AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8473, 27 June 1907, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

THE PYRAMUS. HOW THE DISASTEK HAPPENED. Received June 26, 10.47 a.m. BRISBANE, June 26. Further details in connection with the grounding of the cruiser Pyramus on a reef fourteen miles from Flinders Island, on Saturday morning, show that Lieut. Hurst, who had been on the bridge all night, left at eight in the morning to have a bath. The sea was smooth, and the sun shining brightly. As the Pyramus approached the Reef beacon, the officer of the watch, of his own volition, ordered the helmsman to go to port, and the beacon was brought on the starboard bow. The vessel was doing fifteen knots when she leapt on to a coral reef. There was a terrific grinding and grating below, and as herjwaist took the weight she came to a gradual helpless standstill. As far as can be gathered the Pyramus has sustained no damage. She just ploughed a trough in the coral, and lay there, with her bows in the air. Had she run on to a rock reef instead of a great mass of rotten coral sand, she would have crumbled her bottom like so much eggshell, but an examination of the cruiser showed that she was making no water. There was no big shivering shock, and no disclocation of anything aboard. She just slid up on to the coral and stayed there. The crew took the matter with true naval coolness. Within a couple of minutes of the vessel striking every man was at his post. The watertight compartments were closed down, and the boats manned with all the precision of clockwork. The people on the Pyramus are not disponed to talk much about the disaster, but there are three outstanding ;facts. The Pyramus was two miles off the beaten track of merchantmen; she had the sea reet beacon half a mile to starboard, when a similar distance on the other bow would have given her deep water; and she actually climbed up in daylight on to a reef that was only two or three feet under the surface of a very calm sea.

WEATHER IN SYDNEY. Received June 27, 1.20 a.m. SYDNEY, June 26. The weather is moderating. COLONIAL SUGAR COMPANY. Received June 27, 1.20 a.m. SYDNEY, June 26. At a special meeting of the Colonial Sugar Company it was decided to increase the capital of the company by the issue of 15,000 new shares at £2O each. The main reasons for this are the purchase of Poolman's business and the enlargement of business resulting therefrom.