LATEST TELEGRAMS.

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 219, 16 May 1877, Page 2

LATEST TELEGRAMS.

[Pee Press Agency.] AUCKLAND. May 15. The brigantine Helena, arrived from Tonga and Samoa. About March 20, the May Queen was at Rua, having taken on board a cargo of sheep. A hurricane came on suddenly, and the vessel was lost sight of. Nothing has been seen or heard of her since, although the man-of-war Sappho and the King of Tonga, have used every effort to trace her. The hurricane lasted twenty-four hours, and destroyed on the Tongatabu and Keppel islands, over a thousand houses, and sixteen churches were blown down. It is generally believed that the May Queen is lost, with all hands. Capt. Menzies, late Chief Officer of the Countess of Khitore, was in command. The ketch Pearl, during the hurricane, was thrown high and dry on a reef at Tonga, but was got olf again, with slight injury. A deputation of Samoan chiefs has gone to Fiji to claim British protection for Samoa, where ail troubles are now at an end. WELLINGTON. May 12. Captain Dalton, of the schooner Pub}”, states that as he came from Kaikoura, yesterday, the sea was perfectly smooth in Cook Strait, but every fifteen or twenty minutes an enormous “ blind wave ” came up, “as big as a dozen waves rolled into one,” but without any “ face ” or break. These “ gigantic swells ” came up from about S.S.K, The s.s. Tui, while at Kaikoura, felt the force of the wave, which carried away all three of her warps. May 15. The ship Ben Lodi from London, ran in without a pilot during a heavy gale last night. She encountered very heavy weather running down the English Channel, and lost four men off the jibboom, and had to put back for repairs. She brings a number of cabin passengers. WANGANUI. May 15. The Mayor has proclaimed a public holiday in Wanganui on Thursday to celebrate tiie opening of the Turakiua railway. Regular trains commence running on Friday. Eleven horses have been accepted for the Grand National Steeplechase. NELSON. May 12. Captain Lloyd reports that yesterday, at 7 p.m., when the s.s. Wellington was about three miles to the west of Jackson’s Head, lie encountered a very heavy tidal wave from the westward. The stem of the steamer dipped nearly under water, and the vessel was drawn back half a mile.