The Daily News TUESDAY, AUGUST 31. SHIPPING AND ETHERGRAMS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 177, 31 August 1909, Page 2

The Daily News TUESDAY, AUGUST 31. SHIPPING AND ETHERGRAMS.

The latest practical life-saving achiev, merit of wireless 'telegraphy, publishe in our cable news this morning, shout serve to maintain public interest in thi wonderful invention until Parliament lia been given ah opportunity of consiilei iiig whether or not New Zealand is t< take advantage of it, particularly wit respect to our intercolonial shipping American up-to-dateness in compulsoril; adopting wireless to shipping has ai ready .resulted In the saving of hundred of lives a£ sea, and this morning w learn that "through the devotion of til wireless operator ' aboard a doonvei American steamer, two vessels wer summoned to her aid and 134 live saved. Unhappily the brave operator, ii remaining at his post, sacrificed his owi chances of escape; " but how can ma; die better?" Hut for the wireless l ap peal for aid, it might have been tha the fate of this' steamer, the Ohio, aiv her human freight, might have beci numbered with the many mysteries o the sea. How different might have bcel the state of the public mind respectin 1 the missing Waratah had she possessei modern facilities for wireless communi cation. As the days and weeks go b; without disclosing any news" of liei anxiety naturally tends to increase. A the same time no news is, in a senm good news, for had disaster bofalhi this fine liner anywhere in proximity t her usual course from Durban to Gape town, it is. morally certain that by th' time wreckage of some sort or anothe would have been discovered by sotn of the searching steamers or have beei washed up on the beaches of the Sout: African coast. Until, therefore som article is picked up that can be identi lied with the missing vessel, we sluil continue to hold out hope for her safetj and cling to the belief that she is drift ing in a disabled condition somewher in the southern portion of the India: Ocean. The Waratah is to-day 35 day out fro'ii Durban to Capetown, on voyage IV.nt usually occupies four days anil nh ;, -i the delay is sufficient t> cause ■;!■:! ve anxiety to the relatives am friends <>( the several hundred pcopl who nia'.;c up the crew and pM«iiger of the steamer, it is' by no means a exceptionally long drift at sea. Whei one considers the vast expanse of occai separating the Cape mid Australia, an the comparatively small amount of traf fie anywhere off the beaten track, it i quite easy to understand that it may b some considerable time before the Warn tah drifts into a position where sh will be sighted and perhaps taken r tow by s»me passing vessel. To searc'i for her over such a great waste o ocean would be like hunting for a needl in the proverbial haystack, and it i quite easv to understand the reluetanc of the naval authorities to enter upo; such a formidable contract. Fortunate!; the Waratah is well provisioned, linvin; in her holds sufficient foodstuffs t keep all on board plentifully provide, for, even should the already protractei voyage extend into many months. Wha is puzzling nautical experts is how tota disablement, assuming such to have_« curred, could have come about. uha has probablv happened in the case o the Waratah is that the rudder has go adrift in a heavy sea, and has tragic into one or other of the twin screws, o both of them, and has thus causei disablement. The continued prevalenc of bad weather probably prevented boat being launched to carry tiding to the shore until the vessel had drifte too far from the land to make this pre cedure practicable. Bereft of thei steam-power modern steamships ar helpless. Possibly the engine-room stal of the steamer are making heroic effort to repair the damage, and the Warn tali mav vet creep into some port, " lame duck." The one obvious, outstixm! ing lesson of the Waratah mystery i the supreme importance of having al ocean-going steamers fitted with wireles telegraphy. The keen agony of suspens that is being felt by hundreds of fn milies in the United Kingdom, Sout Africa and Australia, regarding the fat of tliis fine steamship would have bee avoided had she been able to flicke through the ether tidings of the inn Imp and of her whereabouts. The die tates of humanity demand that the own ers of all steamers going long-distanc vovages should he compelled to equi their vessels with this' beneficent moder invention. It is not necessary tospea of the expense involved when" the safet; of lives) is at stake, but probably th cost of equipping the whole of the steam ers of the Lund line with Marconi ar paratus would have been saved man; times over had the Waratah possesse the power to project the electric spar at the moment when it was needed t parry over the waters its signal of dis tress-' and appeal for help. It is to In hoped the Government of the Dominio: ivill lose iin time in giving full consideration to this most important question, rod make legislative provision for tips icesssary measure of safety at sea.