THE SCHOONER ARIEL.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 18, 9 July 1842, Page 72

THE SCHOONER ARIEL.

To the Editor or th* Nblson Examines. Sir — Fancying a letter which appears in your paper of to-day, signed "R. Mulholland," master of the Ariel, is calculated to mislead the public, I beg to state a few facts with respect to the circumstance of the Ariel running herself on shore. In the first place, the master (Mr. Mulholland) had been here before, and was piloted into the harbour by James Cross, who carries , a certificate to say that " he has the confidence <of the New Zealand Company." The schooner was run on shore on the beach just at daylight, within 200 yards of the high water mark, without any lead going. Whether the loss of property alluded to by Mr. Mulholland is from landing his pigs without precaution to prevent their straying, or from his having gone round Cape Farewell in search of Nelson Haven, causing his voyage to be lengthened more than a fortnight, I cannot tell; but I presume it must have arisen from one of these causes. With respect to William Claringbold, the man who offered himself to the Ariel as pilot, I can only state that he was once in the employment of the Company as a boatman, that he was bred at Deal, and has probably occasionally taken a ship into the Downs ; but that I have never assumed the authority of the Government in granting anything like a license to pilots, although I nave been for a long while convinced of the great necessity of their being placed under the control of the law, both for the security of vessels and property, a 9 well as for their own protection ; and it is not surprising that accidents happen under the present state of things, when upwards of fifty vessels, amounting to more than 10,000 tons, have entered this port and its anchorages in the space of a few months, and where it has never been denied, but frequently asserted, that pilots were necessary. Regarding the price of pilotage, it is my opinion that it should be for this port 7s. 6d. a foot for vessels drawing less than ten feet, and above that draught 10s., under certain regulations with respect to the fitness of pilot-boats, and to the place where the vessel should be boarded, and exemptions to coasters from the obligation of taking a pilot. It may be said that so high a price will deter vessels from coming to the port, and will give the harbour a character for intricacy. Accidents will have a much worse effect. It is well known that, from the number of accidents at Port Phillip, before proper pilots were established, the Government of New South Wales found it necessary to pass an Order of Council to increase the charge for pilotage 50 per cent., since which the navigation of the port has been carried on with security to its trade. I am, sir, Your obedient servant, Arthur Wakefislo. Nelson Haven, July 2.

Pastoral Pursuits. — I have mentioned that Australia is not a country fitted for agriculture. This arises not so much from the poverty of the soil, which in some places is sufficiently rich, as from the dryness of the climate; and this dryness is caused not so much by the small quantity of rain that falls, as by the unequal distribution of that quantity throughout the year, and throughout periods of years ; deluges of rain being often followed by long-continued droughts. If the actual quantity of rain fell regularly and seasonably, agriculture might, in many places, succeed as a pursuit, where it is now only carried on as subsidiary to grazing, and where it is only possible to carry it on in this way. In the course of time, however, when capital accumulates beyond what can be profitably invested in grazing, this irregularity may be partly remedied, in many places, by irrigation. Large tracts of land may in this way be rendered productive, which are now consigned to sterility. In India land is irrigated by water raised from wells. In New South Wales the nature of the country is such, that large tracts of land might be irrigated by constructing dams, and conducting the water to the fields in canals. Such operations, however, on a large scale, will not be profitable in the present stage of the colony. For many years to come it will be more profitable for the colonists to devote their principal attention to the grazing of sheep and cattle, in which they have advantages over all the other nations of the world, and to import all the grain they require, except what is grown in those localities that are favourable to its cultivation, such as the alluvial banks of the rivers in the vicinity of the coast. — Resources of Australia. At a lecture recently delivered at the Cadogan Literary and Scientific Institution, it was stated that the fires in London for the last five years amounted to 2,404 ; of which 759 were accidental and partly uncontrollable. Of the above list it was shown that 330 had occurred from defective and stopped-up flues ; 363 from candles setting fire to bed and window curtains ; and 141 from fire heat applied to various trades and manufactures. Reading. — Reading furnishes the mind only with the materials of knowledge ; it is thinking makes what we read ours. We are. of the ■ruminating kind, and it not enough to cram ourselves with a great load of collections ; unless we chew them over again, they will not give us strength and nourishment. — Locke. That gentleness which is characteristic of a good man, has, like every other virtue, its seat in the heart. In that unaffected civility which Springs from a gentle mind, there is a charm 'infinitely more powerful than' all the studied meaner* of the most finished courtier. — Blair.