PORT OF ONEHUNGA.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4355, 31 July 1871, Page 2

PORT OF ONEHUNGA.

Arrivals. Wellington, s.a., 292 tons, Kenndy, from Southern ports. Passengers — Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Misses Brown (2), Masters Brown (2), Mrs. and Master Hickson, Miss McLeod, Messrs. Isaacs/ Hampton, Wood ; and 15 in the steerage. — Combes and Daldy, agents.

Imposts. Per s.s. Wellington : From Dunedin — 1 octave whiskey, Murdoch ; 3 boxes, 1 carpetbag, Bishop Croke ; 1 truss, L. D. Nathan ; 1 case, P. A. Philips ; 3 cases, 1 bale, 1 cask, Kempthorne. Prosser, and Co. From Timaru —1 box, Marsh. From Lyttelton- -20 kegs butter, order ; 1 bag seed, A. Baird ; 175 sacks malt, order. From Wellington — 1 bundle wire, A. Sheath ; 1 tin case, H. Wrigg; 1 case, Chapman ; 3 cases, C. Bonnington ; 1 parcel, E. Wayte ; 1 case, Collector of Customs j 1 parcel, New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company j 7 cases brandy, Bucholz and Co. From Nelson — 1 parcel, F. Fenton; 2 bundles trees, C. Wrm ; I truss, T. Macky ; 50 bags malt, G. W, Binney. From Taranaki- 2 octaves rum, Cruickshank, Smart, and Co.; 6 empties, Seecombe and Son ; 6 oases, 6 kegs, T. Veale ; 1 case arms, Military Department ; 1 case plants, Henderson and Macfarlaue; 2 cases, 7 pieces metal, E. and H. Isaacs ; 6 cases, 1 case, R. M. Clarke.

The s.s. Wellington, from Southern ports, arrived in the Manukau yesterday. Captain Kennedy reports of the passage as follows : —Left Port Chalmere on the 18th instant, at 440 p.m., for Oamaru, arriving at 11.25 next morning, but owing to the heavy sea could not load cargo ; left again at 2 p.m., and arrived at Lyttelton the following morning. Sailed on the 21st for Wellington, and arrived ou the 22nd. Sailed for Picton on the 23rd ; called at Keenans whaling station to land oil casks, and reached Picton Wharf by 830 p.m. Lft next day at 12 30 a.m., arriving at Nelson on the 25th. Left again on the 27th, and arrived at Taranaki on the 29th, at 2 a.m. ; left again at 4.45 p.m. ou the 29 th, arriving as above. Experienced strong nor h-west winds on leaving Nelson, which increased to a heavy gale on opening out the Strait ; at 9 p.m., put back, and took shelter in Totaranui, remaining at anchor there till midday on Friday, the 28th, when the weather moderated. During the time the vessel lay off Taranaki the wind blew fresh fiom N.E , with heavy falls of rain, and cross-sea running inshore ; was only enabled to land part of the cargo. After leaving Taianaki, experienced westerly weather during that night in hard squalls, moderating towards raorning. We are indebted to Mr. Wheleer, the purser, for our Southern files. The s.s. Phoebe has again been placed on the trade between the Southern ports and the Manukau. She was announced to leave Wellington for Lyttelton aud Dunedin on the 27th. ! The s.s. Taranaki, hence, arrived at Taranaki on the 25ch.

Wreck or the Waterman. —The Greymouth Evi'uhxj Star of the 20th says :— "The recent g,de3, and unusually boisterous weather on the coast, resulted this morning in th«; wreck of the schoouer Waterman. The Waterman is reported to have left Melbourne on the 10th instant for this port, with a large cargo of merchandise. She reached the offing two clays ago, but owing to the heavy surf on the bar was unable to be towed in. The tempest increasing, she was compelled to put to sea, where she weathered it with one or two other crafts until this morning. After lying at anchor some little time, she was found to drag on her chains, and before she could be got to sea the break began to make a clean breach over her, and in about half an hour the Greymouth craft was high and dry about two miles north of the Hokitika bar. As may readily be supposed, the receipt of the intelligence in Greymouth caused considerable ! excitement, as several of the merchants had received part invoices, and others had a general knowledge or suspicion that sooi9 of the cargo had been shipped to their order.'' The schooner was the property of Mr. Coates, of Greymouth. Both ship and cargo were only partially insured. No lives were lost. The Broad Arrow says: — "If the distinction between the land service and the sea service was not very clear in the days of Howard and Essex, there is no mistake about it now. Not one officer in the Royal Navy was officially invited to be present at the wedding of the Princess Louise, or at the opening of the Eoyal Albert Hall. " It is plain ' there be land rats and there be water rats, 'as Shakespeare says, but why are water rats to be excluded from the society to which land rats are admitted ? The oversight, at least in the case of the Royal marriage, was a poor compliment to his Eoyal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. Let us hope that the invitations to the christening will be more impartially distributed." An order has been received at Sheerness Dockyard for the Challenger (just returned from the Australian station and. paid off) to be taken in hand at an early date, and to take precedence of the Barracouta, which is in dock repairing, and the Undaunted, which is also in dock undergoing examination for the preparation of an estimate for completion for sea service. — Broad Arrow. Launch of H.M.s. Snake and Scourge. — The Broad Arrow of April 1 says : — "Last Saturday afternoon there was a double launch at Chatham dockyard of the Scourge and the Snake, iron gunboats, which have been built id No, 6 slip. Their dimensions are : — Length between perpendiculars, 85ft. j extreme breadth, 26ft. lgin. ; burthen in tone, 244. The first plate was laid on the 26th of August, 1870, but the work was stopped for several weeks shortly after. They have no armour-plating, and the iron with which they are built is not more than jjin. thick in any part. Each vessel will carry one of the 18-ton guns, so that they will be able to cope with ironclad vessels, and be at considerable advantage ; for, while able to fira at a long range, so small a portion of the vessel will be above water that a very small object will be in view of the enemy. The sides of the vessels are only about two feet above the water, with bulwarks above about two feet high. The gun will be at the head of the vessel ; it will be completely under cover when-being loaded, and will only be lifted to be fired. The engines will give a great amount of speed, and the small draught of the gunboats will enable them to ascend very shallow rivers. "