The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1881-11-05
Our EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENCE
LETTER, No. 81.
900. Oet. ~, lss.

oNhoN Oct, ST. 1901
THE Loss ~ THE HoCHUNG,
which has been previously fully reported in
these letters, has had an unexpected and
tragic sequel. II viii be remembered, that
i'm consequence OF the collision, which took
place between Inns. Lapwing aud
Hochung on April 18th last, "a naval court
martial was held at Hongkong, Which ex-
onerated the Lapwing from all blame. A
subsequent trial, however. was Instituted
before the Marine Board of Assessors al
Shanghai, by the China Merchants s. =.
Co. 10 obtain damages, laid at 100000
rom the Crown. Commander Scott of the
Lapwing had to go through one days
croSs-eNamination, and in the evening he
committed suicide by shooting himself
through the head. At the inquest a verdict
OF temporary insanity was returned. In
the trial, Judgment was given July 2Sth,
the court declaring that the Lapwing was
not IN fault and at the same time COM
mendlng the late Commander Scott for the
promptitude, with (which assistance was
rendered 10 the sinking ship.
BOOKS.
TIL Saturday Review " in recent num-
bers has the foIlowing:-" Thrum's Ha-
waiian Almanac and Annual for ISL, con-
tains much statistical and other informa-
ton, which will be useful 20 all persons in
tereSted i'm the islands, over which King
kalakaua rcigns.' BoWser's Z" Hawaiian
Kingdom statistical and Commercial
Directory and Tourists Guide, lSSO-SI,v Il a
much larger book, but IL is larded with
advertisement and full Of a vast mass of
detail interesting to N one outside OF the
lttle kingdom with which IL deals, and we
should think, TO very few OF its inhabitants.
AL, however, tina a directory can tell about
50 small "a community it appears to tell; and
its earlier pages contain some really valua-
bic information, such as might possibly
make il worth while To cut them out and
stitch them i'm pamphlet form for convent
ent reference.
THE STEAM-NACIIT
with Mr.. and Mrs. Brassey on board is now
making a cruise among the Shetland ISL
ands. Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co.,
have just published a peoples edition OF
sunbeam in which Mrs. Brassey des-
cribes the voyage round the world, which
she and her husband, with their children
n some friends, accomplished In 1876 In
their yacht, and i'm the course OF which
they also visited Hawaii. Although This
edition contains the text unabridged aud
even the illustrations, its price has been
fixed at only Cd, 10 bring il within the
reach of all who take an interest In the
records of travel i'm foreign lands.
PARAGRAPHS.
An official announcement has been re-
ceived that the Hawaiian Kingdom has
declared the intention of Joining the Gene
raj Postal Union on January lst, 1882. All
countries which were represented mt the
Paris Postal Congress in 1878, have now
become members of the Union. The Press
Agent at San Francisco does not seem 10 be
very proficient in Hawaiian geography.
Having already reported that a lava stream
from Maunn Loa appeared likely to destroy
n portion of Honolulu haTbor, he now sends
the following reassuring telegram to
European iournals:-"Intelligence from
Honolulu gives reason to believe that the
flow of lava IN mat island has ceased to be
dangerous" The last Australian mail,
received here via Naples, per Orient $. s..
C~otopaXi, came through i'm thirty-two days
from Adelaide, including 80 hours coming
through the SueZ Canal. This is the short
est time in which mails from Australia
have yet been deliyered in London. Late
advices from Panam are very unfavorable
to the canal project; disease is decimina-
ting the wOrkmen, and the whole plan
seems likely to he abandoned.
NEWS.
H.M.S. Penguin, Commander Saget, has
arrived home from the Pacific station,
where she has been i'm commission since
1878. The Sappho has sailed to replace the
Doterei. The Triumph with the Com
mander in Chief was 10 leave Callao on
Sept. 20, for Coquimbo, To arrive there
about Oct. 20. The Gannet was due at
CoquimbO from Honolulu and Tahiti by the
beginning of January, 1882.