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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1090, 1 February 1872, Page 2

Weather : blue sky, gloomy, and overcast, was the report for yesterday. Barometer was highest at Blenheim, 30.16 ; and lowest at the Bealey, 27.68. Thermometer was highest at Taupo, 80 ; and lowest at the Bealey and Balclutha, 57.. . ' : The steamer Wallabi left Westport shortly before midnght on Tuesday, and arrived off Greymouth early in the morning yesterday and Crossed the bar between two and three o'clock in the afternoon. i , : The steamer Kennedy sailed for Westport and Nelson yester afternoon. t The steamship Alhairibra is announced to sail for Melbourne this day. ■ Captain Thomson, Harbor Master at the Bluff, is, says the Southland News, the , patentee of a new description of anohor, a model of which we had yesterday the pleasure of inspecting. It is a strange looking affair, quite unlike the traditional "holdiastj" but evidently well adapted to hold en almost anywhere. The most striking difference between it and the common anchor is that the shank is in two parts, forming with the stock an equilateral triangle. Taking the stock as.the.base, the flukes work at the apex something after the manner of Trotman's patent — the one out of ground dropping in between the two parts of the shank. rßy arrangement, the "hook", or ' incurvation of- the nukes can bs adjusted .to suit the varying nature of the ground There are other peculiarities about the new apparatus which would require the aid of diagrams to explain. Among the advantages claimed for* it are .entire freedom from liabi- . lity to foul under any circumstances, greater aptness to take noldj superior strength, and at least eqnal hanliness to the anchors at 'present in use. We trust soon to hear of its being tested on a large scrle. The caußO of some vessels foundering has at times been a matter of conjecture, but a singular circumstance which occurred during the passage of the Planter from Newcastle serves to illustrate how a vessel may be lost in an apparently most unaccountable manner. The account is taken from the S. A. Advertmr .'—After the barque had been a few days at sea it was found she had -sprung a leak, and seeing no very, heavy/weather had occurred, it was very Btrange that as hour after hour passed it was necessary to have recourse to the pumps. On the third day one, of ;the MttHen vi the forecastle distinctly heard the water trickling in a rill from some position near his berth. The carpenter at once' went to work and succeeded in so far removing the ceiling or inner skin of the vessel as to. discover a rat's hole was the cause of the leak. The rat had been obstructed by a timber, and instead of eating through it, the animal had chosen ia position for its' hole in a line with a seam between two planks. Ihis process had so far thinned the wood that the oakum hadj given inwards— hence the leakage, which was partially stayed ; but on arrival the master was induced, to charter a steamer in order to immediately proceed into harbor.