The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-03-20 00:00:00

TEE DUKE OF CaNNAZGHT ON

The annual meeting of the National Indian Asso-
ciation took place on Monday, at Willis's Rooms,
London, under the presidency of the Duke of Con-
naught. Among the speakers were the Earl of Iddes-
leigh, Professor Sir Monier Williams, Lord Napier of
Magdala. and two native gentlemen. His Royal
Highness, in acknowledging a vote of thanks at he
close of the proceedings, snil he felt that to have
been asked to preside at a meeting of such importance
and interest was, a great honour to himself, sur-
rounded as be was by so many whose experience in
India was far greater than his own. -According
to his experience in the North-West Provinces,
where education has made less progress than in Bom-
bay and Madras, touch had nevertheless already been
done, and a younger generation of Indians was
growing up, with larger and bigher ideas. People in
England. did not understand the great difficulties
under which the English puthorities laboured in India.
They had to combat a great deal of prejudice and ig-
norance. Being of a different race and religion, and
in a different stage of civilisation, we sometimes got
despondent, or we ignored feelings that were so deeply
rooted in the people of India. It was only by the
careful, honest, and thorough manner by which we
sought to encourage education amongst the Indians,
and by not forcing it on them by our Government,
rather making them feel the want, that we could raise
them higher in the scale of education. By this
method, more than by some of the greatest works that
the Government had done, we should increase an in-
terest in their own welfare, not only amongst Indian
gentlemen, but Indian women. The subject of the
education of Indian women was one on which he
felt very deeply. During his sojourn in India
the Duchess of Connaught took every oppor-
tuni`v of visiting schools and zenanas, and of making
the acquaintance of Indian ladies. She (the Duchess)
had told him over and over again that what she
regretted more than anything else was the terrible
ignorance she saw. The ladies she visited were
charming in manners and appearance, but their want
of knowledge and educatio:s distressed her beyond ex-
pression. He felt certain that the excellent fund
started by Lady Dufferin would be the means of doing
a vast amount of good. They had beard of the
terrible mortality amongst Indian women, and these
means for educating native ladies to understand the
rudiments of medicine, so as to treat the numerous
cases occurring in zenanas, would do a great deal to
elevate them. If this went hand in glove with the
gradual education of Indian women, a happy future
might be certainly looked forward to for them. It
was, he felt certain, the wish of all English women to
help the Indian women to raise themselves to a
higher state of civilisation, more in harmony
with our own ideas. One of the chief
objccts of the Association was to promote social
intercourse between Indian and English gentle-
men. This was a matter easier to write about
and talk about than to carry into practice. Here in
England we were ab!e to meet with great freedom
those Indian gentlemen who came to our shores. But
the same Indian gentlemen at home would find great
difficulty in meeting Englishmen in social intercourse.
Prejudice of caste and religion was so great that it
was very difficult for them, whatever their own feel-
ings might be, to run counter to the opinions of those
about them. This difficulty was to be got over by
means of education. We did not wish to hurt the
feelings of religion and caste that had existed for
hundreds of years, and sometimes our wish not to do
so was so great that we exaggerated difficulties, and
were not as social as we might be. Whilst in India
he had met and conversed with a vast number of
native gentlemen. and had returned to this country
deeply impressed by the good feeling and
kindness existing amongst them. We had
heard of their great love of hospitality, but they
were also in thorough harmony with ourselves in their
great loveof charity. There were no paupers in India,
and in every family it was the pride of the senior member
to help all those in any way dependent upon him.
There was another thing that had struck him in India,
and that was the great love and respect that a family
had for the bead of their house. This prevented them
from doing anything dishonourable. Pride of family
and of ancient descent was so great that they would
never stoop to a dishonourable action. He had great
hopes that the association was as yet but in its infancy,
and that it would extend its good work year by year,
especially in the North-West Provinces and the
Panjaub, wherethe warm-hearted and generous dispo-
sition of the inhabitants would lead them to easily and
cordially respond to the excellent objects of the associa-
tion. His pleasure at presiding had been heightened by
the circumstance that the Princess of Wales was the
present patroness of the association, and that the late
Princess Alice had been the first patroness. The interest
the latter had taken in it, and her great affection for and
frequent intercourse with the lamented Mies Car-
penter, made him proud and happy at bei▪
ng able to
take an opportunity, the first he had had since his
return from India, to associate himself wi▪ th a body
having such a noble object. He hoped that the re-
sult of the meeting would be an increase in the funds
of the association, so as to extend the great and good
work already done, not only for the benefit of our
fellow-subjects in India, but for that of our great
Empire. They were doing as much to promote the
Imperial interests of the British Empire as to im-
prove the social good of the people of India. He
commended the work of the association most strongly,
and asked those who had it in their power to in-
fluence others to send subscriptions, so that this work
might be continued and perfected. The proceedings
then terminated.

On Saturday the Duchess of Marlborough opened
the Richmond Habitation of the Primrose League at
the Star and Garter Hotel, in the presence of a
numerous and distinguished company of Knights and
Dames. Sir William Hardman, in the course of some
remarks, said that there were now 180,000 members of
the League. .

DISASTROUS WILECK OF THE RIAU
STEAMER OREGON.
LOSS OF MAILS AND CARGO.

From New York on Monday night the following
narrative of the loss of the Oregon mail steamer,
by Captain Cottier, was telegraphed :—" The weather
was clear at half-past four o'clock on Sunday morn-
ing, with a fresh breeze from the west, when a sailing
vessel suddenly loomed up. When first noticed she
showed no light, and when too close to clear her she
showed a white light, but I cannot say on what part
of her. The Oregon was running under full steam.
The vessel struck us amidships, and stove a big hole
on the port side. All the water-tight compartments
were closed at the time. The Oregon went down
about a quarter to one o'clock, having floated for
about eight hours after being struck, and she now lies
in 22 fathoms of water, north half-west from Watch
Hill, Long Island. The tops of her three masts are
visible above the water, and the vessel is upright.
She went down head first. We worked from the
moment of the collision as if we expected her to
sink; but I did not believe she was going to
sink. We took extreme precautions. The pumps
were of no use. We worked them to their full capa-
city, but they had no chance against the inrushing
mass of water. The usual watch was on deck at the
time of the accident. No time was lost in awakening
the passengers. Only a few of them had heard or
felt the shock, as all were in bed at the time. Soon
after the accident a steamer passed us—a boat of the
National Line, I think—but she went on. The vessel
that ran into us must have sunk immediately,
as when we looked she was not in sight.
She miust have gone down with all on board.
When I found our vessel was sinking I first
sent up rockets as signals of distress ; then the
boats were lowered. But before eight o'clock the
pilot boat No. 11 hove in sight, and two hours later
the schooner Fannie A. Gorham, of Belfast, Maine,
Captain Mahoney, hove to. The passengers and
crew of the Oregon were transferred to the pilot boat
and schooner in our boats; 400 persons were placed
on board the pilot, and the remainder, about 500 in
number, on board the schooner. All were trans-
ferred by eleven o'clock. The steamship Fulda hove
in sight about noon. She was within a half or third
of a mile from the Oregon when the latter sank.
There were no scenes on board the Oregon. I never
expected to see such an affair go off so easily. Every-
thing went down with the steamer. The cargo was
valued at about £lOO,OOO. We carried about 575
mail bags, of which 75 were saved."
The Oregon left Liverpool on Saturday, the 6th
inst., and Queenstown the following day, taking from
both places 638 paPengers. She had also a crew of
2,55 hands all told; total, 893. The Oregon has been
celebrated for her remarkably quick passages, and on
the ill-fated voyage she was only six days and
eighteen hours from land when she went down off
Fire Island. She was when first launched drafted
into the fleet of the Giiion Line, and passed over to
the Cunard Company in June, 1884. Strangely
enough, the present was her last advertised trip to
New York, as she was intended to sail on the next
trip to Boston on the 7th April, as the pioneer-boat of
a fleet of quick steamers to that port from Liverpool
for the Cunard Line. Apart from the six months
which the Oregon was chartered to the Government,
she has always been running between Liverpool and
New York, and although she was not the smartest
vessel of the Cunard steamers—the Umbria and
Etruria being her superiors—she nevertheless made a
great stir when she first made her appearance and
performed her famous passages. The Oregon was the
only one of the Liverpool vessels selected as Govern-
ment cruisers which mounted guns and left the
Mersey.

The passengers' stories somewhat modify the cap-
tain's statement. Doubtless the proceedings were
orderly for a shipwreck, inasmuch as some few pas-
sengers even slept an hour after the collision; but the
first moments of uncertainty are described as frightful.
The decks were instantly thronged by the undressed
people, who feared to return for their clothes. Very
few saved even their hand-bags. All huddled
together for warmth, the temperature being near
the freezing point. Fears lest the steamer should
founder were the first emotion. The next, terror
came from the immense clouds of steam, caused by the
flooding of the furnaces. The passengers and sailors
had been up to this time under control, and the
women the coolest of all; but the stokers and firemen,
when driven from the furnaces, rushed for the boats,
regardless of anybody else. The officers fought them
with axes and belaying pins; but some escaped into
the boats, which they half filled. The number of
boats was totally inadequate to meet the exigencies of
such a disaster. However, the worst thing reported
is that a lady broke her little finger. It is true that
the Rev. C. E. Waller jumped overboard; that, how-
ever, was not on Sunday, but on the previous Tues-
day; his relatives protest against the theory that
it was a case of suicide. All the money order lists
hare been lost; only 94 registered letters were saved,
and only nine sacks of letters.
The cause of the disaster still (Match 16th) re-
mains a mystery. A passenger, whose state-room
was near the spot where the steamer was struck,
asserts that he saw a red light, which supports the
impression that the Oregon had miscalculated her
distance. Against the suggestion that Captain Cot-
tier might have beached the Oregon should be set the
difficulty of foreseeing the time she would take in
sinking, which appears to have resnited from the
smashing of the bulkhead amidships, between the two
Largest and heaviest compartments.

(Through Reuter's A gen cy.)
Nuw Yomi, March 15, 8.30 a.m.
The North German Lloyd steamer Fulda passed
Sandy Hook at one o'clock this morning, having on
board the Oregon's passengers, consisting of 186 first
cabin, 66 second cabin, and 389 steerage, besides the
crew numbering 205 men. None of the passengers or
crew received any injuries. The hole made in the
port side of the Oregon is large enough to admit of a
team being driven through. The noise caused by the
collision resembled the report of cannon. The dis-
cipline on board the Oregon was admirable, and all
panic was thus prevented. The captain was the last to
leave the vessel. All the luggage is lost, and out of 600
mail bags only 69 have been recovered. The name
of the schooner with which the Oregon collided is un-
known. She sank, and it is believed that all on board
have perished. At the time of the disaster the cap-
tain of the Oregon was below, the first officer being in
command of the vessel.
Later.

Further details received here of the loss of the
Oregon state that the collision occurred about 15
miles from shore, the sea being calm and the sky clear
at the time. The schooner by which the Oregon was
struck was a three-masted one, heavily laden. It is
uncertain whether her crew perished or were able to
save themselves by the boats. The women were the
first to leave the Oregon. During the lowering of
the boats rockets were fired, but two large ocean
steamers passed, apparently without seeing the
signals.