3 NOVEMBER 1894, Page 19

New Zealand has been afflicted by a great shipping disaster.

An inter-Colonial steamer, the Wairarapa,' a ship of two thousand tons, was sailing from Sydney for Auckland, when, on the night of October 27th, she struck on Great Barrier Island, near that port, and went to pieces. There were 180 passengers on board, and some of them tried to escape by the boats; but the boats were swamped, and in a few minutes the vessel itself lurched over and flung those on deck by scores into the sea. They had life-belts, but they were for the most part dashed to pieces against the rocks ; and it was not till some hours had elapsed that two sailors were able to swim ashore and fasten lines, by holding on to which some passengers escaped. It is certain that 111 of them. were drowned, besides 23 of the crew, including the captain, and others may yet succumb to their injuries, and to the effects of thirty hours of exposure, often in night- dresses, on the rocks. In the completeness and suddenness of the ruin this disaster has seldom been paralleled, no one on board, from the captain downwards, having had even an idea of danger.