The Evening Star. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1870.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 79, 9 April 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1870.

To a stranger visiting Auckland and familiar with the commercial conveniences elsewhere, nothing is more striking than the insufficient means for signalling the approaching arrival of ocean steamers and trading vessels. It is not too much to say that in no other city of the colonies of such commercial importance would this state of things be tolerated ; while in the neighboring colonies, in the most insignificant incipient ports, an effort is made by the Government to foster trade by special attention to this particular. It is, of course, to be expected that Melbourne should have the electric wire connecting with the Heads at Queenscliffe; but a watcher even on the distant Cape Otway, sweeps the horizon with his glass," and signals to the city the appearance of any passing sail. Erom the lighthouse at the South Head, Sydney has electric intelligence of the approach of passing steamers. Brisbane, with a population and a commercial importance in no way comparable to that of Auckland, has stretched a wire by a long circuit of perhaps seventy miles around the south extremity of Moreton Bay, to reach the lighthouse at the entrance to the roads ; and the appearance on the horizon of the most distant sail is instantly shown from the telegraph office in the city. Even Maryborough, with its two thousand inhabitants, has a wire stretched to the beach and across a narrow channel to the lighthouse on Woody Island, some twenty miles away, in the mouth of Hervey's Bay ; and Rockhampton, with a population ,of over four or five thousand, has electric communication with its lighthouse, and is immediately informed of the approach of every vessel to the entrance of Keppel Bay. In each case the small expenditure in stretching the wire is considered to be more than compensated in the direct advantages to commerce, and the indirect benefit to the whole community; while the expense of working is reduced to a minimum by the expedient of instructing the lighthouse-keeper in the simple practice of telegraphy. Now, how are we situated in Auckland in this respect ? Yesterday morning at daybreak, the Novelty, from Sydney, was off our lighthouse at liri Tiri, and recognised there—some twenty miles in a direct line from. Auckland, and it was only this morning that her presence in New Zealand waters was known in in the city. Would such a state of things be borne with in any other city similar to Auckland ? In the Waitemata harbour we have the; clumsy antiquated system of sight-signals; and our utmost point of observation— North Shore —is little more than a a good "cooey" distant; while the , blunders made occasionally by some

of our contemporaries respecting the arrival of vessels show how bewildering the present system must be to the general community. As for steamers arriving off the Manukau it is worse still. The signalling from the entrance, from the great distance, and the frequent haziness of the weather, is wholly unreliable; and that .lofty headland, from which 'there is such a commanding .view, is for practical purposes useless. |Our attention is at present turned to 'the advantages of telegraphic extension. The statesmanlike view has been adopted, that this great instrument of commercial advancement should not be viewed as a mere source of revenue. The small expense cf building lines of telegraph compared to the returns, and especially to the public convenience, is forcing itself on our minds. Here we have two points to which telegraphic extension would be of incalculable benefit to commerce. A wire to Manukau Heads,and another down the promontory of Whangapoa, and across the narrow channel to the lighthouse at Tiri Tiri, would; be but a small expense; present no engineering or native difficulty; afford exceeding advantages to the merchants of Auckland ; and connected as we soon shall be with the other provinces by electric wire, it would be a matter of interest and commercial advantage to the whole of the Colony of New Zealand.