EXPORTS.

Grey River Argus, Volume VII, Issue 465, 7 January 1869, Page 2

EXPORTS.

Per Persevere, for Hokitika : 25 tons coal, J A Bonar. Per Volunteer, for Westport ; 40 tons coal, Kilgour,

The business of the port has been very limited since our last, and includes only a few arrivals and departures of coasting vessels. The bar has been in fine condition, with over twelve feet of water, and a straight channel On Tuesday the s.s, Wallabi. arrived from Wanganui and steamed to the wharf. She called last at W!estport, where she transhipped a large cargo for this port And Hokitika, ex the Beautiful Star, from Dunedin and Lyttelton, and also shipped at Westport for here 200 sheep, On Tuesday and Wednesday she landed cargo, and in the afternoon of the latter day left for Hokitika. The p.s. Persevere, which has been a comparative stranger here for some time, arrived from Hokitika, and after shipping twenty-five tons of coal, left again for thaVport yesterday afternoon. > Yesterday morning about four o'clock the p.s. Dispatch towed to sea the schooner Spray, coal laden, for Lyttelton, and in the afternoon the cutter Volunteer, .also coal laden, for Westport. • We notice that the schooner Streamlet, about the safety of which fears were entertained, has arrived at Hokitika. The s.s. Gothenburg is expected to arrive from Melbourne via New Zealand ports tomorrow, when she will be despatched with gold and passengers for Melbourne direct. Mr Gunner, a California inventor, proposes to exhibit in a few days the model of a new ptyle of lifeboat, which is warranted to right itself when upset, even when it is freighted. Ordinary lifeboats can only right themselves when they are empty. Should the passengers cling to the common style of boat, it would prove fatal to it. We have examined Mr Gunner's model, and can readily see that not only must it right itself and bale itself when empty, but even more readily when it is freighted. The self-righting properties of the boat are efficiently secured by two air-tight cylinders placed midships on the gunwales, each 6 feet in length and 3 feet in height, which is placed between the side cylinders, and moves to either side of the boat on a self-acting pivot. These dimensions refer to a boat such as was tested in Hamburg, 32ft. long, 10ft. 4in. broad, and 4ft. deep in the water. This boat was designed to accommodate 40 passengers, and to be worked by a crew of nine men. The crew, of course, are lashed to their scats, fore and aft, while 24, or in case of necessity 32, passengers are intended to be accommodated in a cabin erected amidships, and six each in fore and aft cabins. The whole arrangements are exceedingly ingenious, and seem calculated to meet every possible emergency. If the boat should capsize, no water could enter the cabins, and the crew would not remain longer than ten seconds under the water. The Peninsular and Oriental Steam.Navigation Company's ship Bangalore is being fitted with a pair of Doty's, signal lamps, which have been recommended to the directors for adoption on board the company's steamers.' . Each pair of lamps is accompanied by a small portable air-pump (easily worked by a boy), and india-rubber hose to connect the lamps with the pump, all of which are stationed on or near the bridge, one lamp on the port and the other on the starboard side of the vessel, aud the air-pump under the immediate control of the '-officer of the watch," so that on sighting a vessel dangerously near ahead, or on the port or starboard bow, without being able to make out hsr course, tbe officer in charge could (by turning the air-pun.p) instantly present brilliant white lights directly ahead, and red and green corresponding with the Board of Trade regulation side lights to vessels appearing on the port or starboard bow, and illuminate ■hip, spars, rigging, &c, in such a manner as would clearly indicate his course to the strange vessel In the event of a casualty at sea, involving the necessity for lowering the boats at night, the officer in charge coulH immediately command a clear view of all the boats and their surroundings. As each lamp produces a light equal to 300 sperm candles, at an expense of 4d per hour for fluid, they can be used for embarking and landing passengers, receiving and discharging freight, ana for night signals, which latter will be accomplished by simply turning a cock in the "hose" yonnecting the air-pump with tho lamp.

Before leaving matters Irish, allow me to say that Dr Ball, Q.C., has been appointed Solicitor General for Ireland, and that Lord Claud John Hamilton, M.P. for Londonderry, and second son of the Marquis of Abercorn, is the new Irish Lord of the Treasury^ in succession to %ie Hon. Gerard Noel, promoted to the post e>i Patronage Secretary,