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Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 1019, 1 November 1871, Page 2

Blue sky was the report from all the meteorological stations in New Zealand, with bars good. Barometer was highest at Wellington, 30.10; and lowest at the Bealey, 27.60, Thermometer was highest at Lyttelton, 62 'j and lowest at Taupo, 52. ■„,.'.,' The s.s. Rangitoto arrived off Hokitika at 1,30 p.m. yesterday, when she was tendered by theWaipara, which did not return to port until 10. 30 p.m. last night. The Rangitoto will come on here, and be despatched for Northern ports at 9 a.m. to-day. The cutter Pioneer was towed out on the early tide yesterday morning, coal laden, for Hokitika. The s.s. Kennedy is expected this morning from Hokitika, and will sail for Westport and Nelson this evening. There are na less than eight different Acts in this Colony relating to shipping and marine affairs. Most of these Acts have evidently been copied from the Imperial Merchant Shipping Acts of 1854 and 1862, and experience has shown that they are most faulty where they differ most widely from the text of these Acts. Mr Seed, in his Marine Department report, says : —It would be exceedingly desirable lo have alljthese laws consolidated ; but before doing this it would be prudent to wait until the Bill which is now before the Imperial Parliament for amending and consolidating the merchant shipping laws has passed, and then to adopt that Act as a model for a comprehensive measure for regulating all matters relating to shipping in the Colony, which are subject to local control and supervision. The suggestion made by the hon. Mr Yogel that the Navigator's group should be made a coaling station for the San Francisco steamers seem to have been received with considerable favor in Auckland. In an article on the subject, the Southern Cross says:— That group, scarcely, if at all, inferior to theFijis, has not as yet arrested so prominent attention or bo attracted colonisation as the Fijis ; but in climate, soil, variety of productions, ■and every qualification that can make them valuable, these Islands present the prospects of attainining great importance, both from supplying the products of tropical growth, ana from their commercial position. From the spread of settlement in the South Seas, and from the extension of traffic among the islands, the intervention of British cruisers will become more and more necessary ; and probably, il viewed merely as a matter of pecuniary consideration, a protectorate, giving to the protecting power certain rights to regulate the internal policy and external relations of these islands, would be cheaper, as it would be more effective, than an irregular and unsystematised police surveillance exercised by cruising squadrons over the island powers. The time is opportune for pressing the claims of the Navigator Islands on the British Court ; and as it is determined that this group shall constitute a calling place of the New Zealand and San Francisco mail line, the duty of urging these claims rests primarily on the Government and Legislature of this Oolony. For the peculiar position of a " dependency of a dependency," it appears there is a paiallel in South Africa, the Cape Colony exercising protectorate powers over one of the adjacent Republics. The great importance of this valuable group to our future commerce should prompt to vigorous action, and, we hope that the recommendation of theColonial Treasurer will not pass away without effect, and that immediate steps will be taken to elicit the opinion of the Legislature.