"Kill or Cure."

Thanks to the kindness of a passenger who made a voyage Home from Wellington in 1865, I am able to give a very vivid account of the difference between travelling 60 years ago and to-day. Captain Allen was in command, and the vessel which left Wellington in February, 1865, arrived in the Thames the following June. My correspondent was then a boy of ten, who had never been on the ocean before. He was a weakly child, was not expected to live another six months, and was a matter of fact put on board the Ballarat on the advice of a doctor, who said the voyage would either kill or cure him.

"There were 25 passengers," says my correspondent, "and the saloon was a small compartment about 20 feet by 10 feet, with twelve two-berth cabins opening out of it. A narrow table with a continuous seat on either side, and the usual swinging trays and oil lamp completed the furnishings. The vessel was deeply loaded, and soon after leaving Wellington Heads we ran into heavy weather, so the decks were awash from stem to stern, with water continually pouring through the saloon and cabins. As we went further south the conditions got worse, if anything, and the cold being intense we felt it bitterly, as there was no means of heating the saloon.