Mr. Ismay, Senator M ‘Cumber, in tb© Senate, protested against the trial, conviction, sentencing and execution of Mr. Ismay without fair and honest consideration. When tho feelings of the civilised world desired, a victim upon whom to vent its wrath, the Senate should be particularly deliberate. Senator Lodge endorsed Senator M ‘Cumber’s remarks.

Whiteley, a first-class steward, who is in the hospital suffering from frozen feet, states that he overheard two of the Titanic’s crow’s-nest lookouts. One, ho said, fifteen minutes before the collision reported to Mr. Murdoch, first officer, on the bridge, that ho fancied he saw an iceberg. Twice afterwards the lookouts gave warning. Mr. Murdoch was most indignant. No attention was paid to tho warnings. One of tire lookouts added, “No wonder that Murdoch shot himself,” Whiteloy, while assisting bo launch the lifeboats, was caught in a rope as it uncoiled, and was thrown into the sea. A lifebelt kept him afloat till he found an oak wardrobe, which rose to the surface after the Titanic sank. Two men dropped off exhausted. At daybreak AVhiteley saw a collapsible raft black with men, all standing. He swam to it, but was not allowed on board, being told “It’s thirtyone lives against yours!” “1 prayed,” he said, “that someone on the raft might die so that I might take his place. Someone did die, and I was allowed aboard.” Afterwards those on the raft were transferred to the Titanic’s lifeboats. Hie believes that the lookouts are returning to England by the steamer Lapland. A deck passenger states that Andrews, one of the Titanic’s engineers, went below and reported to a group of passengers that the vessel was torn to bibs below, bub would nob sink if the bulkheads held. She was ripped by an underlying peak of ice, which tore many of the forward plates from the bolts. He added that it seemed impossible it could be true, and many of the group smiled.

Bride was wheeled to the enquiry room at the "Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, owing to his crippled feet. The xuess photographers exploded a flashlight. The chairman protested that this was intolerable. . Bride stated that he intercepted. a message, from tho California announcing that three bergs were in the vicinity. He gave the message to tho captain, who acknowledged it. Bride added that tho Frankfurt was the first vessel to answer his signals iof distress. The strength of tho curirent showed that tho Frankfurt was "nearer the Titanic than the Carpathia ;by twenty minutes. The Frankfurt’s wirelessed, “What’s the mat£ter?” Captain Smith was told of the ■ffuestion, and said, “The fellow’s a yfsol! Keep out of it.” Bride explained that Phillips preferred to reply to the Carpathia, which meanwhile wirelessed that she was hastening towards the Titanic.

Lightoller, the second officer, stated that he discussed the nearness of tho icebergs with Captain Smith, who did not tell him to slow up. Thomas M’Cormick who is in the hospital, suffering from wounds on the head, declared that he jumped when tho Titanic was sinking, and got his hands on the gunwale of a lifeboat. The mtembers of the crew struck him on the head and tore his hands loose. Aftar • repeated efforts he swam to another "boat and got the same reception. Finally two sisters, named Mary and Kate Kftirphy, pulled him aboard, despite the crew’s efforts.

Mrs. J. Brown, wife of a Denver mineownssr, states that while things were so'informal it was difficult to realise the tragedy. Men and women talked and laughed in little groups. “I was looking at the boats,” she said, “when twonmen seized mo and threw me in, aaykag ‘You’re going, too.’ After tucking thfi'jwomen in, many mon went into-the flip's tesiaurant to smoke.

Knowing how cald tho wator was I took off my lifebelt, because in tho event of drowning I did not wish to linger. 1 then took aiu war, which kept me warm, rowing. VKe saved many lives. Soon a great w»4o>. came, and I ’.new tho Titanic was gone. Ono man began to complain that 'we had no food or water and no con) pass. I called to him to be quiet! or go overboard. Dawn revealed a wimderful sight. At first it was .groy, bint then a flood of light and a ball of red fire illuminated forty miles of iccbergjf:” LONDON. April 22. The Daily Mail fluid has reached £13,000, and the ?J&aily Telegraph fund £9749. The Olympic is shipping sufficient collapsible boats for all! aboard. NEW YOIttK, April 22. The steamer Mae Kay Bonnet reports that she recovered, sixty-four bodies identifiable, and others unrecognisable. They were buried at sea. BREMEN, April 22. The captain of the Frartkfurfc denies Bride’s statement. He states that he immediately steamed 140 miles, and arrived on the scone of tho wneck at 10.40 a.m.

Memorial services. (Received April 23, 8.5 a.m.) LONDON, April 22. Memorial services for those lost on the Titanic were held on all British battleships, also throughout Canada, South Africa, and tho United' States. Many congregations sang “Nearer, my God, to Thee,” tho hymn the band on the Titanic played as tho vessel sank. The disaster has placed six hundred families in necessitous circumstances at Southampton. EXTRAORDINARY METHODS. OF AMERICAN COMMITTEE. (Received April 23, 15.50 a.m.) LONDON, April 22. Shipping circles at Liverpool are indignant at the American committcc-s methods of examining Air. Ismay, especially by innuendoes. They emphasise that during his management of tho White Star Line he consistently studied the safety and comfort of passengers. His aim in accompanying the Titanic on her maiden voyage was largely confined to that consideration.

In a further statement Mr. Ismay said : “The only reason I wished the crew to return home was for their own benefit. When wirelessly ordering their return I was not aware that an inquiry was contemplated. When 1 entered tho boat with Carter, a passenger, no women or other passengers remained on the dock. Tho disaster proved the futility of unsinkable vessels. Tho present legal requirements are inadequate and must be changed. Owners have placed too much reliance on watertight compartments and wireless telegraphy. Steamers must have lifeboats and rafts tor every soul, with men to handle them.” William Garter, interviewed at Philadelphia, states that an injustice, has been done to Mr. Ismay. He emphasises tho fact that the boat they escaped on contained two seamen and forty steerage women and children. He continues: “Mr. Ismay, I, and several officers walked up and down the deck for several minutes shouting, Are there any more women? There was no response, and the officers then told Mr. Ismay that he could enter the boat if he rowed. This he did until tho Carpathia was sighted. THE BRITISH INQUIRY. (Received April 23, 10.50 a.m.) LONDON, April 22. Mr. Buxton, in the House of Commons, said that stops were being taken to constitute the strongest possible court of inquiry into the Titanic disaster. Lord Charles Beresford, in a letter to the Times, says that the fact that lights wore burning a few minutes before tho last plunge shows that tho engineers remained at their posts two hours after it was known that a terrible death awaited them at any minute through tho bursting of tho, steampipe. CONTINENTAL PRECAUTIONS. (Received April 23, 10.50 a.m.) BERLIN. April 22. Herr Dolbruck, in the Reichstag, said that precautions for tho safety of passengers were under active revision. VIENNA, April 22. Tho Government is equipping ail liners ,with wireless telegraphy. STATEMENT BY MR. ISMAY. (Received April 23, 11,2 oa.m.) LONDON, April 22. Mr. Ismay emphatically declares that he was simply a passenger and was not consulted either regarding the speed or navigation of the vessel; neither did ho make suggestions nor exercise any privileges. He saw tho captain only occasionally, and was never in his room nor on the bridge until after the accident. He said it was an unqualified falsehood that he wished to make a record. The only information that ice was sighted was the Baltic’s message on Sunday to the captain, informing him of this in the evening, and ho, xiosted it for the 1 officers’ mfpxmatioa.

ANOTHER NEWSPAPER STORY. DEMANDS FOR BETTER CONDITIONS. (Received April 23, II a.m.) LONDON, April 32. New York newspapers report Whitley as saying that a boat was lowered on the starboard side before the officers had issued orders. It contained an American millionaire, his wife, and child, two valets and seven firemen whom they bribed, each receiving five pounds when aboard the Carpathia.

Two French children, Lolo and Louis Hoffmann, arc among the saved. Their parents are unknown. There is generally a demand in America that every liner shall have adequate lifeboats and for the standardisation of wireless apparatus under Government supervision by marine operators. Ruthless control by amateurs in violation of the regulations, will be a criminal offence. The confusion of earlier stories respecting the safety of all passengers arose from the picking up of fragments of wireless messages. PLANS FOR NEW LINER. (Received April 23, 11.35 a.m.) LONDON, April 22. It is understood that the plans for the White Star gigantic liner now being built at Belfast have been altered to provide for cellular sides for the engineroom and the stokehold, and also to provide cellular sides above the waterline in the other holds. Ev MEMORY OF MR. HAYS. (Received April 23, 11.4 5a.m.) OTTAWA, April 22. As a tribute to llio memory of Mr. Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Hue., who was among the victims of the Titanic, every wheel along the line of the Grand Trunk Company in Canada and the United States will cease turning during the course of the memorial service to the deceased president. ME. W. T. STEAD. So far as is known tho majority of the saloon passengers on tho Titanic wore Americans. England has however, lost Mr. W. T. Stead, the veteran journalist, who is well known all over the English-speaking world as editor of tho “Review of Reviews.” Mr. Stead, who was 65 years of ago i wont to work early and- late in a Newcastle merchant’s office. By tho time lie was eighteen his genius for journalism had led him into newspaper work, and at twenty-two he had become editor of the Darlington “Northern Echo,” laying down tho law ou all occasions, and inaugurating in England the system of government by newspapers." Yet, when ho bade farewell to all this greatness at the age of thirty for a subordinate position on the London Pall Mall Gazette, states a biographer, “very few people in the world at large had ever heard tho name of Stead, in another three years, very few had not. For in that time lie had made himself editor of the Pall Mall, and had been sent to prison for exposing a world-wide traffic in women, nndor tho title of “Tho Maiden Tribute.”

Mr. Stead made it part of his life’s mission to assist tho cause of universal peace. “I.think," he once wrote, “I may say without egotism that but for me there would bo no Bagno Conference for the world to talk about. It was I who took up this matter in the teeth of our indifferent public, I who saw the Tsar when all the world scoffed, and I who persuaded the statesmen of Continental Europe that peace is no idle dream.” In all the personal relations of life Sir. Stead was a plain, unaffected English gentleman. The graceful egotism ■which marked his journalism was then sloughed off. He described his own personality as American in sympathies, Russian by natural assimiliation, English by birth. While, on the one hand, Mr. Stead was the apostle of universal pence among the nations, yet, on tho other hand, he is regarded by many as having played a vast part towards tho creation of English naval power as it is understood to-day, for it is not overstating matters to say that his publication “Tho Truth about the Navy” in 1884 awakened the middle and lower classes of England to a somewhat dangerous state of tilings, and (taken in conjunction with the works of previous and more expert writers) paved the way for tho, great new fleet idea to which Sir William White gave being—the substitution of homogenous squadrons for tho old fleets in which scarcely two types were alike.