NEW WHALING VENTURE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4916, 23 December 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEW WHALING VENTURE.

(From the Auckland Star.) About a fortnight ago there was an article in our columns advocating the re-establishment of a whaling association in Auckland. We now hear that the gentlemen who have been most intimately concerned in the recent successful cruise of the Magellan Cloud are endeavoring to prosecute the fishery on a much more extensive scale. As the cultivation of this' industry is of the utmost importance to Auckland, we have great pleasure, in making public the scheme which Mr. James Macfarlane and Mr. Ford are launching. It is intended to start an association with a capital of £IO,OOO. A regular company will not however be formed, nor will the shares be of any stated value. The subscribers will be allowed to put any sum they like into the venture, and their share of the profits will be in proportion to their investments. The association—we simply use this term for want of a better, not as conveying any other than the most general meaning—is to place the management of its affairs in the hands of a competent agent, who will be allowed to act on his own discretion and without any appeal to the shareholders, whose safeguard will be the integrity of the man they choose for the position, and the condition that he shall be largely interested in the success of the undertaking. It may not be generally known that almost all the New Bedford whalers are managed on this principle; and to produce an illustration nearer home, we see the same system employed with conspicuous success by the gentlemen who own the steamers lona, Argyle, and Kowena, whose movements are under the sole control of Captain A. McGregor. When once the required capital is subscribed, it is intended to purchase the Magellan Cloud and a barque of about 250 tons. The two vessels will be fitted out, and during *'the hurricane season will work together. When after sperm whales the Magellan Cloud would go to the line where the smaller fish are met with, and the larger vessel would mostly remain in the neighborhood of the French Rock. But although this will be the general plan of operations, it is not intended to control the actions of (the captains of the vessels any more than the action of the agent. The great idea will be to get thoroughly ablo officers, and then leave them unfettered to make use of their experience. We are informed that it is erroneous to suppose the Ma-gellan-Cloud is too small for a whaler. On the contrary, when her masts have been strengthened she will prove a most useful vessel. It is stated that during her stay at Tanga, one «r two large barques offered to work with her in shares, but Captain Irwin declined, the reaßon being that the Magellan Cloud was found more handy than the larger ships for running down to meet the boats when they were towing in a whale. While the barques were afraid to weigh anchor among the rocks, the Magellan would trip hers when the boats were coming up to leeward, and sometimes save her boatmen a heavy pull of several miles. Captain Logan, of the s.s. Hero, is now negotiating for the purchase of an exactly suitable companion vessel in Sydney. Whether Auckland or the Bay of Islands will be head-quarters of the association is not a question of very great importance, for in any case the principal portion , of the stores and outfits would have to be procured here. We presume the project will receive further publicity in a few days.