Ilcto Zealand,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

REPORT OF THE BEACONS AND LIGHTHOUSES COMMITTEE.

The Select Committee of the House of Representatives, appointed on the 16th June, 10 require and report as to the expediency of establishing and maintaining any and what beacons and lighthouses on the coast of New Zealand, and as to the best means of providing for the maintenance thereof; and further, if any and what alterations may be desirable in the present system of harbour dues and regulations (such Committee to consist of Messrs. Rhodes, Cargill, Bartley, Picard, Mackay, Gledhill, E. J. Wakefield, Weld, and Major Greenwood) ; and i istructed on the 22nd June to enquire and report as to what steps have been taken with reference to the erection of a lighthouse at Port Nicholson, and as to the most practical means of erecting the same ; and further, instructed on the 29th June to enquire and report on alterations t and improvements which may be desirable in harbours, as well as in harbour regulations ; having considered all the documents relating to the subject, placed at their disposal by His Excellency's Government, and having examined such persons as were within reach of their summons, and as they thought it desirable to send for, have agreed to the following Report. Sources of Information. With regard to the Northern portion only of the Colony, your Committee have been able to obtain a considerable amount of evidence as to the expediency of establishing and maintaining lighthouses, beacons, &c., on the c oast; both because much information confined to those localities has been furnished by persons residing at the place of enquiry, and because the attention of Captain Drury, the officer in command of Her Majesty's surveying vessel on the coast, has been hitherto almost exclusively directed to that portion of the coast which extends from the northern point of Hawke's Bay by the North Cape to Kawia. But as to the harbours and coast of New Zealand south of these two points, your Committee have been necessarily precluded from obtaining such full information as they could have wished. Port Nicholson. Jn compliance with special instruction as to a lighthouse at Port Nicholson, your Committee, having duly inquired into and considered the matters referred to them, have ascertained the following facts.