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Star (Christchurch), Issue 4872, 11 December 1883, Page 3

Is ottb OrraisATios A FAixvnf We referred briefly in our yesterday's Issue to the case of the sealing party of thirteen men, who were missing from the Amerioan sohooner, Sarah W. Hunt, and made the very obvious suggestion that the Government should either send the Stella or a ohartered steamer on a possible life-saving expedition. The Oolleotor of Customs, as we now know, telegraphed to the Government relative to the advisability of immediate action, and he got a reply that fills us with astonishment and indignation. That reply is to .this effect :— " The Stella c»n't be spared ; thero are stores somewhere on Campbell Island, and the Government sohooner Eekeno is supposed to be somewhere in that region ; these men — common seamen — must take their chance." This is official flippanoy with a vengeanoe! It is possible that these thirteen men are alive j it is possible that they are lying on those inhospitable rooks, where only the albatross and the seal find a congenial resting place, lingering out that awful "death- in-life," whioh eyes to think of makes one's blood ruu cold. At inaotion such as the Government display in this matter we are utterly indignant : it is opposed to all ideas of civilisation, of Christianity, of common humanity, and we emphatically denounce it. Is our civilisation a failure t If not, tomt prompt measure will be taken to asoertain the fate of those thirteen men, and so to wipe away, in some measure, the shame whioh the Government have brought upon the Colony. Surely in no other country in the world would such inhumanity to man have been shown.