The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-11-01 00:00:00

THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.

The area of the Sandwich Islands is officially stated as
follows, in acres :

Hawaii, 2,500,000; Maui, 400000; Oahu, 350,000;
Kauai, 350,000; Molokai, 200.000; Lanai, 100,000;
Nichan, 70,000; Kahulin, 30,000 acres.

The census taken at the end of 1878 shows a total
population of 57,985. being 1,088 more than in 1872.
The native's and half-castes decreased from 51,531 in
1872 to 47,508 in 1878, but the foreigners increased
from 5,366 to 10,477. This last number includes 883
tritons, a considerable increase over the number in
1872. The Americans were 1,276 in 1878, and the
Chinese 5.916, the latter increasing very fast in
number. 'Both exports and imports exceed 3,000,000
dole. in value.

The British Consul states that the reciprocity treaty
with the United States has had the result of largely
increasing the volume of English trade with these
islands; btit some important articles, notably cotton
manufactures, are in effect excluded by the 10 per
cent, differential duty. The number of passengers in
transitu arriving at the port of Honolulu was 2,006 in
the year 1878.

A YEAR'S WRECKS. 41 fest-
The "Wreck Register" of the past year shows that
the number of shipwrecks, casualties, and'collisioni on
and near the coasts of the -United Kingdom from
July 1, 1877, to June 30, 1878, was 3,641, of which,
however, only 422 cases involved total loss, and logs
of life occurred in only 126. This is not a large pro-
portion, considering the dangers of the coasts, and the
fact that the number of British vessels alone entering
inwards and clearing outwards to and from ports in
the United Kingdom in one year averages 600,000,
representinv a tonnage probably of 102,000,000.
Since 1852 the number. of wrecks and caoualties on
the British coasts, according to the records of the
National Lifeboat Institution, has been 46,320,
with a loss of 17,829 lives. The loss oi life during
1877-8 was 892, including 318 in the Eurydice.

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The Standard of Wedneeday had a leader on the
subject of the Wreck Pegister, from which we make
the following extra3ts :--
" The Wreck Register, of which we publish an abstract to-
day, tells ouce more its tale of a year's disasters in the home
waters. in addition to shipwrecks properly so called, we
have casualties of all kinds, and numerous cases of collision.
Despite all that science had done and experience has sug-
gested, disaster still awaits many of our hardy seamen;
and every storm that breaks over these isles produces
more or less havoc among the shipping along ot± eoaats.
Navigation is not the rude uncared for thing in these days
that it was in olden times. We have lighthouses on our
headlands, some of them flashing with the intense radiance
of the electric light. Far out at sea where danger may be
apprehended or a delicate course has to be steered, our
Trinity !Ruse has its lightships and buoys. The steam
siren, and the &ft-horn titter their notes of warning when
the air is thick by night or day. Skilled pilots await the
vessel that cornea from a distant voYage. 'very shoal is
laid down upon the chart, and every inch of the coast it duly
mapped. We have rules and regulations to govern the navi-
gation, so that the transit of the narrow seas shall be as
well ordered as the traffic in Cheapside. Science gives
the barometer, which heralds the approaching storm, and
telegrams from distant stations enable the Meteorological
Department to issue warnings to the various ports.
The (Irian and the cone hoisted on the flagstaff tell the
sailor in the offing wbsit hind of gale he may expect, no that
Be may shape his course with tie fairest chence of escape.
Ships also are built with increasing skill. Unknown to pre-
vious generations were collision bulk-heads, water-tight
compartments, or the statutory precaution of the load line.
Steam aids.the progress of our ships, which are 110 longer
dependent solely on the winds of heaven. In countless de-
tails the sailor receives the benefit of the advance which
Mode% times have witnessed in the arts and sciences. Still
the Storni dannet alWays be weathered,and the best of seaman-
ship is sometimes batted by the raging of the tempest and the
nearness of a lee shore. The heaty list of casualties among
the shipping on our coasts is of course largely due to the
immense increase in our mercantile marine. The coasting
trade is large, and the vessels engaged in it are continually
supject to the dangers of a crowded and intricate water-
way. The .great ocean-going steamer has dangers of her
own, but hat hottre
,of real peril are fewer than those
which beset the tiny zehotmer or moderately-sized brig
which is never many miles from s'eel and sandbank.
"It is a dark catalogue, this list of brorieff wed foundered
ships with its terrible cost of human lives. . . .
"A more pleasant side to the'palifful picture is that giVett
by the exercise of benevolence on the one hand, and manly
intrepidity on the other, as shown by the operations of the
rational Lifeboat Institution. The Board of Trade, with its
rocket fin'i mortar apparatus, affords another means of
rescuing human lit*e; and one which is often found
of great service. Bat this :Society, which studs the
coasts of the United Kingdom etMs life-boats, is
- solely on the liberality of the instrlic for
P3npap7it,."ii4-..tts gallant
.crews are composed of toltn4
etroing population. No Govern-
meat the agency which is
orm. Men are
utti
tseeuarst gut
e fromer Departmente amongad 7 .
lithita4l/ 9eld"tifi terrors of the .;!
ntvor wttñtlifot thi3 Attugerots tellies, let t2n; night be
ever so wild and feaffut, Scene of the regular Ofeti
absent, away oh a 'WM°, or 6rEsepa /aid by with sickfleill:
but others are ready to take their places, tutu Etn,pagerness
proportioned to the tieeperateness of the enterprise; The
growth of this Institution no' how how keenly the British
public appreciate anything which kelates: to the welfare of
the sailer. In thirty years the income Of th 4 SteSSlSty has
risen from little more than three hundred pounds a year ie
the noble suit el forty thotieand pounds; and the value Of
its *pest's/ in 1116 bodte and atatiotle toWn4 the the coast is
estimated at• Olive ro4 thettsand Petinal tea fleet of
lifti-boata its now Esc Short; .of e three itruidreel fltd
its expenditure oh fisbeet ntetione iad other 'ns of
saving life from ;shipwreck on the doitste of- silted
Elngdesin hae amounted from first to last to Very zetitrA
half a million. Its life-saving fleet is manned by
about twelve thomand persons, and its service is
marked by deeds of heroism which bear comparison with
the neest,iltring aetieVeraents on the field of battle. It is,
iticed, almost a trite .silyinst emengat foreign seamen that
teal; y altvaysi :ml4 iseh they, are wreaked on an English
e^eat, team the eLf.eti.e. njestle Id gate them The aid thus
rentiekad lent year, La eoritbinatiO stiro9tltnes with Oths?
'meant, effested she resents of 'war thoneaud riyea Xever
was the Deed for such an agency so great as ft nep,.and
unless British enterprise suffers a straege decline the need
will inevitably increase still further. British commerce hue
grown immensely in the last forty years, and every stage of
growth puts more vessels on the seas. The growing list
of marine casualties is one consequence of the perpetual
augmentation in the number of Our merchant and trading
dale!.
Th; tree.% Chstel shhiva Ifs thielrest clusters of black
spots, betokening cesualtiSrs, ift the Vicinity of our great
trading ports. The west coast cf Ifeland, despite its iron-
bound shore is nearly free from the tOlteita f disaster.
Where there Is commerce there the wrecks are found.
.The
dark spots, every one of which shows a ship suffering rhore
or less damage, congregate in heavy maves near tee Thames,
the Tyne, the Severn, and the Mersey. Our commercial great-
ness is purchased at the peril of the merchant seaman, and
every storm that sweeps our coasts overwhelms some of
this clam in the broken waters. British ships alone, entaring
inwards and 'clearing outwards to and from ports of the
-United Kingdom, are said to average six hundred thousand,
representing a tonnage of more than a hundred millions.
Adding to these the foreign ships, we see how vast a fleet is
continually passing around and near our coasts, and it will
be seen that three hundred life boats, distributed over live
thousand miles of coast, are fully needed to watch over the
lives thus placed more or less at the mercy of the waves."
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