MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4860, 19 October 1876, Page 7

MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT.

The annual report of the Marine department this year is exceedingly voluminions, and made more interesting than usual by the fact that Mr. Seed presents in the appendices a vast quantity of valuable information gained during his recent trip to England and America. It is stated that the cost in England of the apparatus for the six new lights ordered ■will be about £17,750. The works connected with these new lights have been delayed solely from want of a steamer to convey the materials to the various sites, and afterwards to keep up constant communication for the purpose of supplying provisions and stores, as well as for maintaining a proper supervision over the works. Several efforts were made to begin some of the works with the assistance of the Luna ; but, owing to the frequent demands for her services by other departments, it was found that she could not be relied upon to carry out to completion any work she might undertake in connection with the new lights. The department was therefore reluctantly compelled to suspend operations until the arrival of the lighthouse steamer Stella, now oo her way to the colony; the undivided services of which will enable the works to be pushed'- on without kdermptUm. Hitherto she department has been unable to f ! get parafSis oil owing to shipping firms having declined' to carry it eotcept on deck at shippers’ Ankr- However this difficulty has now been Meswst Henderson and CJo, having agreed" to- carry the off as ordinary cargo. The amount reCeSVed m account of light du»s during the year amounted to £11,<39 2a. dd : . v licihri £1197 fe, V'A, With than was collected- during the year ended 30th June, 1875, and Al2of ICkfi more than the amount (S/>\ -H 3».- Sd'.-)- expenderj on the maintenance of iigithcuses during the past year. The total amount received from Ist July, 1833, to the VXti 'Stmt feet, for figl.t dues in excess of cost for maioter.aoce of fights, amounts to £25,142 3d., which ttotti may properly he regarded as a suhetatitlal etMttft/atlm towards the cost of the new' fights sow about to be erected, f/yrisg the last year a survey o{ a shoal off 'SCit/tt*MiswAt&, and of that part of the coast between ffape fr/ulwind and the Boiler, was ma/le by Oaptate Johnson, of tide department; awl the result of the survey has since been added to the charts by the Hydrographer to the Admiralty, An examination of part of the coast line near-Jackson's Bay was also begun, hut twing to the Luna having to return to Wellington, this work had to remain unfinished. Certificates have been Issued to 104 candidates, 55 of these being masters and mates, and engineers of sea-going steamers; the remainder were issued to masters and to engineers of river steamers. The Board of _ Trade Regulations for the Issue of colonial certificates of competency, under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869, have been recently altered, to the advantage of colonial officers. Instead of requiring that a man should have been domiciled in one colony for a period of three years immediately preceding his application to bo examined, three years’ domicile, during not more than five years preceding his application, in any one or more of the Australian colonies is now only required. During last year certificates have been granted to 108 steamers, with an aggregate tonnage of 9265/ and horse-power of 3590; being 12 more steamers, of 1963 tons and 581 horse-power, than had certificates last year. During the past year 107 casualities were , reported to this office; of those, 95 occurred at or near the coast of the colony, and 12 at sea. Of the casualities that occured on or near the coasts of the colony, 30, of a tonnage of 2534, were total wrecks; 60, of .»tonnage of 0247,

were partial losses, and 6 were cases •floss of lifoonly. ' - f ’ * 1 ’ ' ' The naval training school at Kohimarama continues to work satisfactorily. There were 80 boys on the books on the 30th June. Ihe boys looked cheerful and healthy, and many of them were making good progress in school. After school the boys work in the garden, or at any light employment they can be put to about the place. The school is pleasantly situated near the waters of the Waitemata, in a bay facing the entrance to that-beauti-ful harbor, and distant ‘from Auckland about four miles by water and nine miles by land. The buildings are commodious, and well adapted for the purposes of the institution ; comprise a large hall, one half of which is Btted up with bunks and used as a dormitory, and the other half as a schoolroom ; a smaller building, part of which is used as an hospital, and the remainder for quarters for the seamen instructors and cook ; and a large stone building, in which the boys take- their meals; The lease for a term of fourteen * years from the 4th April, 1873, for the school station and the old mission schooner Southern Cross, has been signed by the Trustees, and by hi • Excellency the Governor on-behalf of the Queen, - The annual rental to be paid is £IOO, together with cost of insurance - on’ the buildings and schooner, which amounts to -about £6O. The area of land attached to the buildings was only acres. This was found to be too small to allow-of the school being satisfactorily and economically 'A lease of an- additional piece of land adjoining the school, of 24 acres,’was purchased at a cost of £200; and the Trustees of the Melanesian Mission kindly granted a new lease, with the same currency as that for the school, at the moderate rental of £32 per annum.’ There is a house on this , property, which : affords comfortable quarters for the manager and his family; the land is turned to profitable account for grazing, and for raising crops of potatoes and other vegetables for the use of the school. Numerous tables are appended, from which it appears that the total cost of maintaining lighthouses dining the year was £5144. Speaking of the Trinity Board, Mr. Seed says :—The Trinity Board have eight steam tenders or “Trinity yachts,” as they are called, five paddle and three screw, each carrying a steam launch : the largest of these yachts is the Galatea, of 506 tons gross ; their newest vessel is the Stella, , of 149 tons, built recently by Seath, of the Clyde ; this vessel, when tried at the measured mile under steam and canvas, attained a speed of 15 miles an hour; her ordinary speed is 10 knots an hour. She has compound engines, and burns 5 cwt. of coal an hour. I was told by the Superintendent of Trinity Wharf, who has been thirty-two years in the service (including ten: years as master of one of. the Trinity steamers), that the Stella was in every respect their handiest and beat vessel. .She is about the - size of theoneitis intended to procure fortheNew Zealand lighthouse service, tenders for which had not been called for when I left London. I accordingly irirote to the Agent-General and suggested that he should procure full particulars of the Stella from the Trinity Board, and invite tenders for the building of a similar vessel. I did this because I considered that a vessel of this kind, which had good speed on a low consumption of coal, was an excellent sea boat, and had been fitted with every necessary appliance which long experience cauld suggest, was sure to be well suited for our use ; besides, in adopting the Stella as a model, there would be a greater; degree: of certainty of our procuring a good serviceable boat, . than if we adopted the most carefully prepared plan by a person not practically acquainted with the requirements of the lighthouse service.