TELEGRAMS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXIV, Issue 2806, 6 March 1869, Page 4

TELEGRAMS.

Hokitika: 4th — 3 p.m., Hector from Adelaide ; Maid of Erin from Melbourne ; 1.30 p.m., Murray for G-reymouth. Gbeymouth : 4th — 4.10 p.m., Murray from Hokitika ; 4.15 p.m., Charles Edwards for Weßtporfc. Westpoet: sth— Early, Charles Edwards from Greymouth; 2.10 p.m., Charles Edwards for Wanganui. Nelson: 4th— Early, Kennedy from Westport ; Midnight, Storm Bird for Wanganui. Litteltow : 4th— 7.30 a.m., Rangitoto from Wellington ; 1. 10 p.m., Wellington from Dunedin ; 6.15 p.m., Keera for the South ; 11.35 a.m., Phoebe for Dunedin ; 1.15 p.m., John Knox for Sydney j 6.50 p.m., Rangitoto for Dunedin. sth — Early, Wainui from the South j 9.15 a.m., Ben Nevis from Newcastle. Pobt Chaimbes : 4fch — 7 a.m., Gothenburg from the Bluff; 8 a.m., Lord Ashley from Bluff. 5th — 8.45 a.m., Phoebe from Lyttelton ; 10 a.m., Keera from Lyttelton ; Free Trader from Hobart Town; Ip.m., Rangitoto from Ljttelton ; 3.50 p.m., Comerang for Lyttelton ; 4.50 p.m., Lord Ashley for Lyttelton ; Hydra for Newcastle. The s.s. Wanganui, Captain Linklater, left Port Chalmers at 7.30 p.m. on the 2nd, and arrived at Lyttelton at 2pm. on the 3rd ; left again at 6.30 p.m. on the 4th, aiid arrived here at 3.50 p.m. yesterday. Experienced strong head winds and heavy eea throughout the passage.

During the whole of yesterday ifc was almost impossible to do any business on the Queen street wharf. A strong N.E. gale prevailed throughout the day, and the vessels in harbor swayed to and fro, some of them dragging their anchors for a short distance. Some of those alongside the wharf kept bumping till more firmly secured, and the yet strong flood tide caused many of them to dip heavily. An idea may be formed of the strength of the tide, and the force with which it came against the stone part of the wharf, when we state that a large breach has been made in the stonework on the east side of the wharf near to the .watermen's house. During the evening a temporary rail was put around it in order to prevent accidents in case another slip should take place, and to prevent drays heavily laden from passing over it. No serious accident occurred to the shipping, but during the evening the storm did not seem in any way to abate. The s.B. Tauranga for the Bay of Islands, the Enterprise for the ThaiT.es, and the Eucalyptus for Brisbane, were unable to proceed on their passage. — " Southern Cross," Fob, 23. The people of San Francisco should be glad to know that two brutal scoundrels have met their ' deserts in the persons of the first and second mates of the ship Santee, who were sentenced on Thursday to one and two years' imprisonment, respectively, for cruelty to two of the apprentices on board the vessel, during her passage to this port. The evidence in this case was revolting in the extreme. The two officers above mentioned appear to have set themselves to devise tortures I for the poor boys selected for their victims, and they continued a system of diabolical cruelty uni til the ship was within a few days' sail of San Francisco. The lads were beaten unmercifully for the most trivial offences. They were forced to swallow st.lt water by the gallon; and to cab tobacco until they were half poisoned. They were so shockingly and systematically ill-treated that the steward, an old colored man who had been over thirty years at sea, was horrified at the sights he witnessed, and at length told the captain that this must be stopped. The captain, as it appears from the evidence, was confined to his cabin from illness during the early part of the 1 voyage, but even when he l'esumed the command of his ship it does not seem that he possessed strength of mind enough to check the barbarity of the first mate, who appears to have had the power to do pretty much as he liked. It is satisfactory to know that these ruffianly officers have not been suffered to escnpe with impunity, and we heartily trust that the account of their punishment may be spread broadcast over the world 1 and may deter other sea-faring brutes who are bound for this porfc from indulging in similar practices. Wo had hoped that such shameful matters as this were beginning to bo obsolete, and might fairly be put back among the records of a condition of things which had ceased to exist. Wo are sorry to learn that, in spite of all our vaunted progress, outrages so brutal are still possible, and that in the American merchant service, even in this year of grace eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, there may be found officers as ruffianly and as cowardly as ever disgraced the country whose flag they sail under, in the worst and darkest days of naval anarchy and misrule. — San Francisco paper. The barque North Briton, Captain Rodgers, from Quebec for Southampton with a cargo of timber, was, on Dec. 6, totally wrecked in Mounts Bay. The ill fated vessel made the Lizard Poinb at 11 o'clock in the morning, and at 1 she struck on the Mount. Two anchors were immediately let go, but the chains parted at once. The pinnace was then launched, the captain and nine hands getting into her. Wheu near the shore the boat capsized, and six men were lost ; four, including the captain, were saved, two of them were quite exhausted. The lifeboat was early to the rescue, but when near the vessel it capsized, and all hands were washed overboard. The boat righted, and the crew once more approached the vessel, when it again capsized. Captain Caze, of the Coastguard, B prang twice into the sea to carry a line to the ship but was unsuccessful. Hedge, one of tho crew of the lifeboat, drifted seaward, was threequarters of an hour in tho water, and was finally washed ashore. The boat thus returning unsuccessful, and Coxwain Cubis nearly drowned, a second crew (volunteers), under Mr Blackmore, of the Coastguard, with S. Higga, jun., among them, manned the lifeboat, and reached the vessel, three-quarters of a mile from land, and safely brought ashore nine hands. The scone, as may be easily conceived, was one of intense excitement. The spectators might be numbered by thousands, hundreds of whom assisted in all possible ways. Three of the lifeboat men are very ill, but are recovering fast.