No details of the wreck were sent by the Carpathia,'
as she steamed towards New York, and the most extraordinary and fantastic rumours became current. From the moment that the news of the wreck was known the air was filled with the messages of amateur wireless operators, and it has even been suggested in America by a highly responsible authority that some of the false rumours were due to attempts to gain favourable terms for owners of cargo in the insurance market. We deprecate most strongly all such attempts to impute unworthy motives, for which there is no evidence. At the same time the experiments of the amateur tele- graphists did unquestionably cause much pain by raising false hopes, and probably also made the wireless operations of the ships extremely difficult. So strict was the silence of the Carpathia' during the voyage from the scene of the wreck to New York that she refused to answer messages from Mr. Taft. She sent lists of the survivors to the shore, and no other word. We suspect, however, that the reticence of the captain was due to a most commendable desire not to prejudice the inquiry into facts about which he had heard only the confusing evidence of contradictory witnesses. The question of the inadequate supply of boats will assuredly engage the earnest attention of the British and American nations for some time to come. The American Senate has promptly appointed a committee of inquiry. We have written of this matter fully elsewhere. The sorrow and emotion of the country at this awful and most dramatic catastrophe may be measured by the extremely generous response to the Lord Mayor's Fund opened for the relief of the sufferers.
