The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 9

THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 5. 1933 I FRENCH ATLANTIC LINER OFFICE MURDER NEW JAPANESE IRISH ACADEMY HUGE PETROL TANK EXPLOSION 60,000 Gallons of Spirit on Fire: Fight to Save Ship Canal Depot STORAGE TANKS LICKED BY FLAMES (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) DESTROYED BY FIRE Eighteen of Crew Reported Missing EARLY MORNING DISASTER IN THE CHANNEL Only Time to Send One S.O.S. Signal (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) at the installation must owe their lives, and the contents immediately caught fire from the top. SAFETY MEASURES Pabis, Wednesday. The Atlantique, the most modern liner of the Franco-South America Line, was destroyed by fire off the coast of Guernsey this morning.

The ship was on her way from Bordeaux to Le Havre to go into dry dock, but late tonight she was a blazing hulk notified as a danger to other shipping in the Channel. Unhappily, the first reports that there had been no loss of life the liner was c.irrying a reduced crew, consisting of 229 officers and men had to be contradicted this evening, and the Ministry tif Marine announce that eighteen men are missing. Some, it would seem, were drowned when one of the lifeboats fell from the davits as it was being launched from-the Atlantique, and it is feared that others perished from suffocation. At six o'clock this morning an S.O.S. message was received at Cherbourg stating that fire had broken out on the Atlantique.

That was the only message sent, and it seems that the flames spread so rapidly that the wireless apparatus was soon put out of use. CAPTAIN'S GRAPHIC STORY Men Suffocated in Boiler-Room and One Lifeboat Capsized Eixesmere Poet, Wednesday. A tank of petrol exploded and burst into flameB at the oil port of the Shell-Mex and B.P. Company on the Manchester Ship Canal at Stanlow Point here, about three o'clock this afternoon. Late to-night it was still burning vigorously, and it was expected that it would burn for some hours.

There were several tanks of similar size within easy distance of the flames, and the glow in the sky could be seen ten miles away, from beyond Chester. At Stanlow Point a cordon of police prevented anyone approaching nearer than half a mile of the installation, for the danger of other tanks exploding in the intense heat was great, especially the early stages of the fire. Fortunately, the wind blew the flames towards the Ship Canal most of the time. Only one tank was licked by the gigantic flames. This tank, which contained motor spirit, was but 35 feet away from the fire, and connecting pipes heightened the danger.

Water was poured on this tank con tinually by the private brigade at the oil port and the Chester Brigade to keep it cool and prevent expansion. THE WORST DANGER The Chester Brigade covered the eight and a half miles to the fire in eleven minutes, arriving about six o'clock. The Manchester Ship Canal's firs- boat, Firefly, was summoned shortly after the fire began, and it covered the tniny mnes journey in about six hours. By that time the brigades felt that they had the fire in hand. although another serious danger had still to be faced.

This danger-period was expected soon after 1 a.m. When the sides of the tank are burned nearer to the ground they may collapse and the petrol may escape in all directions. To prevent this, banks of gand have been built around the base of the tank. If the burning petrol got on to the water incalculable damage might be done, and the presence of the Firefly is a valuable guard against this. She is specially equipped to deal with such an emergency.

TOP BLOWN OFF By eight o'clock the flames had died down considerably, though dense clouds of black smoke travelled across the Mersey towards Liverpool, six miles away, and the occasional gusts of wind fanned them into a fierce red light. It was announced at nine o'clock that there was no immediate danger of the adjoining tank exploding. From a distance of half a mile the structure of the burning tank could be seen collapsing inwards, and the sides or the tank had burned down to about ten feet from the original height of forty feet. When the tank exploded the thin steel top was blown off instead of the tank splitting down the sides a fact to which many of the workers LOST 'MWW Wirings ON DEMANDS Shanhaikwan Fight CHINESE ASKED TO APOLOGISE" A New Neutral Zone Shanghai, Wednesday. The Chinese National Government are taking up a placatory attitude and desire to localise the Shanhaikwan ncident, according to reliable reports received here from Nanking.

General Nakamura, the Japanese commander in Tientsin, is now re ported, however, to have presented three demands to Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang. They are that (1) Marshal Chang and the Chinese Commander of Shanhaikwan shall apologise." (Z) Xhe railway station at Shanhaikwan shall be placeJ under Jlanchukuo control, and (3) The Shanhaikwan area shall be declared a neutral zone. Acceptance of these demands, it is pointed out, would give the, Manchukuo authorities a rail head inside the Great Wall, with the Chinese section of the Peking-Mukden Railway probably end ing at Chinwangtao on the coast a few miles to the south-west. Press Associa tion Foreign Special. HEROIC CHINESE DEFENCE Peiping, Wednesday.

The city of Shanhaikwan is quiet to-day. Warlike preparations, how ever, are going on all round the city. Chinese troops which withdrew from Shanhaikwan by train are now re-forming, it is officially stated, under the protection of an armoured train near Chinwangtao. Japanese armoured trains are patrolling the line in the direction of Chinwangtao. Telegraphic dispatches from Shanhai kwan tell of the heroism of the Chinese defenders, who clung to their defences in the face of a fierce and demoralisine bombardment from land, sea.

and air. Shells battered down the city Kates and stretches of the city walls, incendiary bombs staited many fires. When the Japanese infantry swept over the half- ruined city there was fierce hand to hand righting in the streets. Three hundred Chinese troops weie killed while defend ing me south gate. Some reports iuuiaiu me xoiai uninese losses at 1,700.

The Japanese casualties are not known. CHANG'S REPLY TO JAPANESE In reply to the Japanese ultimatum holding lum responsible for whatever developments may occur, Marshal Chang Hsueh-hang says that the Japanese them selves must bear the responsibility for the events at Shanhaikwan, since they instigated them. The Chinese, he declares, although provoked, did not resist until the Japanese had rushed troops to Shanhaikwan and tried to scale the city walls. He concludes by asking the Japanese to forward any further communications on the subject to the Chinese Govern ment and not to him. Press Association Foreign Special.

Other news on page -J. OLDHAM AND THE MEANS TEST Request to Ministry From our Correspondent.) Oldham, Wednesday. After a long discussion on the position that has arisen following the refusal of the Ministry of Labour to appoint a com missioner to administer the means test in Oldham, the Town Council to-night decided to ask the Minister to send representative to address a special meet ing of the Council on the situation Councillor Freeman (Conservative) moving a resolution to this effect, said that owing to the stupidity or cupidity of the Socialist party the Council found itseit in a serious position. Councillor Shorrocks. chairman of the Finance Committee, said that the cost of reliet for transitional benefit, if it had to be borne by the town, would amount to tioti.uuu a year, or me equivalent oi an additional os.

rate, which would brine the rates to ls. 6d. They all knew that Oldham could not stand such an imposition. Councillor Wilkinson pointed out that there were from 12,000 to 15,000 people uu transitional oeneut in uianam. A remark bv the leader of the Conserva.

live party (Councillor Howcroft) brought Alderman Kenyon, leader of the Labour party, to his feet with the words Unless that statement is withdrawn there is going to be a rough house here to-night. There will be no further progress unless the police take me out. Alter further heated exchanges the Mayor told the two councillors that they ought to be ashamed of themselves, and order was restored, Councillor Howcroft saying he had no intention of being Messages from Smethwick Bolton appear on page 16. and SUNDAY CINEMAS Manchester and Salford Council Votes Proposals that applications should be made for draft orders from Parliament sanctioning the opening of cinemas on Sunday in Manchester and Salford were defeated in the Councils of those cities yesterday: For 17 Against 73 Report on page 11. views on page 3.

22 28 Exhibitors' FOREIGN TELEGRAMS ON PAGE 4: Japan's Next Action at Geneva. Italy and Yugo-Slavia, Canada and Russia. AND ITS CRITICS A Hot Controversy THE THREE LINES OF ATTACK Nationalism in Letters From our Irish Correspondent.) The foundation of the Yeats-Shaw Irish Academy -f Letters has not yet (so far as is known) provoked any bloodshed But much ink has been and is still being freely spilt by clerics and laymen in attacking or defending the new institution, which can thus at least claim to have given the people of Ireland something to think about that is not Mr. De Valera. The reception accorded to the Yeats-Shaw production was not unanimously favourable.

Mr. De Valera's "Irish Press" threw cold water over it. The extremist Catholic publications were violent in their denunciation. The Jesuits and the responsible organs of the Church were gravely contemptuous and hostile. Two of the best-known of the oiiginal nominees for membership, Professor Daniel Corkery and Mr.

Sean O'Casey, rejected with contumely the honour proposed for them. But others who were no less distinguished, no less Irish, and no less Catholic accepted membership, am' "IB." has come out of his philosophic retirement and may now be seen almost any day of the week in the "Irish Times" wielding a. ponderous battleaxe on behalf of the Academy and in defence of his fellow-Academicians. The controversy is of some interest both for itself and for the light jt throws on present-day conditions in Ireland. The attack proceeds on three lines 1.

That this Academy is merely a counterblast to the censorship, intended to champion the cause of immoral and anti-religious thought. 2. That this Academy is not an Irish Academy but purely Anglo-Irish and therefore denationalising. 3. That no Academy can effectively promote creative literature." THE CENSORSHIP As to the first contention, there is no question but that the founders of the Academy desired that it should gain a weight of authority sufficient to enable it to act as a counterpoise to the censorship.

They hoped that its approbation might some day make the censors hesitate about condemning the work of Irish writers who ventured to deal seriously with aspects of life which the censors wished the Irish to puritanism has apparently zrricateu tne non-uatiioiics till they have become afflicted with a perhaps excessive sense of the importance of "probing the abscesses of tho soul" and exhibiting the results to the general reader. Taking advantage of this, the extremist champions of the Catholic cause clerical fanatics and fierce young swordsmen make haste to exhibit their zeal for purity by the free use of all the literarv substitutes for hissing and booing. The general public is left with a suspicion that it might be as well if the censorship did not feel obliged to ban every author who implies that the Catholic Church, has not said the last word on the regu-i lation of relations between the There is also some doubt whether the existence of the Academy will ever? make the censorship less vigilant in its watch and ward acrainst the intrusion of immoral doctrines." AN EXOTIC PRODUCT "JE." has been defending thoso skilled surgeons "who probe the hidden abscesses of the soul," but the weight of his counter-attack has fallen on those who, like Piofessor DanieL Corkery, deride the Academy because it is Anglo-Irish and not Gaelic or, in the Elizabethan phrase, "mere" i.e., pure Irish. Anglo-Irish literature, this school argues, is an exotic, a hothouse product which was produced in the artificial atmosphere of the Protestant Ascendancy and must wither away now that that atmosphere is being dispelled by the Catholicism which is the' natural atmosphere of Gaelic Ireland. Yeats, Synge, George Russell, Moore, and Shaw, no less than Berkeley and Swift, are essentially products of the Protestant culture imposed by England on Ireland.

No great exponent of the Catholic spirit could flourish while that culture remained. The political revolution and the revival of the Irish language must and should introduce a new Catholic and Gaelic culture in which the founders of the Irish Academy could never feel at ease. They know it, the critics argue, and in fact the new Academy should be regarded a3 a mutual admiration society founded to console the old age of a perishing clique, or perhaps rather as an advertising stunt organised by certain authors of first-rate commercial ability. has retorted by singing the praise of hybrid cultures ancT the results of a fusion of races and ideas. Not content with that, he has attacked the culture of Gaellacht "from which the Free State is seeking to draw as many as possible of its schoolmasters and the narrowness of a racial nationalism, and he has even ventured to bint that if there are any pure-bred Irish left anywhere in the inland thev will Trobablv be found" tn be little better than hau-wits.

THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT What aays abont the mixture of bloods is obviously Has not even the new Governor General strong Cromwellian strain in his com position Nevertheless if you read the whole controversy yon will be im pressed by the conviction that tie eighteenth and "nineteenth, century ttfture of Ireland waa ewenjtieilj' Burned Victim's Shot Wounds DENTITY CONFUSION Bodv Taken for that of Two Men One of the most baffling murder cases of recent years has developed from the discovery of a man's body in burning office at Hawley Crescent, Chalk Farm Road North, London. After a fire in the building on Tues day night the badly burned body of a man was found sitting at a desk, and it was assumed that the remains were those of Mr. Samuel Furnace (39), a builder and decorator, whose office it as, and that he had been overcome by smoke. Last night it was discovered that the victim had been shot, and it was tated that he was a 25-year-old rent- collector named Walter Spatehett, of Dartmouth Park Road, Highgate, who had been missing since Monday afternoon. ANOTHER IDENTIFICATION This identification was based on laundry marks on a collar, the body itself being so badly burned that it was almost unrecognisable.

Early this morning, however, Mr, Furnace's father-in-law, a Mr. Henry Maurice Saunders, visited the mortuary and declared that the body was that of his son-in-law. He said that he recognised him because of a deformity ot the hand, which was still discernible, and by the high forehead and prominent nose. Mr. Saunders said he was positive the remains were those of Jklr.

furnace. SHOT IN THE BACK When police officers were first called in it was thought that the case was a simple one of accidental burning, but certain facts about the fire led later to remarkable discoveries. The postmortem examination showed that the man had been murdered. There was no doubt that he had been shot from behind and, to all appearances, while he was sitting in a chair. Chief Detective Inspector Yandall, of Scotland YaTd, was ailed in, and then came the supposed discovery that the man was not Air.

Furnace. The question which is now engacinc the attention of the police is how Spatehett, supposing it was Spatehett, got into the office. Mr. Furnace was in the habit of burning rubbish in the builder's yard at the back of the office, and consequently it was not until the omce was wen aught that neighbours became alarmed. When the body was extricated it was found to be charred almost bevond recosnition.

but launury maiks on the collar remained In the llcht of the new discoveries it is thought to be curious that no one heard any shots, and the police are endeavour ing to discover whether the man was murdered elsewhere and his body carried to tne omce. An examination of the office showed, it is understood, that large quantities of oil and paint had been poured over the floor. A LAST APPOINTMENT The man Spatehett was single and lived with his mother and father and brother and sister. He was employed as a rent collector for Messrs. T.

B. Westacott and Son, of Camden Road, London. N.W. The last that was heard of him was when, on Monday afternoon, he had conversation with a builder named Wilcox. He told Mr Wilcox that he had another call to make before going home, but he did not mention where the appointment was.

During Monday he had collected a larse sum in rents. Some of it he banked early in the afternoon, but it is thousht that ne must have had about 60 in his possession. Mr. spatehett was a mend of Mr Furnace, and on many occasions had given him work to do on behalf of his hrm. Air.

Westacott. an estate aeent bpatchett's employer, told a reporter that i'urnace also had worked for lum tor six or seven years beiore starting his own business about two years ago. Members or ispatchetta family were prostrate with grief last night and unable to talk to anyone. Jlr. riarry Carter, a close friend of spatehett, said that Spatehett had been missing since Monday.

"We all wondered where he had eot to. he said and we were horrified when we heaTd that his father had identified him at the mortuary. There are several of us who play billiards together every week, and wnen we were told he was missing we made a round of his usual haunts but we were absolutely unable to find any trace oi mm. I understand that, his hodv- was sn charred as to be almost unrecosnisable but a laundry mark on the collar- baud was identified bv his father." Detectives visited the home of Mrs Furnace last night and remained with nep- lor more than an hour and a half, a relative who had been present at tne interview said that Mrs. Furnace had been able to throw litUe litrht.

on the mystery. She is convinced." said the relative, "that the bodv must be that of her husband." NEW ATTRACTION FOR GREYHOUNDS A Short-Lived Cat There was an extraordinary incident on Wembley greyhound-racing track last night. As the dogs were running in a race a cat suddenly appeared on the track. Three of the does stODred to investigate and the race was abandoned. The cat attempted to escape from the track, but was caught by the arm of the mechanical hare and killed.

LABOUR TO SUPPORT MR. DE VALERA The Irish Labour party decided late last night to support Mr. De Valera in the forthcoming general election, main taining the attitude it took up in the last Dail. Owing to the Government's Civil Service wage cuts, relation's between Mr. De Valera and his Labour allies have been trained in the last few days, though it was not believed that matters would come to a breach.

(Farther Irish news on page 12. No one was hurt, and the explosion, which was a dull thud rather than a loud crack, seemed not to have been heard in the town. The tank involved was one of eighty at the installation. It stood in one corner, away from the main group of tanks, hut it was surrounded by at least a dozen others, and the men immediately took every possible step to minimise the extreme danger. Ihey ouickly set the coolina sprinklers on the tops of the other tanks in action and then concentrated all their efforts and special equipment on tne Durning tank.

As it grew dark the fiery cloud of smoke lit the sky, the fire looking more furious than ever in the darkness. TANKER TOWED AWAY Crowds came out from the little town and along the road to Stanlow Point, for the installation is completely isolated. the oiling dock at which the tankers discharge their cargo is across the canal, the oil passing through pipes under the canal to the tanks. On all other sides are open fields of waste land, and the passage under the canal is so equipped that no hre can pass along it. In spite of this a tanker discharging at the time the fire broke out was moved off stern first.

But- Ellesmere Port takes its fire calmly, and if there are signs of excite ment at the scene of the fire itself no one can get near enough to see them, except the unenviable All that can be seen are innumerable jets of water playing on the adjoining tanic. occasional uiminulive black figures moving in the clow, the comins and going along the guarded road that leads to tne gates, and the uniting black smoke with a leaping flame at its base like the flame that springs from a blastfurnace chimney magnified many times. NEW SOURCE OF DANGER 1 A.M. Early this morning the wind shifted from south-east to south. The flames were blown over the top of an empty tank on to a still larger tank full of the most inflammable kind of netrol The number of jets was doubled to play on to this new source ot danger.

Ihe empty tank, which was fortunately cas free, was intended for such an emergency as this, but the gear of the burning tank had been damaged by the explosion and it was impossible to drain on tne petrol into the empty tank. The fire-boat is now standing by, and in the adjoining depot of the Anglo-American Oil Company oil from the tank nearest to the fire is being emptied into another farther away. The wind is rising, and anxiety is growing as the tank bums down. The flames are low and far more dangerous than they were when the fipht began ten hours ago, but the petrol has not yet escaped. HEAVY RAINSTORM 2 a.m.

There is little or no change in the situation. The wind is still high and a heavy rainstorm has broken. This and the water from the hose has turned the ground ir. the neighbourhood of the tank into a welter of mud. The 120 or more men at the fire are working in relays.

The tank is one of seven "B.P. tanks in a "pit" surrounded by a nermanent hieh fire wall. intended to prevent oil getting into the river in the event ot a tank bursting. The danger of a release of the burn ing petrol is still not entirely averted but it is now regarded as probable that the tank will burn well into the morn ing. An illustration appears on page 4.

Missing Climbers of the missing climbers. "The Shelter Stone," he continued, "is at the head of iKieh Avon and is in reality a big square block of stone which has fallen from the clifi3 above on top of lesser Boulders. Three parties set out yesterday from Aviemore to search the mountains. They were organised by the Forestry Commissioners' headquarters. Among the searchers was the Rev.

Ian McKenzie, of Methel Hill, Fife, a brother of one of tne missing men. A search party from Braemar consisted of Constable Bell, Miss Betty Rusbby, Ravensrlass. Cumberland: Mr. Raymond Peters, of Paris; Herr Meisser, the Swiss sKi-ing expert; ana Air. J.

X. Kussell. Edinbumh. All are exnerienceil moun taineers. One of the search parties is led uy air.

wiiiiam axarsnau, neaa iorester. wno Knows every part of the range, ALMOST BLINDED BY GALE Another mountaineering expedition in the same area nearly ended in disaster during the week-end. Three men, stated to be from Dundee, set out on Monday to climb Glenfeshie from Blair Atholl. They made the ascent safely, but missed their way on the return jonmey. One of the men reached Aviemore on foot after ten o'clock on Tuesday night and eecured a motor-car.

blankets, and restoratives for his two friends, both of wnem were in an exhausted state, ana one being almost blind through the inten sity ot tne gate, iney motored back to jungussie, ana later leu lor.meir nomes. The first shin that camp, tn ffip of the Atlantique was the German cargo steamer Ruhr, of the Hamburg- A TTI PTllm T.iriD wVlfV fnmmnriiont A With TTniTa nhrl -Via Tola rvKi- about eight a.m. The Ruhr, which took on Detween 80 and 00 of the Atlan- t.lnnp a MAW waa nl 1 rtifa .4 Trtr Dutch steamer Achilles, which took 80 of the crew on board. According to a message received in Paris this evening several memoers oi tne crew landed by tne rescue ships at Uherbourg are suffering from burns and from the Soon after the Ruhr anrl the Achilles the English steamer Ford Castle arrived on the spot. The Atlantique had bv that time been abandon prl.

ami it was reported that all the crew had already been rescued. A French minesweeper and other ships were dispatched from Cherbourg after the first Fi O.S hrirl npnn t-joi th rl The Atlantique, which was launched on April 15, 1930, at St. Nazaire, was a ui.uuu-ion on-burning liner, she was the second largest and one of the finest in the French mercantile marine. She was 2-27 metres long and 30 metres wide, and was built to carry 1,200 passengers and a crew of 700. She went on her maiden voyage on September 29, 1931 bubbline and clistenincr like Several tugs were lying off, but dared not upproacn ner.

are the latest official figures jsbuku uy uie ministry ot Officers and men on board, 229. Landed at Cherbourg, 211, including several injured. Eighteen are missing. Another survey of the burning vessel was made last nieht from iha air and ho latest reports are that her position is growing worse. She has a heavy list to starboard and is surrounded by dense cloud3 ot smike, but by descending to within 150 feet of the water the observer on trie 'plane was able to see that the heat of the fire was so intense that the paint ot the vessel had been melted and was running down the sides.

The following message was received last nignt by Lloyd's from the British motor vessel Highland Chieftain L'Atlantique 20 miles west of Casquets burning tiercels fore and aft, listing neaviiy to aanger to navigation Received signal from Sierra Salvador, Nobody remaining on board. Have examined burning vessel at close quarters; no sign of life. Consider impossible for anyone survive longer cn board owing heat and smoke. Have no survivors on board. MYSTERY OF THE FIRE No authentic statement is forthcoming as to how the tire started, though it is reported that the fire began in a first- class cabin.

The fire has caused a tre mendous sensation in France, particu larly as it follows so closely on the disasters to the Andre Ledon and the Georges Fhilippar, The engineers who installed the emergency equipment in the Atlantique declared yesterday alternoon that included every possible precaution. The electrical appliances were the mosl modern procurable, and all wiring was ampiy lnsuiatea. mere were nity alarm points on board, and fire-drill was carried out daily. The chief encinee said the precautions were so complete mat ne coma not see now tire could break out unless it was deliberately caused. oreat anxiety is oeme caused in shipping quarters in France by the number of fires which have broken out recently in boats, including the Asia, the faui r.ecat.

ana tne ueorges rnilippar. The latest disaster will necessitate hurrv insr the Maesilie. which is now in dfv dock, back into service, and it is exnected that arrangements will be made for her to sail for Buenos Ay res on January 23. A LUXURIOUS SHIP The Atlantique was the flagship of the Compagnie de Navigation Sud Atlantique of Bordeaux, and was the most luxurious vessel engaged on the South American route. She had a sneed of 24 knots, and one of the features of the vessel was a street deck with shops on either side where purchases could be made bv Das- sengers.

These shops represented such esiaonsnments as milliners, jewellers tailors. aressmaKers, ana nairdressins. In all the Atlantique had twelve deck anrt was equipped with ou-iuel engine; ner passenger accommodation was over 1,200, and on her voyages she carried a crew ot some 600. She had 22 lifeboats The Atlantique cost over, 3,000,000 to ouiia. frporppa Pbilinrai Dutch steamer Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft the a in JJecember are but two.

The disaster pivps nnint. I uvnee, me tact that at the present time a committee Of SniTlAwnprc ehinKniltlAM .....3 and classification societies are collaborating with the Board of Trade with regard nuuit? queauoQ oi nre on snips. sideration' of Lloyd's Register and other Onf affat. aitiinVl lAsa twAW tieva UDOn thf n- ai-tok 4a -i mil a claim on those reinsurance contracts wnicn some underwriters place on basis thai-, Atnl Iabb id nemilOa vi iuss ui any vessel oi-muie than an agreed tonnage, the bulk of these hAinf i MA anan st 1 1 I uLJtu uu a minimum ui was. Photographs on page 12 A graphic story of the disaster to the Atlantique was given last night by Captain Schoofs, her commander, who was amongst the 211 survivors landed lit Cherbourg.

Incidentally (says Neuter's correspondent) he says he believes that 30 members of the crew perished, but official figures indicate that there are nut more than 18 missing. Captain Schoofs said the wireless operator's room was quickly enveloped and became a death-trap, making it impossible to send out S.O.S. messages. One of the Atlantique's boats overturned as it was being lowered, result-mi; in loss of life. A number of men were caught like rats in a trap in the boiler-room and died of suffocation.

The captain was the last to leave the ship. Jumping into the sea, he was picked up by the Achilles. The parallel with the disaster to the Georges I'hiliiiuar in May last is most striking. We were oft Guernsey at 3 30 this morning," Captain Schoofs said, when it was "reported that a fire had brokeu out in a lirst-elass cabin just as in the case of the Georges Philippar. We lost no time in trying to master the outbreak.

1 thought we had succeeded in doing so, but we were beaten by the highly inflammable varnish, which acted like fuel to the fire, and the flames spread along the electric cables from cabin to cabin." Soon the whole of tile first-class accommodation was abla.e. WIRELESS OPERATOR'S HEROISM The wireless operator tried to give the alarm, but his room was almost immediately a mass of flame and smoke. He managed to send out one S.O.S., which was picked up feebly by Bleville, near Havre. Then he had to make his escape. At six o'clock we had to abandon all hope of saving the ship.

I ordered the crew to take to the boats. Unfortunately, in one case the hawser broke or was burned and the boat overturned, throwing the occupants into the sea. Other members of the crew were penned up in the boiler-room, where they died of suffocation." The rescued men were coal black when they were landed at Cherbourg. When last seen the Atlantique was drifting northward before a strong south-westerly wind. She was a mass of flame from stem to stern.

The paint on her hull was CAIRNGORM IN A GALE Search for Two Anxiety is felt for two climbers who were on the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland during the fierce storm on Monday, when trees were uprooted on the plains and showers of sleet and rain obscured the hills. On Sunday inorning Mr. Alistair McKenzie (35), partner in the firm of McKenzie and Cruikshank, ironmongers, of Forres, and for the past three years in charge ol the firm's branch at Grantown, stt out to climb Cairngorm wi'h Duncan Ferrier (lSj. a pupil of Forres Academy. They intended to spend the night at the well-known Shelter Stone and to return on Monday morning.

They left their car at a eamekeeper's house at Glenmore, and when he found it there on Tuesday moraine; he became alarmed and telephoned to Gxantown No news was received cf the climbers during- the day, and search parties set out yesterday. LONG EXPERIENCE The storm which swept the Cairngorms on Sunday and Monday was one of the worst known in the district. It was worse than that of four years ago, when two Glasgow students named Baird and Barrie lost their lives. Mr. McKenzie, however, has had a lifelong experience of climbing, and it ie possible that he and his companion found shelter during the storm.

Mr. J. McCoss, president of the Cairngorm Club, who attended the club's meet over the week-end, said that members of his party had seen no sign BLOW TO BRITISH UNDERWRITERS By an Insurance Correspondent. The loss of the new French liner Atlantique will undoubtedly be one of the heaviest ot the many fire claims which the marine insurance market has had to bear in recent years. Total loss insurances on the Atlantique amount to approximately 2,000,000, of which about 1,125.000 is in the London On the first reports of the fire a reinsurance rate of sixty guineas per cent was quoted at Lloyd's on the Atlantique, the rate fluctuating durinz the dav until shortlv before 'the cose business she became uninsurablo on a report that she was burning fiercely fore and aft with a heavy list to port, and that she was a danger to 1 navigation.

The loss is the more unfortunate because it is but the lust, nf a series of disastrous fixe casualties of which the of the new French motor-line; THE FLUCTUATIONS OF STERLING The following table shows a week's fluctuations in sterling Thtmday "Friday. Sct-nrtUy. Jfondxy. ToetdiT- WVdaeidar. New York 137J 137 138 138 138 138J Paris 138 1371 138J 138J 1391 139 Berlin 1371 137 1378 1381 138 1381 Amsterdam 1377J 1371 138i 138J 138 Berne 138 1371 1381 1381 139 138J Stocjchele 202 202 903 203 ftootaaoM cat obw to tt want bttttisa..