THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1894. LOSS OF THE WAIRARAPA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2733, 3 November 1894, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1894. LOSS OF THE WAIRARAPA.

The terrible shipping disaster recorded in our present issue cannot fail to excite feelings of the keenest sympathy with those whose loved ones perished therein. The time for criticising the actions of those responsible for the proper management of the vessel has not arrived. A properly-constituted tribunal will doubtless investigate the cause of the accident, and meantime nothing is to be gained by either condemning or upholding the conduct of the officers, the chief of whom has already paid the most terrible penalty it would be possible to inflict. To express our deep sympathy with those who mourn their lost friends is what befits the present occasion, but at the same time there cau be no harm in expressing an opinion that the frightful rate of speed at which trains and steamers are being driven at present cannot fail to produce such accidents as that which has befallen the Wairarapa. Medical science has done much in recent years to prolong life but its beneficent influence is in 0 f being counteracted by the S which ii? yexple travel. Life has now become one con jnual rush on sea and on laud, and in every vocation of life. Captain Mblntosh was driving through the dark thick fog a* the rate of 13 L knots an hour, so that fya «>ight reach the Auckland wharf at 4 o’clock in the morning. If he had hove to untJ. the weather cleared he would have lost a few hours, but he and his ship and passengers would have been saved. But Uaptain Mclntosh’s hurry only illustrates the haste with which the whole world is moving at the present time. The fact is, the struggle for existence is becoming so keen that to battle with life this haste becomes a necessity. This is what is at the bottom of many of the accidents by flood and field, and it is what cannot easily be remedied. However, it appears to us that a majority of the passengers aboard a vessel ought to have power to order a captain to figaye to in foggy weather, more especially when nearing land, or that some other means ought to be contrived that would ensure to travellers immunity from accidents brought on by recklessness.

THE CZAR, The Czar has at last succumbed to the terrible disease from which he has suffered for some time. His death is of no great interest to us in this colony, but if ho has, as Lord Rosebery has said, been the greatest factor in Europe in maintaining peace it is possible that he may be missed beyond the confiae# hi? own empire. The Czar was, comparatively a young man, having been born on the 10th of March, 1845. He married in 2 1806, the sister of the Princess of Wales, | and mcended the throne in 1881. I PjjysicaJJy the Czar was one of the mw ,aJiv.e, bdt through his whole career exhibited gro*t w W t of courage. For m*ny years after bia coronation he shut) himsfilf up tu h lB palace, where he lived iti constant terror of Nihilists. No doubt the fact that he knew the Nihilists were watching their opportunity to treat him as they had his father was well calculated to make him feel timid, but even this could not excuse the lack of courage which, according to reports, ho has frequently exhibited. It is possible that it is to this want of courage the peaceable attitude he has assumed towards other nations is due. He did not hesitate to extend his dominions eastward, jyhoro he hrd to deal with only poop little States which could oiler very little resistance to their conqueror, peaceable he was. It is evident his successor will not bo more courageous, for it is said he is unwilling to undertake the duties of the C/.ardoni;. or, more probably, ho is afraid to risk his life. Wo must confess that the position is not an enviable one, but as the Czar is all powerful he ie *ot deserving of any sympathy, when, by a stroke of his pen, lie could convert his enemies into friends