THE REGENT DISASTROUS SHIPWRECK.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 110, 3 November 1894, Page 2

THE REGENT DISASTROUS SHIPWRECK.

(PBBPKKBB ASSOCIATION}. Mbijboprne, November 2. The Argus says the commander of the Wairarapa proved devoted to Ms duty and in the face of death questions are withheld. The paper comments on the singularity of the fact that there are more wrecks of intercolonial steamers than of vessels from abroad. The Age says to landsmen the disaster looks like rash navigation to let the vessel tear along on a pitch dark night in a region sfcndded with rocks and islands, and with little apparent heed of the ship's exact position. Sydnby, November 2. The following passengers in the Wairarapa transhipped in Australia :— From London by the Austral: Dr and Mrs Harris and son, Mr and Mrs West and family, Misses Perry, Wheatley, and Dunn, Mesdames Beam and Smith, Messrs Stuckey, Dixon, Gordon, John* son, McKonzie, Corrie, and Bowker; from Naples, by the Austral : Mr and Mrs Vella, Messrs Melicie, Terraboccio ; transhipped from the German mail steamer : Messrs Berezan, Martin, and Davis, and Miss Ritchie. Auckland, November. 1 Five Chinamen on board were coming direct from China to Wellington. Three were drowned, and the two survivors are coming down by the Mahinapua tonight. Miss Emily Dickenson, of Viotoria street, says :-• Two ;Saivation lastes occupied the same cabin as I did. They i had been to London. l think they belonged to Wellington and were returning home. The Salvation lasses said : ' Don't be afraid, Miss Dickenson. God will look after us. We are prepared to die.' Miss iaura Fkvell offered up a prayer in the cabin, and we parted. I went on to the main deck along with the Salvation Army lassee, who started singing hymns. In deciding upon the preliminary investigation, the Colleotor of Customs acted upon the general instructions is. sued by the Marine Department twelve months ago, but after taking the statement of the Chief Officer instructions were received from Government to go on with the Magisterial inquiry at once. The Collector has stopped the preliminary enquiry, haying obtained necessary evidence as to witnesses required. The Magisterial inquiry is fixed for Monday. Henderson, the local manager of the Union Company has gone to Great Barrier. He will report on the condition of the wreck and the action of the Com* pany as to salvage. A movement is on foot for the ladies of Auckland to act with a view of afford ing help to the sufferers by the Wairarapa. The Premier has authorised the Mayor to expend £100 in relieving necessitous cases. Inspector Hickson has been authorised by the Government to give the Great Barrier natives tea, flour, and sugar, to the extent of .£2O, to replace the stores given to the shipwrecked people. Wblukgtoit, November 2. ■ Mr John Madden, who is mentioned as being instrumental in saving the lives of several others, is a brother of Mr Madden, of this city. One of the drowned was Mr Check, a hotelkeeper in Dunedin who had been making the round trip to Australia and Fiji for the benefit of his health. He leaves a wife and family. Mr Fergusson, Harbor Board Secretary and Engineer, wires that his experience was too vivid and personal to share at present with the public. He and the wife are both much exhausted bus quite uninjured. The Government has availed itself of Admiral Bowden Smith's offer and have made arrangements by which H.M.S. Royalist proceeds at once from Auckland to the scene of the wreck to render all and any service that may be deemed necessary ; and this of course will chiefly consist of recovery and decent interment of the dead. From advices received by officials here it appears that the bodies of two women, victims of the wreck were interred at Great Barrier before the return of the Argyle to Auckland. They were quito nude from contact with the shore and disfigured beyond recognition. Miss Wheatley was a passenger to Gisborne on three months' holiday from Home, and Mr Stuckey was on his way from England to Feilding. Both are unaccounted for. Mr R. S. Ledger, a well-known citizen, booked at Sydney to come by the Wai* rarapa, but as the steamer threatened to be crowded, he changed to the Hauroto, by which steamer he arrived yester* day. Mr McGowan, Commissioner of Taxes ; also intended to come by the ill-fated vessel, and had actually engaged a forj ward oabin. At the last moment he was persuaded by Mr Reid, Premier of New South Wales, to wait for the Hauroto. , Mr J. C. White, of Sydney, a gentleman of 85 years, who was among the drowned, was one of the earliest of the hardy squatting pioneers who took and held the famous Darling Downs of Queensland, then known only as the Morton Jug, an outlying convict settlement of New South Wales. Later he took an active part in the political life of the infant colony. For some years past Mr White has made his home in Sydney, but it was his custom to spend part of the summer in New Zealand, : chiefly with his son, who resides in j Dunedin and is of the firm of Chapman aud White, solicitors. The Mayor of Wellington to<day telegraphed to the Mayor of Auckland and to Mr James Mills, general manager of the Union shipping Company, asking whether relief was needed. The Town Clerk of Auckland has replied, " Yes.' 1 Mr Mills has replied, " Cannot say, as regards passengers. Suggest you commuuioate with Mayor of Auckland, who will be able to get a good idea from the survivors. Meantime the Company will he glad to make an immediate contribution of £100 to any fund initiated." The Mayor has decided to call a public meet* ing on Monday night. The wife and ohild of Mr H. Baldwin, head storeman in the employ of Reeves and Co., produce merchants, were on board and must have been drowned. Dunedin. November 2. The Director's of the Union Shipping Company desire to place on record their extreme distress at the terrible calamity, and to ask the assistance of the Press to convey to the public an expression of earnest sympathy with all those who are suffering from the loss of friends or otherwise in consequence of the disaster. Among the drowned are Mrs Ryan, wife of a fireman and his mother-in-law, who had gone to Australia for the sake of her daughter's health. Andrew Kelley, a single man, brother : iu-Law of Foldwick, of the Octagon, is among the drowned. Scoullar had an accident policy for £500 in the South Insurance Couipany, of whjch he was, a Iqcal director.,