IMPORTS.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 854, 22 April 1871, Page 2

IMPORTS.

Per Garibaldi, from Hokitika : 30,000 feet timber.

The s.s. Rangitoto, Captain Mackie, from Melbourne, arrived in the roadstead early yesterday morning, and at 11 a.m. wiis tendered by the p.s. Dispatch, which transhipped her passengers. Captain Mackie states that the Suez mail steamer Avoca arrived in Hobson's Bay on the I3th, but his departure was delayed until the afternoon of the 15th inst., at 2.50, and cleared Bass's ( Straits at 1 p.ro. next day. • Experienced light E. S.E. winds with fine weather throughout the passage, and arrived as above. Immediately after being tendered she steamed away for Nelson. The s.s. Gothenburg, from Nelson, will, most probably, arrive here to-morrow morning. She will take passengers for Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide. i The schooner Garibaldi was towed in yes- j terday morniug, with a cargo of 30,000 feet i of sawn timber, from Hokitika. The s.s. Kennedy, with the Westland por- i tion of the San Francisco Mail on board, left Westport last night. She will, most probably, go on to Hokitika, and arrive here tomorrow. The p.s. Lyttelton is now daily expected from Nelson. She will, for a time, be employed in the coal trade between here and Hokitika. The Waterman, for Greymouth, and the Zephyr, for Hokitika, cleared out from Melbou m e on the 14th inst. With regard to the contemplated application to the Home Government for a man-of-wir to be stationed at or near King George's Sound for the protection of the mail steamers, the 'Argus learns that the Ministry are of opinion that the filibustering expedition, if it started at all, was to start in February, it will now be sufficient to place Mi- Verdon in possession of the views entertained by the v ictoiian Government, leaving him to communicate with the Imperial authorities. The Government of South Australia have suggested that a combined application on the subject should be made by all the Australian Governments. The following description of the Nevada, the pioneer vessel of Mr Webb's line, is furnished by a correspondent of the Argus : — During the last week I paid a visit to the Nevada, which, should the line commence soon to rnn, will probably be the pioneer vessel. I had heard so much about what this American line was to do, and had suffered so much at the hands of a person greatly interested in the matter in the way of general 'blowing,' that I confess I was disposed to view the whole project unfavorably. But my visit to the Nevada at once convinced me,- after my experience of the comfort of the Moses Taylor, a far inferior vessel in every way, that no vessel now trading to Australia offers accommodation for passengers at all comparable to her'f. Certainly, all of the P. »nd O. vessels that I have seen are altogether inferior. Her engines are of the beam description, and she is a paddle-wheel steamer. It will be quite possible to give to the passengers— unless, indeed, they nock to her in great numbers — a cabin to themselves, as there are a large number of cabins on the upper deck as well as round the saloon, which is extremely spacious and airy. The Nevada is 3100 tont register, bub owing to her enormous height ont of the tyater she hits far moro room fo* passengers than an English chip of the s«sne size. I saw tbe ship under very unfavorable circumstances, as she had been Lad up for the last two years, and ia not yet refitted, it would take about three weeks from the* present time to make her ready for sea ; and then, 1 am assured, that with forty tons of coal a day she could easily compress an average of eleven knots an hour, aud if the logs of her trips between Panama and San Francisco, which I aaw we*e correct, I should think she could. Whatever may bs its fsrte in other respect?, I feel aauufed thar* if the boats are run to Australia *bi« line cannot fail to attract p»sange». Better arrangements, however, will hare to be made for through passengers by rail ; as at present managed, they are very faulty, and there ia no fair guide to the various railways which branch oßirom Omaha and Chicago. j