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Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 914, 1 July 1871, Page 2

It is reported that jhe s s Kennedy will arrive here on Sunday from Nelson, via Hokitika, and leave on Monday on her return trip for Nelson. The brigantine Sarah and Mary has been at anchor in the Hokitika roadstead for several days, the bad state of the bar preventing her entering the river. The s.s Murray did not leave yesterday for Westport and Nelson, in consequence of the heavy sea rolling home on the bar. She will . leave to-day, and on her return trip she will carry to Nelson the outward English mail via San Francisco. We learn from the Hawke's Bay Herald that the Rangatira narrowly avoided a collision with the Lord Ashley off Flat Point in consequence of the officer in charge of that vessel putting the helm a-starboard instead of tojjort, when meeting the Rangatira nearly end on, this being in contravention to the 'rules laid down by the Board of Trade in England. The Hawlce's Bay Herald says :— " A severe accident occurred on board the Government p.s Luna- As some of the men were steaming out a tallow cask, the head of tlje cask suddenly burst, enveloping the men in the steam. Mr J. Massey, the second engineer, and one of the stokers (Nolan) were scalded, the latter so severely that he had te be removed to the Provincial Hospital. Mr Reed, the late Chief Constructor of the British Navy, it is said, has just received and accepted an official invitation to visit the dockyards and arsenals of Russia. The regulations for the formation of a seamen pensioners' reserve have been received at Chatham from the Admiralty} All petty officers and seamen under forty-five years of age will be allowed to join now ; but after March, 1872, only seamen, gunners,* 1 and trained men will be entered. The men will be called out every alternate year for thirty days' drill at sea, or at Portsmouth, Portland, Devonport, or any other place that may be specified. A double launch took place at Chatham Dockyard, on March 25. , Thej were the Scourge and the Snake, iran gunboats. Their dimensions are : — Length: between perpendiculars, 85ft ; extreme I>readth, 26ft lfin ; burthen in tons, 245. ; They have no armour plating, and the irotf with which they are built is not more, than three-quarter inch thick in any partf Each vessel will carry one of the 18-toaguns, so that they will be able to cope %yith iron-clad vessels, and be at a considerable advantage, for while able to fire at a lggyg" range, so small a portion of the vesseljwul be above water that a very BmaUj)bjo6fc will be in view of the enemy, .^^aeljftffi °f the vessels are only two feet ,^^ga^Khe water, with bulwarks two dSiet j^^^L The gun will be at the^head of the it vill be completely under cover H^^^bfting loaded, and will only be lifted I^Tobe fired. The engines will give a great Sir amount of speed, and the small draught ful enable the vessels to ascend very shallow rivers. L The ship-building trade on the Clyde con- ■ tinues brisk, aud during the month of March * several contracts for the larger class of steam ships have been entered into. The launches during March have amounted to fully over the average tonnage, although less than the corresponding month of the previous year, which was unusually high. The German Llo5 T ds agents for Cardiff reports that the Marquis of Bute, the proprietor of the Cardiff Docks, has refunded the dock dues paid for all German ships de- ' tamed in that port since the commencement of the war. Several of our country's vessels have received a sum equivalent to the wholo . , cost of laying by. The owners of these last wish herewith to express their most sincere thanks to his lordship for his noble and disinterested behaviour towards them. The w<Srk of raising the steam-tug Hercules from her position in Humbug Reach, in the Yarra River, has been entirely successful, and yesterday she was taken up otf Wright's patent slip ror overhaul and repair. Notwithstanding the difficulties attendant ; puthe lifting of her, the operation, which was under the supervision' of Captain Dent and Mr Ruglan, was carried through in a very short space of time, and every credit 1b due to all engaged for the manner in which they exerted themselves. After ..moving her as far as Raleigh's Bar, steam was got up and the engines started, so that she might steam to the slip, but, owing to the outside bearings of the starboard paddlebox being in the^way of the wheel the attempt had to be given up, and she was towed down the Bay. A special survey was held by Captains D. M'Callum aud Turner, and the stSamer was also viewed by Captain Payne, chief harbormaster, and Captains Fullarton and Devlin. The diving operations in the raising of the Hercules were conducted by Mr Ingram, and, in pumping her owe two of Appold's seven-inch centrifugal puma&imported by Mr H. P. Welch were employed. Tenders for repairs to the steamer will at once be called for. — Argus, June 8; The Wellington Advertiser, in its comments on the competition which the Califoruian steamers have created, aays :— " The first great practical result of the new mail service has, in fact, been that one if not two of our own steamejjfe vessels owned in the place, vessels specially suited for the coastal traffic, and* every penny earned by which was retained and circulated among oursekes, have been laid up. In defiance of ajphe rules of common sense and political ecoißmyg rules well understood and rigidly applied by* the American government, we New Zealanders have actually subsidised an American firm to come and run our own locally owned steames off our coast. We have done this too, with the full knowledge that .the foreign boats are not nearly so well auntd for the trade as our own, or as capable ofxbndjgcting it economically. It is really pitiabW to see a fine vessel like the Phoebe laid uf||&nd to have the immediate prospect befonSxetar eyes of seeing the Ahuriri i^fertly in a Bimilar condition. The ntfiinDlr of people thrown out of employment, the amount of money withdrawn from circulation by these vessels is very great, and in addition to all this the travelling public suffers by the «lc- ' creased frequency of the means of communication. It is a very little contra to all this to have a look at a big steamer for an hour or two, twice a month, and to have our letters brought down the> East Coast by the same vessel in which came from San Francisco, but arriving here nearly a day latter than they might have arrived per - one of our own regular steamers via Weat Coast." ;