Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, NOC. 6. 1894. The Wreck.

Manawatu Herald, 6 November 1894, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, NOC. 6. 1894. The Wreck.

m " Oh 1 lone and wide and traotless Lies the waste and dreary main, By iia waves dear friends ai'o parsed, On Us rocks arc dea'h and pain ! Where the long pale shores are gleaming, What solemn thoughts should be ! Forgive the dead, the abs<-nt, And pray for those at > a!" These beautiful words of the Hon. Mrs Norton have been brought very forcibly before us by the late terrible wreck of the steamer Wairarapa, a wreck which has created an excitement in proportion to its far reaching destruction. We have had brought clearly out the awful suddonesa with which family relations are severed and the quick change made between afflience and poverty, between happi ness and misery. It is at present difficult to conceive what causes led led up to the wivck, whether it way an error of judgment or some disairangem rnt ot the machinery, or compass, but the fact that widespread suffering aud loss has been occassioned is beyond doubt, and that it is ouv duy as members ot the one human family to do what lies in cur power to alleviate it, leaving for other courts to determine the blame. The colonists have been ever ready to respond to appeals for help and we doubt not their prompt -, ness on this occassion, it merely ' requires a leader. The horror of such a night at flea has been most vividiy brought before us by the report* of both passings j

and officers. A thick fog, a torn pestuous sen, a breaking* vessel, hifting deck cargo, loose horses, frightened women, and cryingchildren. Note the pathetic statemint, not a child was saved, nor, brave mothers, a woman who had a child in her arms. To save herself she would have had to let the child go, and in preference, decided to drown with it. Ou>d maternal love be better illustrated '? One passenger lost his wife and his all ; a girl witnessed hvr grandmother dying in her arms ; ihe wife and two chii.Uvn •■f a resident in Aucklaud w.-re drowned ; and so the harrowing tale could be prolonged. For what good? ih« public do not need such a spinto their generosity, and the fact is *ad enough without being iocreas d. In ihu midst of darkness ihere is light. Tb' crtw of the Wairurapa appear to have done all they could. The boats were not rushed by them, and many deeds were done in the fog and dark, which, seen in ihe light of day would have drawn forth ihe loudest praise. The men. in ihe moment of danger realised they were English sailors and acted accord-, ing.y. Passengers vied wi.h them, their record is go r d, and by fh-ir p"uck and endurance many valuable lives were saved from the grip of Uv ocean.