OFF HARBOR IN 1853 AND BLUFF HARBOR IN 1863.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 11, 2 December 1863, Page 3

OFF HARBOR IN 1853 AND BLUFF HARBOR IN 1863.

Wo the Editor of the Invercargill Times.) Bib, — The following remarks, having refer|eto the past, present, and future, of the It of Bluff Harbor, may possibly be deemed jjtliy an insertion in your valued journal. 8 Yours truly, || Young BobHidlky. Was tmvns-b?p of Campbell town, or Bluff Hrbor, as the port is named, consisted in i< of the following builllincrs, -viz., the fltom-llouse, an iron building about 12ft »20ft ; a small hut used as a lock-up, and Hlencc for one constable ; a small wooden Hiling used as an accommodation house and H«n as the Argyle Hotel ; and some three j|our small huts or tenements, occupied aibout half-a-dozen Europe-ana, principally tiers, a pilot and custom-house olticer, and ■at a dozen half-castes. ahe shipping list, showing an average of ia! rivals coastwise quarterly, and an occaiil stock vessel, and affording but scanty ftloynient for the above-mentioned Govern- j H,t officials. Such was Bluff Harbor in the |rIBSS ; whilst in November, 18G3, we find. 1 i township to consist of a courtlie, giiol, and police barracks, Custom»e and post-office, immigration barracks, Iwlhouse and Schoolmaster's residence ; aiher with three buildings at the Point Inking to the Harbor department, a lied warehouse, two freestores, two general B;s, one butcher's shop, bakery, one shrefjiml general blacksmith's smithy, one boot a?, five hotels, one billiard room, three shipa and general agencj' offices, about a dozen H;ite houses, and fifteen or twenty tents — §c and small ; and a general store, shipfiidievy, and several pri-yate houses ate in hsv; of erection. The inhabitants number lit 200 males, 30 females, and 40 children, J)pc-.r->s ; and about 30 half-castes all told. the sftrpping list from Ist Oc'Lober to 25th [ember ISG.3, shows nine arrivals (foreign), pen ting a total of 5,300 tons register, of I'll nut:..--?, four were from Gieat Britain, I immigrants and cargo, anfl three from liourne, and two from Twofold Bay, with Ik. The following steamships (regular |ers,) have also 'called in from Mel|ne during the same period to land h and pnssen.gers, viz. : — Edina, Gothen- |'. and Aldinga, once; and the AlliamItwice. The coastwise return show1 37 vessels inwards, total 2725 tons Biter, exclusive of the Melbourne steamers ing on their return -from Dunedin to Melwne. The following vessels were in t lie ul'm the 25th of November, viz. : — Robert Ilerson and Bombay, from Glasgow ; i:iun, from South Seas ; Marian, from iiey ; and the Bom ie, Spec, "Wild Wave, liiim and Mary, Colleen AJawn, Isabella, Ahead, Struggler and Titania, from Inver:ll. The following vessels were hourly icted to arrive, viz. : — From Great an : Wit eh of the Tees, Edward Tliornhill pector, and Commodore Dalgarno ; from )ourne': .7ack ?rost and Vortigern ; and i Twofold Bay: Ashburton, New Great iin, Alecta, and T. E. Milledgc. tie telegraph which is to connect us with liCiirgill, Dunedin, and Canteibury, with is hole of the Northern Provinces of Ne^v i.md, has been commenced, and Avill be lied and at work befoie the end of the lent summer. 'We may expect that the I of the colonial traders will make the if their first port of call in New Zealand, i jjthe purpose of obtaining information ftcting the various markets. The Bluff I Invercargill Railway, the first sod of fill ivas turned on the 25th instant, is coni itly expected lo be finished in twelve ■:hs ; and our wharf, running 1 out to a 1; of fifteen feet of water at lowest tides, lie finished in a few months. Already aave a minature fleet of ballast, water, i icargo lighters, and watermen's boats, 1 Ih are manned by experienced and steady & I and worked at reasonable rates. Vessels fie ballasted and supplied with water at |r rates than are charged at Dunedin. jj.st general satisfaction is given by the |!y and caTeful manner in which stock is ■■<]. The only expense incurred by shipat the Bluff is the charge of threepence on, inwards and outwards, for pilotage. c Pilot and Polioe staff are efficient, and A will be shortly increased, as also will ,y lustums and Tost Office staff. >r ir only want is a steam-tug ; this want fed, and our telegraph, railway, and if in working order, we would advise our lo friends to look to their laurels. The plunders look with confidence to our >a if" "With the railroad to the Lake, and 10 jßluff as the first and last port of call for - Melbourne steamers, we shall not only , in, but maintain, an enviable position " c> J[!st the Provinces of New Zealand. ith respect to the Bluff as a port, when lied with a steam tug solely for the iise iis port, we do not think that even our ds of the Otago press will attempt to that the Bluff when favored with a tithe of the facilities enjoyed by Dunedin in :^J shape of an extensive Harbor Dejart- ' ,'U well buoyed harbor, and any number team tugs, is in any way inferior to the f™ Jarbor of Dunedin. True, we have not "^advantage of a serpentine and narrow ?lfccl, or a bar entrance with high and perlicular rocks on each side, but we have It outer anchorage the best of holding pd, to which any stranger to our port md bix way and obtain perfect shelter >. that very wind, that most prevails, and b takes him to his anchorage. Again, the — Del is perfectly strait,although not wider the channel to Tort Chalmers. But ?h— whilst endeavoring to do justice to Ist ie Bluff, we seek not to be unjust to com "ighhor ; satisfied that this port is the ; of »nd last port of call for Lhe Melbourne ired iers, and knowing that our Australian at a is are daily becoming alive to the absurof proceeding to Lake Diggings via esti din, when by so doing they add m^ nously to their journey. The disffio6 ; via Dunediu to the Dunstan 'k f One hundred and fifty miles, over hilly jpd roads, whilst, by landing at the Bluff, instance is one hundred and ten miles rlevel and good roads — and, in addition, :d« H-iig a saving of from sixteen to twenty • ■. the time occupied by the steamer in ing Dunedin fiom the Bluff. ffff Harbor, 27tli November.