PORT CHALMERS.—JUNE 19.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 186, 20 June 1862, Page 4

PORT CHALMERS.—JUNE 19.

Wind at noou, N.W., light breeze. Weather, dose ami cloudy. Barometer, 29.00; Thermometer, 05. High water on the 20th, at Port Chalmers, 9.5 a.m., and 9.29 p.m.; at Dunediu an hour later. ARRIVALS. Nil. DEPARTURES. Lyttelton, p.s., Toomey, for Waikouaiti, goods and passengers. U. F. Beeby, agent. EXPECTED ARRIVALS. From Melbourne, Benjamin Ileape, General Jeisop, Jane, Ynrra. From London—Escort, sailed April 22; Planter, Bombay, Romulus, loading_ on April 26. From Liverpool, Ab.lul Medjid, sailed April 7. From the Clyde-Flying Mist, Nelson, loading on April 23 ; Grasmere, to sail April 30. PROJECTED DEPARTURES. Abbot Lawrence, for Melbourne, early Camilla, for Sydney, June 21 Cecilia, for Lyttelton, June 19 William Buchanan, for Newcastle, June 21 Gottenlmrg, for Melbourne, June 26

VESSELS IN POUT. Warren Goddard, britr, from Norfolk Island Rebecca, schooner, tVom-Mmuikau Sebim, schooner, from Melbourne Prompt, schooner, from Auckland United Brother*, schooner, fnnn Melbourne Dunediri, s.-hoouer, Irom Wellington Indus, barque, from Newcastle Camilla, barque, from Newcastle Sea Breeze, barque, from Melbourne Omega, barque, from New .Bedford, U.o. Wm.'BuchaiiiHi, barque, from Melbourne Success, schooner, from Melbourne Streamlet, schooner, from Melbourne Balcombe Castle, schooner, from Auckland Zambia, sfiip, from Glasgow Canterbury,'schooner, from New River Black Swan, ship, from Melbourne Picaixl, schooner, from Hobait Town Colchester, brig, from AiU-laida Abbot Lawrence, ship, from Meibourna Evelina Butter, schooner, from Melbourne Whitehnren Lass, barque, from London ■ Tamnr, schooner, from tlobart Town Cincinnati, harque, from Newcastle \V. B. Dean, schooner, from Melbourne Valiant, bripr, from Melbourne x Fox, schooner, from Sydney Mary Ann, brig, from Hobart Town

The City of Hobarfc took 123 passengers to Melbourne yesterday, the Ahiinga 4i, and the Queeu 13. The Lord Worsley has teen flying her blue peter all day but, up to this hour (4 p.m.) has not sailed forthe Bluff. Seven of the seamen belonging to the barque Whitehaven Lass, were yesterday removed to Dunedin gaol to undergo eight weeks' Jinrd labor, according to the sentence of the Kesident ■ Magistrate, Port Chalmers, for a refusal to do duty. The men had appeared against the captain on the previous day, in connection with a charge of bad provisions and want of sugar, and afterwards refused to go on board. In the cases against the captain, the charge of had provisions was dismissed, and the want of sugar punished by a fine of 20s. and costs, in two instances. The Great Eastern was removed from the gridiron on the 16th of April, and steamed oft" to TVlilford prandlv. She was beached in February last, for the purpose of fixing- the new paddle-wheels and completing other repairs. The ship, it is said, has now been rendered as perfect in all respects as money, experience, and forethoiijrht can make her. The additional strength imported into the new paddle-wheels and stern-post will, it is hoped, render a recurrence of the disaster of^Septcmher last almost, impossible. In tiie saloon and state rooms many improvements have been made. She is to .leave Milibrd for New York early in May. Special arrangements have ben made with the various railway companies to convey passenprere nnd their friend.* to the port of departure at reduced rates. On Wednesday morning, after the gale had subsided, the f chooner Fox. which had drifted on to the island in the neighborhood of I'ovt Chalmers, was got off the rocks by the steamer Samson, without any difficulty, and was at once towed up to town. From the ease with which, the vessel was removed, and the trifling quantity of water which she is making, it is supposed that she has sustained no very serious damage. The same vessel had previous experiences of the shore, having1 been for eighteen months high nnd dry in a field adjoining the lliver Maitland, where she drifted during a heavy flood ; but she U built of a description ot wood which enables her to stand a con siderable amount of tear a nf! w».:ir.

.In anticipation of an i.:ci':u;« "if tiaiiic to iliu; port it is highly necessary that two things should be done so as to expedite public business and at the same time afford security to the revenue. Of these two things one is to del-lnre Port Chalmers or the Heads a boardiusr station, so that all vessels entering the port should be boarded by the Clearance Officers at one specific place. At present Port Chalmers is not officially declared ns a boarding station, and it is not incumbent upon captains to await clearance if proceeding to town. As the Heads are not very convenient for the residence of a staff of officials, Port Chalmers might legitimately bo appointed the station for this purpose; but there is further provision wanted, viz., the appointment of a Health Officer, to be resident at the Heads. At present all vessels come to their anchorage ground at Port Chalmers before they are boarded j and, although there is a tacit understanding with the pilots that inquiries shall be made as to whether there is disease on board a ship, there is really no proper regulation by which vessels may be declared free of. inftction or otherwise before they enter the crowd of vessels in the harbour. By the general regulations the most "■ 'elaborate means are taken to distribute disease through tha.community rather than prevent its introduction. .The law sis it stands is that " the_ Resident Magistrate and Health Officer, or a Medical Practitioner appointed for that purpose by the ltesident Magistrate, shall, upon receipt of the Harbor Master's report, visit the Vessel; and if they shall find that sny sickness of an' infectious or contagious nature exist on board of her, they shall submit the information to a Board, consisting of the Resident Magistrate and one or more Justices of the Peace, the superior Officer of Customs of the Port,' and the Health Officer or Medical Practitioner as aforesaid, to be convened for that purpose by the Resident Magistrate, ■which Board, or the majority of them, shall have authority to detain such Vessel in quarantinei until every symptom of the aforesaid disease has disappeared, .when the same Board, or the majority of them, have hereby power to release such vessel from quarantine, and admit her to pratique." The presence of a Health . Officer, at the Heads is the proper remedy for this most ridiculous arrangement, and it would, moreover, be the means of expediting the ready transmission of advices to and from shipping on their arrival which, after the opening of the telegraph, will be of the utmost importance to the public. There is a class of officials connected with the Customs' department, whose position is mosC deserving of amendment, their present salaries being quite out of keeping with the character of Government employment or the ordinnry demands upon income, in a colony where living is necessarily expensive. The officials referred to are the tide-waiters^ of whom an increased number is now employed, m consequence of the augmented trade of the place, but whose remuneration is quite inadequate to the amount and nature of their duties. They hold a position of trust, and one involving close attention to duty, and yet they are paid at a rate inferior to that given to almost any class of employ6s in the country.; Moreover, instead of being independent, as to some extent they should be, of all obligation to shipmasters or others, they Are absolutely at the mercy of those in charge of a

ship ; nniir though uiiially treated with the" respect and attention becoming their office, are in the position of representing a Government, subsistins in a measure off the generosity of ship-captains. Were it not for this, all the remuneration they receive would not nearly be sufficient for.the simple requisites of life. Some recent changes and improvements of salaries were made ia the Customs' department, and not before time ; but in these changes the tide-waiters were neglected, and the neglect is one so apparent that it is to be hoped it only requires proper representation to bring about an alteration more favorable to the •rentlemen employed, and more creditable to the Government.