THE PORT OF GUAM

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2222, 10 September 1889, Page 3

THE PORT OF GUAM

At several vesiela bave recently left the Port of Lyttelton, having entered outwards for Gaara, and aa we bars iever»! times hewd the queotlon aekod •• Whera is Guam 1" the following particulars rela ting to the mysterious port will no doubt be read with Interest by pornonfl conneoted with ahipplDg :— That there are trloks In all tradea la now perfaotly well known, and one of the man? trloks m the shipping trada Is the ma' tar of keeping dark tha port of destination of a vassal. It may puzzle some of the readers of thle column to know what advantage thla oonrae can have to anyone concerned and for that reaion we will give one of the many lnEtances cf what may occur In onneotton with tho sending away of argoes of prodac«. A certain looal shipowner reoently deolded to send one of hit vessels to an Australian port, with a cargo of potatoes, and accordingly the veuel was loaded and cleared for tha port, which h»d been decided upon. The announcement was In the usual course roeorded In the papers, and muoh to the annoyance of the shipowner, his sailing ▼esiel'a departure was followed very ■hortly afterwards by that of a steamer for the same poet, which was not one of the uickl ports of destination of iteamere from New Zealand. As the stsamer's cargo also oooslated of potatoes, the oonsequence can be moro easily Imagined than described, and the good prices which the owner had expected for bli produce had to be lowered to a figure whloh hardly left sufficient margin for a respectable freight. That owner profited by experience, »nd tOB next *' me na BeDt • cargo away "on spec," he olrftred his ▼easel for Guam, and even the captain himself did noi know to wbst part of the world be was bound, at least, not until he was many miles avtay from Lyttelton, for his Inatruo'lona were handed to him under teal, to be opened af t«r ho had born at tea a few hours. From the foregoing it will be plainly seen the doßlr»bill>y of acme tlmts "keeping dark" tho port of dsi tlnatlon of a vessel. And now for some particular! of the port for which they are cleared, and when so cleared are allowed to go to any part of the world. The Island of Guam or Gnjanf, to which vessels whose real destination It Is desired not to publish, are consigned, lathe socthernmt st and largest of the singular line of Islands known as the Ladrones or Martane Islands. This group extend* from 21deg to 13deg north latitude, In one long continuous line, which, from 'he northern «Dd, follows almost thu 146 th degree of longitude, but at the island of Saypan, takes a alight bend, wh eh onds a* Guam, that lfland lying between tho 145 th and 144 th degrees. The Islands belong to Spain, whose occupation daUs from the 15th century. They are mostly voloanfo, and being exposed to the trade winds the climate is not exceuivsly hot. Cotton, doe, indigo, Indiau o ra, sng&r, cocoa, eocoanuts and tobacoo &re grown. Guam 1b abont eighty milca m clroumference ; its oaplttl is Ignnclo d'Agana, situated o > *o open roadstead, defended by tiro arnal) forts. The present population consists chltflf of settlers from the Philippines and Mexlcr , the number of Spaniards Ming very small.— "LytteUon Tlmea."