STATE STEAMERS

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1833, 21 August 1913, Page 8

STATE STEAMERS

HINEMOA NEARLY DONE WITH,

NEW BOAT REQUIRED,

FISHERIES AND OTHER MATTERS

The annual report cf the Marine Department was presented to the House of Representatives ywterday by the lion, V. M. 13. lasher, Minister for Marine. The report is a general review of tile working of the Department, btit it contains little matter of outstanding interest.

.Returns appended to the. report gliow the vessels wgistorcd in Ncm- Zealand on December 31 last, and the number of s'«vmon on ;L boys employed on them. Thcso show tliat on tint date there were 212 sailing ships of 34,308 a-cgistered tonnage, and 374 steamships of )2i,7?2 tons register, as against ,214 sailing ahips of 35,051 cons rnjistcr, and 301 steamships of 114,073 tons register on December 31, 1911. The number of seamen and boys employed on board at the end of 1912 was 1953, as compared with 5208 at the end of the previous year.

.During; the year 91 inquiries into casualties to ships were liolil, SG of tliem being preliminary and 8 magisterial inquiries. The casualties on or near the coasts of A'ew Zealand numbered 103, representing 45,001 tuns register, as conpnrod with 10i) of 40,815 tons in t.lio previous your. Tlio number of lives lost was 33, as coinpared with two in the previr-us year. Ineluded in the lives lost are 25, being the master, officers, and crew of the dredge Manchester, .wliich left Wellington tor Sydney on April C, 1912, and- which has not since been heard of.

Referring to the llim-moa, the Sec-rctafj;. for Marine (Mr. G. Allport) states: ."She is now 37 years old, and lias been nearly all the time in uso. Although she has been kept in a good state of repair she cannot bo expected to last much longer. In fact, it would not bo advisable now to send her to the Southern Islands, where very bad weather is' sometimes met with. • it ■would, in my opinion, be advisable to take a vote during tho coming session for part of tho cost of a new steamer, so that tenders may bo invited, and a contract for building one entered into. A steamer should be designed specially for lighthouse and buoy work,, with separate quarters for light-keepers, but not much other passenger accommodation, and she should have good cargo-carrying capacity." Of tho hoys oh the Amokura, Mr. Allport says: "It is clear that shipowners recogniso the value of tho training the boys receive on the ship, as there is no difficulty in obtaining employment for them -on tft'her vessels as soon as they have completed their training. So far as can be ascertained, most of them remain at sea."

Satisfactory reports of . the oyster fisheries at Auckland ami Fovcaux Straits are made, and the failuro and departure of tlio foreign whalers is also mentioned. There is 'mention also of an unsuccessful attempt to introduce the herring: iuto our waters, bu't it is urged that this ono failuro should not deter the Department from making another attempt. 'Iho intro■'duction of quinnat salmon into the Waitaki and other rivers seemß to have been' successful, but (he introduction of another ■ shipment of Atlantic salmon ova to liberate in Lake Te Anau is recommended. Sockeyo salmon introduced into Lake Oliau in 1901 have acclimatised, but tlio wafers seem to have been unsuitable, and the fish, when observed in March last, were in an unhealthy or dying condition. The sockeye salmon is one of tho most valuable of salmon. Sea fisheries seem to have been goo<l all round the coasts.