A VESSEL SET FIRE TO BY A METEOR.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2125, 20 February 1886, Page 4

A VESSEL SET FIRE TO BY A METEOR.

— The following lotttsr, giving details of the nuiukjblc .iwi<lutit to the schooner J. ('. Foml, (mi lier \oyas;t' fioin the ,'il'fttsi!}.: CKiif to Kfihulm, M,mi, appsara in the Paciii.: Adurtiscr, publHiud at Honolulu :— ' Di\ir Sir, —A* ji,u ruqii'jst, \v(- jjiesflMt you with, a «r.it» ntfiit -01 the lire windi took }«lueu on the Bolioaiicr .), C Foul on lici iccent ti iji to Kiiiuhu O.i .Niturday, Du.:. |-J, being in lat -23 50 N., lony 143 2(5 W , at 1 30 o'clock p. in , the wither being Mno and i^irid moderate, the first mate, Mr Mercer, discovered the mixxen staysail, wliich was clewed up, to be jn Uaines at tlie Hiaiiitnußt huail. With all possible speed the fire was put out by means of of water, beating and cutting away. The ■tayaail was destroyed, the main peak halyard block charred badly, the masthead was burnt about half an inch deep. It is needless to say that all hands ..M'ondored at a fire occuring at the mast- * head, but the finding off ragments of .so ne metallic-liko substance showed us that something of a meteoric nature was the cause. Thoao on the deck were picking up burning fragments and throwing - K them overboard. The pieces of the vtronge oubjtancc were found at the baac of(thc mainmast. A piece as large as a man's hand was thrown overboard quite hot by Mr Weight, and a piece as large Or larger, which was burning the mainsail, was thrown overboard by one of the hands. The above are the facts as we remember them, and as they •re recorded on the ship's log. In the night previous the weather was ,clear, but meteors were very numerous, and the mate and the man at the wheel noticed their frequency and numbers, and also that they would burst in „ a manner resembling a rocket. No shook * was noticed, the first intimation of the occurrence being the staysail in flames. Our theory is that the substance formed )B the enwt of a meteor or fragment pro- ' jected laterally. As there was a large ' 9 quantity of kerosene and other combustible matter on deck, there was doubtless more than the two pieces thrown overboard in our anxiety to avoid disaster. We remain yours T. H. Griffiths, captain; B. J. Weight, passenger."

* f A recent issue of the Glasgow Weekly M-iil contains tho astounding statement that gold has been discovered at Sand* hurst, Victoria, and that intense excite'mtmt has followed as tho result. To those who recollect old Bendigo, aa well as those who know that Sandhurst is the richest quartz diggings in Australia, the paragraph has caused much amusement, This is another instance of the dense ignorance that exists at Home regarding t~"tne colonies. , Qojso to Law.— ln a recent theatrical law suit in England, the defence of one of the parties, Mr Conover, was that the defendants were ejected because they had broken an agreement to pay the rent in advance. On this point Mr Ward in his evidence said that when the rent was tendeicd, Mrs Conover slammed the door in his face and told him to go to . ;/ Upon this the following edifying passage occurred .-—Counsel : •• Did yon go ?" "No." (Laughter.) Mr Justice Day: "Ho went to law instead." (More laughter.) Mr Kemp : " Much the same thing, my lud." (Court thrown into convulsions.) > The Sailor Pbince.— The World of a says :— The Duke of Edin- • ' burgh's long period of suspense has at labt ended, for he has received a private | irttiniation from Lord George Hamilton it > (authorised by Lord Salisbury) that} the obstacles to his appointment as Coinman-dcr-in-Chicf in the Mediterranean .have disappeared, and he will be gazetted as .1 j Lord John Hay's successor in a few days, and will go out to Malta as soon as his arrangements can be completed. The , Duke had already settled the most important details in confident anticipation of his obtaining the post for which he has ,yo, always been ao anxious. Captain John Fellowes is to be Flag captain, and Mr H. Ricard secretary, while Lieutenants Elwin and Startin, of the Minotaur, have also been selected to accompany tho Duke. The Surprise ia to be commissioned as tender to his flagship, and she will probably be commanded by Commander Le , jSijrauge. The Duchess of Edinburgh is to accompany her husband to Malta, and she will reside abroad during his term of command. Enstwell Park will probably - up. Prince Alfred is to be with \ £iis, father on board the flagship for •everal months in each year. Prince of Wales is to be appointed to liojile ship on the Mediterranean station, probably the Colossus, which is to go out in March to relieve the Neptune. f A Victorian school inspector writes : | — "In hardly a school in'my district have 1 fomid proper attention paid to the pronunciation of the aspirate. The 'children drop their • h's ' without correction, and in some cases the teachers set " them the example. From Cockney and Cornish the disease has spread to the /'■ Scotch and Irish. We are in a fiir way 'i. 'of becoming a natiou without an -h' in •our vocabulary. From the average ' choir you will be pretty sure to hear ' "eaven' and "ell,' and • 'oly, oly, oly. 1 1 ' The average porter shouts out ' Awthorn • ' and 'Awksburn.'and the average cabman , •, 'Emerald "111.' There are other weak points in Victorian pronunciation, but this I think is the worst. Journalistic Vulgarism.— With the keenest appreciation of Americau humour, we cannot ignore the fact that if America has produced the richest of huraouribts, it has also given birth to a legion of imitators. Imitation may be "the sincerest flattery," but it is assuredly in this case a public nuisance, as -? the American journals are disfigured with dreary pleasantries, at which it is impossible to laugh. Here is a specimen from a recent American journal : — George Washington Taylor, a coloured domestic at the lodging house No. 214, Powell-street, was arrested the other day for stealing a handsome white satin dress from the room of Miss Adele Waters, of M'Kee Rankin's Californian Theatre > s Company. When the case was called by Jadge La wler yesterday, that charming and vivacious young lady presented her- ' self in Conrt in handsome attire, and sneceeded in impressing His Honour so favourably that the light-fingered son L- of Ham was forthwith found guilty of petty larceny and ordered to appear this morning for sentence.

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