THE MARINE DEPARTMENT.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 2 October 1901, Page 3

THE MARINE DEPARTMENT.

The Annual Report

(oun paeliambntaty lepoetee.)

Wellington, This Day. According to the annual report of the Marine Department just presented to Parliament, the cost of maintenance of lighthouses, exclusive of the cost of the attending steamer, was £18,573.

The site for a lighthouse at Kahurangi Point, about 65 miles north of Westport, has been selected by the marine engineer and nautical adviser. A lantern apparatus for a second-class light has been ordered. The sum of £22,240 was collected for light dues, being an increase of £1,244 over the previous year.

The sum of £3,322 was collected for pilotage at Port Chalmers as against £3,255 during the previous year. The proposed site for a fish hatchery at Purakanui having been found to be unsuitable, a site has been selected in Otago Harbor at the end of Portebello Peninsula, and arrangements arc being made for the lease of the necessary land, adjoining. A salmon hatchery has been constructed at Hakataramea and will also be used for collecting and distributing trout about. The close season for seals has been extended to June 30th, 1902. It has been decided to keep the oyster beds in the Hauraki Gulf closed this year as inspecting has shown that they require further rest before being fit for picking.

The beds in the southern sub-division have already had so many oysters taken from them that it has been found necessary to close them again. In view of the way in which the beds are depleted in many places soon after they are opened, the question of restricting the quantity of oysters that may be taken by each licensed picker will have to be considered at an early date, and it may be also advisable to increase the license fee, which is now 10s.

In regard to examinations of masters, mates and engineers, the “ Post " states that for certificates of competency 169 persons passed their examinations and 100 failed.

Amendments to the regulations governing the carriage of deck cargo have been drafted by the Nautical Adviser, and arc now under consideration.

Wrecks and casualties on the coasts of the colony numbered 48 as against 42 in the previous year, and there were 10 total wrecks as against G in the previous year. The number of lives lost was 14 as against 35 last year. A matter of considerable interest to seafaring men—the engagement and discharge of seamen—is dealt with in the report. Prosecutions, it is stated, have been instituted in some cases where masters have employed men without entering into agreement with them and convictions secured. In one case a master was fined for leaving port with two men short of the number of seamen required by law to be carried. It was found that some shipmasters, whose vessels carried foreign articles, although trading nearly all their time on the coast, were giving their men discharges for foreign service for the whole of their lime. As this practice was con» sidered to be contrary to the regulations, instructions were issued to superintendents that it must not be allowed, as the service to be slmwn in the discharge must be such as had actually been performed. At the same time the Board of Trade were asked for their view of the matter, and the reply received confirms the action of the Department.