Captain Cracroft, of H.M.S. Niger, assembled at the Mechanics' Institute for the purpose of presenting him with a substantial evidence from the people of Auckland of the high estimation in which they hold the long, varied, and valuable services which he and his gallant ship's company have rendered to this colony. When Captain Cracroft came upon the platform, having been introduced by J. Williamson, Esq., the Hon. J. A. Gilfillan, M.L.C., and R. Ridings, Esq., the company received him standing and with warm applause.

On the motion of Messrs. Williamson and Bracey, Captain Daldy was voted to the chair.

The Chairman said,-Captain Cracroft, I have been at a loss to conceive why I should have been chosen to perform the difficult but pleasing task allotted to me, when there are so many more competent. I can only give one reason for having undertaken it cheerfully: that I have been long associated with naval discipline, where to hear is to obey. The request was only made to me at four p.m., but, short as the time was, I have endeavoured to nerve myself for the task. I have often stood on this platform to advocate a cause or to fight a political battle, but those were nothing to this. There was something to fight against, it was beating to windward against tide. I feel this is an affair of the heart, and therefore I trust you will forgive any imperfections. It is the first time that I have ever spoken in public where I felt so much. The gentlemen present represent the people of Auckland, but I am sure when these proceedings become public there will be a deep sense of disappointment felt throughout our population that a better opportunity has not been given them of expressing their admiration and good feeling towards Captain Cracroft and his gallant Nigers. I can only describe what I know that feeling to be by comparing it to a deep running river; smooth it may be on the surface, but with a current strong and rapid. Sir, the testimonial I have to offer to you is a very small gem, but its water is of the purest, and that is its greatest worth. It is presented indeed by the hand, but it comes from the heart. I might have been called upon to present a testimonial that would have helped to trim the Niger, but, without the heart, of what value would it have been. Believe me, Sir, this tribute, though small, is sincere: the inhabitants of this province respect and admire your courage, energy, and decision, which gave a turn to affairs at Taranaki at a very critical moment; but those qualities alone would not have won their hearts as you have done. No, Sir, never forgetting your high station, you have met all with the utmost kindness and urbanity as your fellow men, and when compelled to say no it has been a no of kindness. In contact with all ranks you have won hearts by carrying out the poet's motto "A man's a man for a' that." When you quit our shores you carry with you the love, respect, and kindest wishes of men, women, and children, and your name, in connection with the Niger, will remain imprinted on their memories for years to come, accompanied by a sincore hope that we may meet you again.

After you arrive in our fatherland, which we sincerely pray you may do speedily and in safety, we can well imagine with what eagerness and anxiety you will peruse the accounts you will receive from this country. Rest assured, should another unhappy struggle not be providentially averted, the influence of your example will not be lost, and if the Home Government will only find Cracrofts to lead, New Zealand will find Nigers to follow. Sir, on behalf of the people of Auckland, I have to crave two favours at your hands; first, that you will return to the officers and men of the Niger the heartfelt thanks of this community for their gallant, kind, and considerate conduct whilst they have been amongst us. Before I make the other request, Sir, I feel bound to explain that I had not been instructed to ask it as a part of the proceedings of this meeting, and I therefore take the matter on myself; for I feel, Sir, were this request not made, I and very many would be guilty of a grave omission; therefore, I beg you will assure your lady that she possesses the respect and admiration, and, Sir, I am sure I do not go too far when I say the love of all-for her womanly and kind-hearted conduct to all, without exception as to rank, and for her unostentatious benevolence to those who needed it. Sir, in the name of the people of Auckland, accept this tribute, and when you reach England let the fact be recorded by the following inscription on a piece of plate, of such form as to you may seem best:

"Presented to Captain Peter Cracroft, of H.M.S. Niger, by the inhabitants of Auckland, New Zealand, as a testimony of the high esteem in which they hold him for his kind and considerate conduct to all classes, for the deep sympathy he has shown, and for the eminent and unremitting services he has rendered to New Zealand during the present unhappy war." (Cheers.)

As Captain Cracroft commenced his reply the company rose, greeting him with such prolonged and earnest cheering that he was deeply moved by the hearty-the kindiy-feelings manifested towards him by all present.

Captain Cracroft said-It is no exaggeration for me to say that I feel quite overcome by this display of kindness on the part of the inhabitants of Auckland on this occasion to one who arrived here a perfect stranger to them some eighteen months ago. If, in connection with the unhappy struggle we all deplore, it has been my lot to achieve anything that in their opinion merits such a demonstration, believe me when I say I wish to take no credit to myself, but to give what is so justly due to those fine fellows whom it has been my good fortune to command (great applause). I accept with sincere pleasure this valuable testimony of your regard, although no such valuable one is needed to call to mind the many friends and unvarying kindness I have experienced here; and I am sure that Mrs. Cracroft will be equally gratified by your expression of kindness towards her, and that she will carry home the most agreeable reminiscences of her sojourn in this distant land. Your thanks I shall not fail to convey

to the Niger's officers and ship's company, and, in bidding you farewell, we shall do so in hope of renewing at some future time our friendly intercourse. (Prolonged applause.)

The Chairman said as it might be the last time that the people of Auckland could have an opportunity of testifying their respect for Captain Cracroft, he called for a hearty good cheer. The whole of the assembly again rose and gave the gallant Captain, Mrs. Cracroft, and the Niger's officers and crew three hearty English cheers.

New Zealander.

AN EARTHQUAKE IN THE EAST.

That one half of the globe, however civilized, enterprising, and charitable it may be, knows but little of the other half, is a fact which may be verified at any time. The effect of an earthquake in March last on the coast of Sumatra, by inundating an island on that coast has naturally suggested the question, where is it? The answer is, on the west coast, and it is said to be one of the Batu group. It is called Simo, but the only island bearing a name at all similar to that, is Simaloe of our best charts. And yet the island called Simo has above a thousand inhabitants, and they appear to have their share of this world's sorrows and sufferings. They could relate their pathetic tales of woe as keen as those of any of our civilized world. But they are shut out from our haunts. Their Dutch masters have furnished us with no charts which would enable the navigator to visit them,their shores are unexplored, their approaches not examined, reefs where no lead has been to fathom their depths, the very names of the islands themselves, all these are unknown to our charts in this advanced age of civilization and progress in maritime discovery. How long we are to remain so, it is for our Dutch neighbours, the masters of Sumatra, to say.

Here is the story of the effects of an earthquake on one of these islands.

The following are the particulars of the frightful ruin wrought on the island of Simo, one of the Batu group on the west coast of Sumatra, by the earthquake on the 9th of March last :—

Simo before the occurrence had thirteen campongs or villages, four of which, however, although they bore the names of former campongs, only consisted of a single hut, the rest of the houses having been from time to time removed to the other campongs. Besides these campongs there were huts, here and there, inhabited by persons who watched the coconut trees and by swineherds.

Previous to the disaster of the 9th of March, there were on the island one hundred and twenty houses and a population of 1,045; on this unlucky day ninety-six houses were destroyed, and 675 of the inhabitants, besides 103 temporary residents, lost their lives.

NO. 10.-VOL. XXX.

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The water ran up to the east of the Campong Simo, but spared this campong, which is a little elevated, and being the farthest limit of the inundation, the water appears to have lost much of its force there. Proceeding westwards, the traces of the storm wave were more and more visible in the cocoanut trees torn up and broken, thrown together in masses and in the bent jungle.

Along the whole space swept by the water, being the entire circumference of the almost square island, with exception of the N.E. point, this devastation was more or less apparent for a hundred to a thousand paces from the shore, and in some places even much further inland.

On the south and east side, the shore was inundated and two houses with their inmates carried away, but only a few cocoanut trees were uprooted; at Lubu Lalafa only, on the last side, the water seems to have been stronger, where in a small plantation of 4,000 trees only six remain. This difference in the force with which the water operated, is probably to be accounted for that the sea ran heaviest where it met with most opposition from the rocks.

Of the campongs nothing more is to be distinguished than the stones, here and there, on which the Batu islander places the posts of his house, or which serve as seats in the gatherings in the campongs, and the wells which are found near each campong.

On some places were great piles of trunks of trees, beams and planks of houses, clothes and furniture, and amongst them the bodies of the dead, which had not yet been removed, some in a state of decomposition, others completely stripped of the flesh by the vultures, dogs, and swine, of which last many were also drowned, but a number still wandered in the jungle.

These skeletons and bodies presented a dismal sight, and rendered the atmosphere intolerable. On the place where the campong Gundia stood, on the west side of the island, there was one of these heaps, in which seven corpses were visible, and there must have been many more under it judging by the smell. Amongst the seven bodies was that of a woman, nearly stripped of the flesh, but recognizable by her dress; she lay with the face on the ground, the extended right arm pressed down by a beam, the left arm drawn up, with the hand clutched in the ground; she was apparently trying to escape but was caught by the falling beam. In some places broken skulls and skeletons were found, with the different parts scattered about.

Orders were given to collect the bones and bodies together as soon as possible and bury them; this is not the usual practice of the Batu islanders, who place the bodies of the dead in a well closed chest on an elevated place under a roof, generally near the shore. It may be reckoned fortunate that most of the bodies were carried into the sea, because otherwise the tainted state of the atmosphere would probably have produced a contagious pestilence amongst the remaining population.

The sea appears to have been most violent between the Campongs Simo, Babaniregé, and Lakao, on the west side of the island, where the greatest number of persons perished.

According to the account of a survivor of the Campong Babaniregé, an earthquake was felt at the fall of the evening, shortly before the inundation. All the inhabitants then assembled, by order of the panghulu, on the open space in the middle of the campong, but a moment afterwards they tried to make their escape from thence, as they dreaded the fall of the houses, which were already tottering. They were driven back, however, by a rush of water which approached from the back of the campong. Running back from this they were overwhelmed by another terrific wave, which, out of 282 persons swept off 206. The informant lost his wife and three children, and was himself with other persons swept into the jungle inland, where they were caught by the trees or managed to hold on. According to the account of this man as well as others, two waves met each other at this point and wrought a frightful destruction.

Large masses of rock were carried from the sea for 100 to 200 paces inland. A colossal old jawi-jawi tree, which formerly stood on the bay, lay with its roots and branches broken and twisted, about 200 paces from the shore.

The water appears to have retired with so much force that everything, except the heaps above mentioned, must have been swept into the sea. According to the accounts of persons belonging to other campongs, who escaped death, although with the loss of their relatives and property, soon after the earthquake very heavy reports were heard, like distant cannon shots, on which they observed at a great distance in the sea a wave approaching, that, according to their description, was of the height of a fullgrown cocoanut tree, and which dashed with furious force on the island. Some saved themselves by an immediate flight, the rest were overtaken by the water and swept away, except such as were caught by the jungle, or possessed presence of mind and strength enough to hold on to trees. Three such waves succeeded each other.

Some wonderful escapes took place. A child about a year old was found, two days after the disaster, in the top of a cocoanut tree twelve or fifteen feet in height. Although covered with wounds and suffering from fever, it was still alive. Another child was found alive on the breast of its dead mother.

CHANGES IN THE WHALE FISHERY.

The whalers are continually changing their cruizing grounds. At one time the Greenland fishery attracted the larger portion of the fleet; then the Southern Atlantic; then the South Pacific and the Pacific sperm whaling grounds; still later, the North Pacific drew hither nearly one half the entire fleet. Now this latter cruizing ground is declining in popularity, and the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans