TITANIC DISASTER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1035, 25 April 1912, Page 4

TITANIC DISASTER.

London, April 22.

Hon. S. Buxton, President ot the Board of Trade, speaking in the House of Commons, said th steps were being taken 10 coii-,0-tute the strongest possible Court ot Enquiry into the Titanic disaster. Shipping circles at Liverpool are indignant at the American Committee of Investigation’s methods of examining Mr Bruce Ismay, especially by innuendoes. They emphasise that during his management of the White Star line he consistently studied passengers’ safety and His aim in accompanying the Titanic on her maiden voyage was largely confined to that consideration. In a further statement, Mr Ismay said: -‘The only reason T wished the crew to return home was for their own benefit. When wirelessly ordering their return I was not aware that an inquiry was contemplated. When I entered the boat with Carter, a passenger, no woman or other passengers remained on deck. The disaster proved the futility of ‘unsinkable’ vessels. The present legal requirements are inadequate, and must be changed. The owners have placed too much reliance on watertight compartments and wireless. Steamers must have life boats and rafts for every soul, with men to handle them.”

Mr William Carter, interviewed at Philadelphia, emphasised that an injustice was done to Mr Ismay. The boat they escaped on contained two seamen and forty steerage women and children. Mr Carter continued: “Mr Ismay, myselt, and several officers walked up and down the deck for several minutes, shouting, ‘Are there any more women ?’ There was no response. The officers then told Mr Ismay he could enter the boat if he rowed. This he did until the Carpathia was sighted.” Lord Charles Beresford, iu a letter to the Times, says the fact that lights were burning a few minutes before the last plunge shows that the engineers remained at their posts two hours after it was know that a terrible death awaited them at any minute through the bursting of the steampipes.

New York, April 22. The steamer Mackay Bennett reports that sixty-four recovered bodies are identifiable, and others, being unrecognisable, were buried at sea. London, April 22. Memorial services iu connection with the loss of the Titanic were held on all British battleships; also throughout Canada, South Africa, and the United States. Many congregations sang “.Nearer My God to Thee.” The disaster has placed six hundred families In uecessitious circumstances in Southampton. Paris, April 22. The Campagnie Trauslantique Company’s steamer La France, with 1265 passengers, has sailed from Havre for New York. She is 700 feet iu length, has a speed of 22 knots, and is the largest and most elaborate vessel yet built in France. London, April 22, There is a general demand iu America that every liner shall have adequate lifeboats, and the standardisation of wireless apparatus under Government supervision by marine operators. Ruthless control by amateurs in violation of the regulations is characterised as a criminal offence. The confusion of the earlier stories respecting the safety of all the passengers arose from the picking up of fragments of wireless messagesNew York uewspapers report Mr Whiteley as saying that a boat was lowered on the starboard side before the officers issued orders. It coutained an American millionaire, his wife and child, two valets, and seven firemen, whom they bribed, each receiving £$ when aboard the Carpathia. Two French children, Lolo and Louis Hoffman, are among the saved. Their parents are. unknown. Berlin, April 22, Herr Delbruck, Minister of the Interior, speaking in the Reichstag, said that the precautions for the safety of ships’ passengers were under active revision. Vienna, April 22. Onwrprripni IS t^nninnUH? ..Uli v» - —IIUS.

Ottawa, April 22

As a tribute to the memory of Mr Hays, president of the Grand Trunk line, who was among the victims of the Titanic disaster, every wheel along the line of the Grand Trunk Company in Canada .■mi the United Stale.-, will cea-e turning during the course ot the memorial service to the deceased President.

New York, April 22

It is reported from Galveston, Texas, that the Mallory line steamer Denber collided with the Morgan line steamer Elsud. The latter was obliged to run ashore, but the Denver reached port, though badly damaged. No lives were lost.

London, April 22

Mr Ismay emphatically declares that he was simply a passenger, and was not consulted either regarding speed or navigation. Neither did he make suggestions, nor exercise his privileges. He saw the captain only occasionally, and was never in his roam nor on the bridge until after the accident. Mr Ismay made the unqualified statement that it was false that he had wished to make a speed record. The only iuiormatiou that ice was sighted was the Baltic’s message on Sunday, the captain informing him ot this in the evening, and posting it up for the officers’ information.

New York, April 22

Whitley, a first-class steward, who is in the hospital suffering from frozen feet, states that he overheard two of the Titanic’s crow’s-nest look-outs talking. One said that fifteen minutes before the collision he reported to Murdoch, the first officer, on the bridge, that he lauded he saw an iceberg, and twice afterwards the look-outs gave the warning to Murdoch, and were most indignant that no attention was paid to their warnings. One of the look-outs added: “No wonder Murdoch shot himself.”

Whitley, in assisting to launch the lifeboats, was caught in a rope as it became uncoiled, and thrown into the sea. The lifebelt kept him afloat till he lound an oak wardrobe, which rose to the surface after the Titanic sank.

Two men dropped off exhausted, and at day break Whitley saw a collapsible raft black with men, all standing. He swam to it, but was not allowed to board it. He was told, “It’s thirty-one lives against yours.” “I prayed someone on the-raft might die so that 1 could take his place,” continued Whitley, “and someone did die, and I was allowed aboard.” Afterwards those on the raft were transferred to seven of the Titanic’s lifeboats lashed together, and it was here he heard the lookouts in conversation. He believes the look-outs are returning to England by the steamer Eapland.

Mr Thomas McCormick, who is in the hospital with wounds in his head, declared that he jumped when the Titanic was sinking, and got his hands on the gunwale of a lifeboat. The members of the crew struck him on the head and tore his hands loose. After repeated efforts, he swam to another boat, and met the same reception. Finally, two sisters, Mary and Kate Murphy, pulled him aboard, despite the crew’s efforts to prevent it.

Mrs J. Brovvu, wife of a Denver mine owner, states that the whole thing was so tormal it was difficult to realise it as a tragedy. Men and women talked and laughed in little groups, “I was looking at the boats,” said Mrs Brown, ‘‘when two men seized me and

threw me in, saying, ‘you’re going, too.’ ” After tucking the women in, many men went to the restaurant .to smoke. Knowing how cold the water was, Mrs Brown took off her lifebelt, because in the event ol drowning she did not wish to linger. She then took an oar and kept warm by rowing. This saved many lives. Soon a great wave came, and she knew the Titanic was gone. One man began to complain, ‘‘We have no tood, water, or compass.” She called to him to be quiet or go overboard. Dawn revealed a wonderful sight. First the blackness of night lightened to grey, and then came a flood of light and a ball of red fire illuminated forty miles of icebergs.