THE STRANDED KAIPARA.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXV, Issue 4454, 17 January 1910, Page 2

THE STRANDED KAIPARA.

Cargo being Discharged. Divers at Work. Auckland, Jan. 16. The s.s. Kaipara still lies in the Rangitoto channel bows aground and stern out of the water. The work of discharging the cargo, which is estimated at £140,000, was proceeding all day, several smaller ship loads of cargo being brought back to the wharves. Two divers examined the vessel yesterday and to-day, one of whom reports that the vessel is torn a considerable distance on the starboard side’and there is a hole on the bilge 4ft by sft, Some rivets are torn out and some plates pushed in. It will probably take a good deal of work to repair the vessel. Further descents were made today and the work of temporarily repairing the ship with a view to getting her into dock was begun. Members of the Harbor Board and the Harbormaster, interviewed, state that Auckland harbor is perfectly safe. Many theories as to the grounding of the vessel have been advanced, all differing widely. Immense crowds visited the scene of the wreck to-day.

Mr arid Mrs J. B. Veale returned from Taranaki on Saturday. We are glad to say that Mrs Yeale is very much improved in health. Major Boyd, in the Brisbane Courier, describes his tour through Papua, and deals with the wonderful hold that cricket has over the young Papuans. I He says: “Wo had some trouble in getting the carriers, as all the villagers, including the Samoan missionary, were engaged in playing cricket. The craze for cricket seems to have spread from village to village all over civilised Papua. Wherever we entered a village we invariably found a cricket match in progress. The singular feature about the play was that young natives who could not speak English had most of the English terms used in the game by heart. Thus one would hear ‘ Play !’ ‘ Run I’ ‘Stop!* ‘How’sdat, umpire?’ ‘Out!’ I ■must say that many of them handled a bat well and gracefully. The bowling was good and Very swift, and as for the fielding it was quite up to the average. The worst of this cricket mania, my guide told me, was that if carriers were wanted and they were playing a match, no inducement would make them move until the game was over. It was be- 1 coming, he said, the curse of New Guinea.” I