WAIR0A.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1460, 21 October 1872, Page 2

WAIROA.

ottb, own correspondent.] Clyde, Oct 17, 1872. The .cutter M.arg£ireb, %% tons, arrived safely on Monday last, 14th inst., after having; encountered all sorts of weather on her passage from Auckland to Mahia and thi* place. By the courtesy of Capt. Wilson I am enabled to forward you some particulars ot the voyage : Started from Auckland on the 23rd Sept., and arrived at Mercury Bay on the 24th ; completed loading with timber on the 28th, and proceeded to sea on the £9th. Jlad light and variable winds until the Ist October, when, after rounding the East Cape, the vessel was compelled to lie hove-to in a gale from N.N.E., with a very heavy sea, which lasted until the 2nd, when it suddenly fell calm, with, however, no diminution of the sea. The wind afterwards much increasing from S.S.W., with every appearance of a stormy night, bore up for Poverty Bay, and brought up under Young Nick's Head, 'which bore S.E. by S, distant 3 miles. Landed Mr Black on the 3rd. Got under weigh thence, and arrived at Mahia on the 4th, Landed goods, and stood out to sea on the sth, with baffling winds and continued lain, terminating about midnight in a heavy southerly gale. On the 6th bore up for Long Point; remained at the anchorage during the 7th and Bth, when the violence of the wind abated, but a yeyy heavy S. E. sea rolled into the Bay. Got under v eigh on the 9th, and was pfj Wairoa on the 10th. "Ebb tide" being signalled, stood oif the land—barometer falling, and indications of bad weather. Proceeded to and re anchored under Long Point—the wind being in from 8.5. E., and blowing heavily during the night. Calm weather succeeded on the 12th, and the cutter again anived off the bar on the 13th ; was boarded by the pilot, and entered the river at 2 p.m. on the 14th, immediately hauling alongside the whart to take in bricks for To Kapu This fine little vessel has been chartered, 1 believe, by Mr W. Black, of Mahia, for the conveyance of kauri timber and other material for the erection of the new constabulary barracks at Te Kapu, and her enterprising master is going to take her up the river as far as practicable.

Capt. Wilson, of the Margaret, lias had a rough time of it in the Bay, and evidently fully appreciates a dark night Dud a furious south-easter, with no light or guidance to inalpe out Long Point. He strongly advocates the establishment of something visible in the dark to mark the position of the sheltering promontory. Yon will remember that some time ago I drew attention to this great want, and the masters of vessels in the trade are continually agitating the subject. But our provincial antho rities appear utterly to ignore (lately) the existence of such places as Mahia and Wangawebi, and Long Point is terra incognita to honorable members. If it were possible <o get a (Councillor or two on board the Hudson or Herd in a "southerly burster," and let them peer amid Egyptian darkness, and showers of opposing sleet, for the wished-for haven —which is indistinguishable from the re«t, of the land at night, and to miss which, by even three hundred yards, is certain wreck on a precipitous and iron-bound coast, and too probable loss of life—then we might hope for the establishment of a buoy at the anchorage, or a light on the eminence of the point. Would it not be possible, Mr Editor, to persuade the Provincial Engineer or his aide to undertake the sea trip from Napier, aud make interest with the clerk of the weather to supply vvind quant, suff. to render an extension of the voyage unavoidable, as far as the point in question ? By that means, I fancy, we might be able to "kill two birds with identical missile," ie , demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Provincial Officer the advisability of a light being established, and on his arrival at Wairoa solicit him to take a last look— he saw them once before—at the melancholy ruins of our two bridges, fast hastening to utter decay, and becoming interesting to the antiquaiy as being co eval with the period when "Wairoa" was metamorphosed into "Clyde," and land was valuable htTeal}Ou,t»

Mr Bold arrived here on Friday evening last from Turanga, and started next day for Waikarimoana via Te Kapu.