Messages from Belle Valley state that the airship struck a line of squall shortly after 5 o’clock at a height of 3000 feet, and broke in three parts. There was no explosion. After encountering the storm the ship went up to 5000ft, then suddenly broke, two pieces falling within 60ft of each other and the third drifting through the air for 12 miles.
The dead include Commander Lansdowne, Lieutenant-commander Hancock, Lieutenant Lawrence (senior watch officer), and Lieutenant Houghton. The watch officer of the Shenandoah left the air station at Lakehurst, New Jersey, on Wednesday afternoon, en route for St Louis, which he expected to reach late to-night. On the return trip a large party of prominent men, including Mr Henry Ford, were to be given a demonstration tour around Chicago. Twenty-three of the crew have reported themselves as uninjured. All the killed or injured were in the forward half of the ship, which was travelling rapidly in the gale, twisting and turning over, and generally acting crazily, dropping several men, who were unable to cling to the wreckage. Lieutenant Henley, ranking as the surviving officer, said that the ship practically broke into three parts. The storm gave her such a buffeting that her engine gear was dislocated from the propellers. The control department then fell free, with the stem dangling by the cables. The storm completed the utter collapse. “All of the five engines went bad when the gale struck us hard,” he said, “and the ship twisted and turned crazily.” The last official report sent by the radio operator on board the Shenandoah was: “I am losing my seat.” He previously wirelessed, “She is rocking, heaving, and straining in the wind.”
Butter wins at Wembley
There was a great demand for New Zealand’s butter and cheese at Wembley, and requests came from Spain, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Holland, India, Jamaica, Brazil, as well as from the British Isles, so the Dominion received its fair share of recognition and advertisement. “We have never before tasted butter like this” was a common remark, and many wanted to know where it could be bought in London.
No butter was sold at Wembley that was not grade 93.
Five-yearly review of forests
The Director of Forestry has made the first quinquennial review of the operations of the national forest policy. The organisation now has 12 executive and 83 operating officers, equivalent to one operating officer to 90,000 acres. State forestation activities have been speeded up during the period, with the result that 25,000 acres of State plantations were formed. The total area of State plantations is now 62,945 acres.
The opossum is being carefully conserved to avoid over-trapping. The opossum is described as a highly valuable yet harmless animal. For the period 165,550 skins, valued at £54,500, have been obtained from the State forests. — ODT, 5.9.1925
