PORT OF ONEHUNGA.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 4063, 30 August 1870, Page 2

PORT OF ONEHUNGA.

Arpjwls. — ArausT 29. Rangatira, s.s., 174 tons, Homier, from Tarauaki and South. Passengers : Mr. and Mrs. Knighfc and child ; ifis, Cowan, Mrs. MoNeill, Miss Ross; Mr^ri. L'haptur, Nancarrcnv, Hancock, Tait, KiyW, Hoskings, Bf 11, Leatlham ; and .°, iii the steerage. — Combes and Daldy, agents. Industry, schooner, 25 tons, Guudiy, from Waikato.— Master, agent.

Imporus. — Arot r 3T 20. Per 8.3. Rangatira, from Southern ports: From Wellington— 3 cases currants, Bueholz and G@ ; 18 kegs butter, order. From Whanganui — 1 cases stamps Stamp Office; 1 crate plants, Wren ; 3D kegs butter, L. "\V. Eaton ; 1 parcel, McLean ; 1 key butter. Li. W. Owen. Fiom Tanuiaki- 3 cases, A. Barnes ; 43 head cattle, 8 hoi&c*, 200 .shoep, AY. Bayloy. Per schooner Tndnafciy, from Waikato : ,1 ton Ijacon, .'59 bales llax, ',\ bales tow, Thomson ; 30 bales llax, 11 toua tow, .Sparyo.

ARRIVAL OP THE RANGATIRA. The s.s. Rangatira, Captain F. Uenner, arrived in the Manukau yesterday morning from Wellington and Taranaki, bringing a general cargo and several passengers.*" The following is Captain lienner's report of the passage :— Left Wellington at S p.m. on the 23rd; had valuable easterly weather dunng the passage, and arrived at Whanganni at 10 a,m, on the 24th. Left again at 8 p.m. on the 25th, and arrived at Taranaki at 11 a.m. on the ?6th. Pioceeded to Waitava Cay Bame evening, and entered the river at 10 a.m. on the following day, where she tcok on board a full cargo of stock, and left again at 930 a.m. on the 28th, with a light easterly wind. When off Ga.net Island the wind freshened into a strong gale, veering from N.N.E. to E.N.E., with thick ramy weather and heavy sea, which continued until arrival in the Manukau. Arrived alongside of Onehun»a Wharf at 11.30 a.m., and landed deck cargo at once. Since the Rangatira has passed into the hands of the new owners, she has received a thorough overhaul, and lias been cleaned and redecorated fore and aft, and in every respect made comfortable for passengers. It is intended to run thia vessel hence to Taranaki, Whanganui, Wellington, and Napier, and back, once every three weeks, conveying passengers to and from the latter port at tlie game rates as direct from Auckland, and to the intermediate ports at reduced rates. We are indebted to Captain Renner for our files of Southern papers.

The s.s. Stormbird is due in the Mauukau to-day from Whanganui, Taranaki, and Wellington. „. The schooner Industry, from Waikato, arrived in the Manukau yesterday morning, bringing a lai'ge cargo of flax and tow. The s.s. Rangatira will sail for Southern portß to-raomw.

A race has taken place between the steamers 'John Perm and Charles Edward, from Nelson to Whanganui. The Perm left one hour and ten minutes after the Charles Edward (which had a hundred tons of cargo on board), and arrived at the Whanganui bar, a distance of 108 miles, tea minutes before her rival, thus beating her by an hour and 20 minutes. — TaranaJd Herald. Some indication of the violence of a late gale in the North Sea is conveyed by the statement that two Leifch steamers, which l«ft German ports with large deck cargoes of ■heep, had about 1,000 head of stock washed from their decks. Captain J. K. Brown, of the brigantine Challenger (says the Courier), fell through the booby hatch into the hold — a depth of out 20 feet. Captain Brown sustained a fracture of the right thigh, besides a severe scalp-wound at the back of the head. JexBSBOS and Rapid Passages.— The Wellington Post, alluding to the missing WsXQ%k*, lays:— "Various surmises have

been formed as to the cause of her loss, but the most probable is that she struck on a mass of ice in the night and went down. This is a danger to which all homewardbound ships round the Horn are peculiarly liable. In daylight, the ice can bo seen and avoided, but, in these days of competition, shipmasters are bound to make rapid passages at all hazards, or else, like Othello, they find their occupation gone, and consequently they are obliged to carry on by night as well as by day. Could they afford time to go under easy sail at night, when in the proximity of ice, or to lie-to, much of the danger might be avoided ; but, under such a press of canvas as they generally carry, even if the ice is seen, it is often too late to enable the ship to clear it. Many vessels have disappeared, supposed to have been burned at sea or to have foundered, but we believe that in nine cases out of ten, if the truth were known, it would be found that vessels lost in high latitudes have come to at ief ou icebergs. Is it not possible th.it rapid passages can come to be accounted I secondary to safe ones, and that shipmasters might be able to dispense with ' carrying on ' while among ice ? " Deepening? Operations, Inner B\.r, Pour Adfmtdf.— -"Notice is hereby given that six (6) extia beacons have been diivcn at the edge of the cutting at present being made through tho inner bar. These beacons in common with all other red beacons are to be kept on the starboard side on entering the haibour. Notice is hereby given that on and after the Ist September, IS7O, the use of ilags at the Semaphore Signal Station, to denote the depth of water on tho inner bar, will be discontinued, and symbols as per enclosed phn. will be used to show the change of e*ch three (3) inches. Ska Signals — Sea signals are being improved almost as decidedly as land signals. A simple ami handy system of dash -ami-dot flash signals, for use at night when flags cannot be seen, has been introduced into the navy. The electric light, the lime light, and a peculiar lamp which burns petroleum vapour incited by a kind of blowpipe, .all have boon hied, and all are available under diverse circumstances, as well as Argand and other lamps. The principle is to give long Hashes ana <-horb Hashes the light being vi-iblo for a gi eater or less number of seconds ;\l a tune. Vaiious modes of applying opaque screens and other temporal y obstacle") Lave been adopted to i emulate tho alteinations of long and short Hashes; but, as hen once .id |usled, and propnly woiked, the long and Mioit Hashes are translated into nivtio.il wouls and phia-e;, by means of a dot-and-dash codebook. Two ships arc thus able to " speak ■with " each other at night ■when several miles apait; and an admiral commanding a fleet may be able to signal to ever}' point of tho compass at once, by using what 1 j called an "all lound" light. — All the Ymi Hound