TRIAL TRIP OF THE FAIRY.

Evening Star, Issue 3340, 3 November 1873, Page 2

TRIAL TRIP OF THE FAIRY.

The little screw-steamer built by Messrs Kincaid and M‘Queen, at the Vulcan Foundry, and appropriately named " Fairy,’’made her trial trip on Saturday. Although so small, in comparison with the line vessels we are accustomed to see in the Port, she is the first sea-going steamer that has been wholly built and fitted in Dunedin. The hull and the whole of the machinery were constructed by Messrs Kincaid and M'Queen, and thus the little Fairy is an index of the advance of manufacturing ability in the Colony. Small as she is, therefore, her name will become historical. The length of the Fairy is 70ft overall, and 65ft on the keel, Her depth of hold is 6ft 3in, and breadth 13ft. Her lines are sufficiently fine to enable her to travel at considerable speed, while her breadth of beam, in proportion to her length, gives stability. The arrangements for crew and passengers are necessarily on a small scale, but additional accommodation is afforded by a deck-house, so that although the register tonnage is only about 30, space is acquired for upwards of 50 tons of cargo, which can fie stowed away with case, Economy of space has been studied in the construction of the machinery ; and the boiler and engines are models of concentrated power. There are two cylinders, each 8½ inches in diameter, and the pistons have a stroke of 12 inches. They are estimated to be equal to 15 horsepower, but will work up to 27. The diameter of the screw is 3ft 8in. It would scarcely have been possible to have chosen a fitter day to test the power of the Fairy than was afforded on Saturday. The tide was running swiftly against her, and the wind blew strongly on the larboard bow, Messrs Kincaid and Co. had invited a number of their workpeople and several friends to join them in the trip, and as there was not much ballast on board, every quality of the little vessel was tested, excepting that of sailing, Leaving Rattray street jetty about 11 o’clock, with a pressure of steam of 38lb, the engines made 123 revolutions per minute, the vessel going well through the water. Burns’s Point was reached in 12 minutes. On adding a little fuel the pressure was increased to 48lb, and the number of revolutions increased to 160. The highest pressure reached on the voyage to Port Chalmers was 50lb, when the revolutions were 164 per minute. When opposite Blanket Bay, though the wind blew heavily off the land, and there was some little sea on, the Fairy kept on steadily, apparently but little afected by the commotion. A measured distance of two miles about this part of the voyage was passed over in 10 minutes, which being done in opposition to a strong tide, a gale of wind, and an. adverse sea, stamps the little craft as fully equal to the work expected of her. She is intended to trade between Hawke’s Bay, Wairoa, and Poverty Bay, and has been built for Captain Campbell and Mr S. E S. Richardson. Port Chalmers was reached in 1 hour 19

minutes. After a stay of half-an hour, a tour of the harbor was made, and on the return voyage a call was made at Macandrew’s Bay, and a substantial lunch provided by the contractors was partaken of by the excursionists. His Honor the Superintendent, whose interest in the progress of Otago needs not to be told of, visited the party and inspected the vessel. On leaving, he was saluted in the usual seaman’s style of dipping the ensign. The party reached Dunedin at 6.30 in the evening well pleased with their trip. We are given to understand that vessels of this class and much larger can be constructed in Dunedin more cheaply than they can be imported, and we may therefore fairly expect increasing employment in that branch of industry if encouragement be given to it. The building of the Fairy began on the 28th August, and because of not having a water frontage she was built at a distance from the Bay, and had to be drawn over land to be launched. In remembrance of the opposition to a piece of reclaimed land being sold to the contractors at a fair price, notwithstanding the condition that they would have bound themselves to train up an industrial population of skilled workmen, we would call special attention to the impediments political and self-interested speculators threw in the way of the establishment of local industries. They prevented the sale of a convenient spot of ground, put the contractors to much unnecessary expense, and, for what we know to the contrary, checked enterprises that would confer more benefit on Dunedin than they would do were they to live in it a thousand years. That some of them were loud in their outcry for the establishment of Government workshops only amounts to self-condemnation. We trust the people will have long memories, and when they have opportunity, will mark their sense of their inconsistency by rejecting their selfish help. Our next step is the production of our own iron, and then Otago may be said to be on the high road to independence of other countries.