Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1226, 3 July 1872, Page 2

The steamer Wallace, a stranger to the port and to the West Coast, arrived in Greymouth yesterday morning. The Wallace is a well-known boat on the East Coast, having teen built in Dunedin on plans furnished by Mr John Darling, manager for the Harbor Steamboat Company, having been launched from the building yards of Messrs Wilson and Co., of that city, and having been engaged from that time in the trade between Dunedin, Port Chalmers, Oamaru, and Timaru. She is commonly called a sister ship to the Bruce, and she resembles in many particulars that smart little vessel, but they are sot in aUfoarticulars alike, although the Wallace was built very nearly upon the lines of the Bruce. According to the description of those who have travelled by both boats, she Is not so lively as the Bruce in a sea-way, but in interior arrangement* she is in several respects superior, and she is undoubtedly a good acquisition both to Messrs Edwards and Co. 'a line of steamers, and to the means of steam conveyance on the West Coast. The trade in which she will probably be regularly engaged is that between Nelson and Blenheim, but, while the Kennedy is undergoing a rent, she will trade on the West Coast, making tripsjat intervals with the Charles Edward and Murray, belonging to the same company. The Wallace left Dunedin for Nelson and the Coast early last week, and ha* made a successful trip up to the present time. She is under command of Captain Dillon, who W& 8 formerly master of the steamer Nelson, and Who has since continued in the employ of Messrs Edwards and Co. Mr Willcooks, who proceeded to Dunedin to complete the purchase of the vessel on behalf of the firm which he represents, continues on board in the capacity of purser. Th« onglneer is Mr Campbell, who, as engineer of the Brace and of other steamers in the New Zealand trade, is well-known both on the Coast and throughout the Colony." Meura N. Edwards and Co, of Nelson, have purchased the wreck of the schooner Ocean Bird, with the inteution of thoroughly re-fitting her. There is a great scarcity of shipping for Londan at all the New Zealand ports. At Wellington, Lyttelton, and we believe Port Chalmers, there is none, and only one vessel at Auckland. A considerable quantity of hemp, one of our staple commodities, is now ready for export, but shins cannot be found ; while the high rates of freight on that article ruling in Melbourne, entirely shutout tran•hipping by way of that port. The Sydney Morning Herald states that a man named Singleton caught a shark in Broken. Bay, at the Hawkesbury river, and on dissecting it shortly afterwards and opening the stomach, found therein the skull of a man, with the lower jaw missing, and two large bones of the arm of a human being. The relics are supposed to be those of a seaman named Johnston, who belonged to the ketch Tim Whiffler, which was lost between Broken Bay and Newcastle about the beginning of the present year, when Johnston and another of the seamen were drowned. Johnston, it is stated, had several teeth wanting in the upper jaw : and the upper jaw attached to the skull found in the stomach of the shark bears appearances of a similar kind. •