AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 24 May 1926, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

[Australian & N.Z. Cable Association

THE WONGANELLA’S RESCUE,

(Received this day at 10.15 a.m.] BRISBANE, Alay 2

■ With the arrival of the AVonganella a graphic story is told of the rescue hy the tug St. Giles. Two days ont from Newcastle bound to Ocean Island the AVoiigaiiella ran into dirty weather when about 160 miles east of Sandy

Cape, and two hours before dawn her propeller shaft snapped in the tube and the ship lay helpless. By liooil tile wind had increased to moderate gale force, the ship rolled heavily and drifted closer and closer to the Queensland Coast at the rate of three miles hourly. On Sunday morning the tempest in-

creased to a fury. The vessel rolled alarmingly at times in the seas, some being forty feet high. At 3.26 p.m. in the afternoon with Sandy Cape only 30 miles away an S.O.S. was sent out. The steamer Quedn arrived at mid-

night and with such a sea running the task of getting a line aboard proved impossible in the darkness. At daylight the Qucda was preparing to put a line aboard the AVonganella when she was advised by the latter that her owners were sending a tug and as the wind changed blowing off the shore, there was no need for a tow by tho Queda. 'The Qucda then resumed her voyage but as the weather again became stormy she returned and stood by till tlie tug arrived. The tug’s crew

•- states on tbc journey out the tug was continually awash and engulfed by s mountainous seas. No body aboard hail ’ much sleep for three days. Finally they arrived at the Woiigauella and . got a line aboard with difficulty. Five e hours later it snapped and they had to f await until morning when another lino . was put aboard. That night the line again parted but communication was restored tho following morning. The weather improved and they successfully made for Brisbane. AVOAIEN FINANCIERS. SYDNEY, Alay 14. |. -Magnificent buildings which the . Y.W.C.A. hhve erected upon their old , s '4o in Sydney, were opened this week . with much pomp and ceremony by Lady , Stonehaven. The. buildings, one of the imposing features of Sydney’s iew architectural era, reveal that in the good government of their organisation the Y.W.C.A. have not only brought to bear an intellectual energy, but nave displayed an aptitude of high finance. Only 40 years ago they started in a very obscure way in Sydney. To-day they have a towering property worth about £115,000, dedicated to the moral and physical welfare of young womanhood, and a. very beautiful borne for business girls who are alone, ,and are diffident about going into boardinghouses or taking rooms in the city. An I imposing public ball, which will be li welcome and much-needed addition to the city’s facilities in this respect, v.ill bring a handsome return. The fact that the Y.W CI.A. lias a liability of only £38,0C0 odd on this huge pile, practically alongside of what I will he one of the city’s biggest under- l ground stiff,ions, says something for its enterprise. In salaries, interest on its mortgage, and rates and taxes the Y.AV.C.A. will have to find about £850',) a year. but. these women are quite cheerful about it, as long as the _ public pull with them. Sydney’s •architecture and in a more elevated sense. Sydney’s womanhood are incalculable gainers by this courageous enterprise of r a body of women whose organisation had to struggle to pay the rent of (; humble premises not very many >etirs ago in this city. u