SHIPPING.

Evening Star, Issue 16627, 9 January 1918, Page 1

SHIPPING.

' HIGH WATER. To-Moauow. Taiaroa Head : —* a.m., 12.24 p.iu. Port Chalmers : 0.38 a.m., 1.4 p.m. Dunedin : L 8 a.m., 1.34 p.m. .THE SUN. Sets to-dav, 7.54 p.m.; rises to-morrow, 4.36 a.m. PHASES OF THE MOON. New moon Jan. 13 10.6 a.m. First quarter Jan. 20 2.8 a.m. Full moon Jan. 27 2.44 p.m. Last quarter Feb. 4 7.22 p.m. Sets to-day, 4.23 p.m.; rises to-morrow, 1.18 a.m. WEATHER REPORTS. The Government Meteorologist (Rev. D. C. Bates) supplied the following weather reports at 9 a.m. to-day : T) avi nr. .ii.

vVind.—L, light; hr, breeze; f b, fresh breeze; mg, moderate gale; g, whole or heavy gale; vv, gale of exceptional severity. Weather.—B, blue sky, be the atmosphere clear or heavy; G, clouds, passing clouds; D, drizzling rain; F. foggy; G, gloomy, dark weather; H, hail; L, lightning; M, misty ; 0, overcast, the whole sky covered with thick clouds; E, passing showers; Q, squally; R. rain, continued rain; S, snow; T, thunder; U, ugly, threatening appearance; Z, hazy. Forecast. The Government Meteorologist (Rev. D. C. Bates) supplied the following at noon to-day : —Moderate easterly winds, backing to north; cloudy to overcast; mild and hazy conditions; glass has a falling tendency; tides and sea moderate. EXPECTED ARRIVALS. Kotare, from Stewart Island, this day. Corinna, from Wellington, January 10. John, from Wanganui via ports, Jan. 10. Te Anau, from Auckland, January 12. Putiki, from Wellington. January' 13. Portland, scow, from Auckland, Jan. 14. Breeze, from Lyttelton, January 14. Calm, from Wanganui viaports, Jan. 16. Kaifangata, from Westport, January IS. Storm, from Lyttelton, January Id Monowai, from Auckland, January 20. PROJECTED DEPARTURES. Kaituna, for Bluff,•Auckland, this day. Kotaro, for Bluff, Invercargill, Jan. 10. John, for Wanganui via ports, Jan. 10. Corinna,. for New Plymouth, Jan. 11. Breeze, for Wanganui via ports, Jan. 14. Putiki, for Wellington via ports, Jan. 14. Te Anau, for Auckland, January 14. Calm, for Wanganui via ports, Ja.u. 15. Storm, for Wangaoui via, ports, Jan. 16. Kaitangata, for Bluff, January 17. Monowai, for Auckland, January 22. The Kaituna is expected to leave Dunedin to-night for Bluff, Oarnaru, and Timaru. She will load at those ports for Auckland. , The coastal steamer John is expected to leave Timaru to-day for Dunedin. She should arrive here to-morrow, and is fixed to sail to-morrow night with general cargo for Oarnaru, Wellington, and Wanganui.' The Breeze is due at Wellington on Friday from Gisborne, and is expected j to sail the same day for Dunedin direct. She should arrive here on Sunday, and is fixed to sail on Monday for Timaru, Lyttelton, Picton, and Wanganui. The steamer Calm is expected to leave Wanganui to-morrow’for Lyttelton, Bluff, and Dunedin. She is due Imre about Jam nary 15, and is fixed to sail the sanie day for Timaru, Lyttelton, Wellington, and Wanganui., The Kahika is due at Westport to-mor-row from Port Chalmers. The vessel has been fixed to load coal at the West Coast port for Wellington instead of Port Chalmers. The Kaitangata was delayed at Onehunga yesterday owing to a shortage of railway trucks. She is now expected to leave the Manukau port to-day for Westport, where she will load coal for Dunedin and Bluff. The Kowhai left Wellington at 8 last night with general cargo for New Plymouth. She will afterwards go to Greymouth to load coal for Wellington, The Kini arrived at Westport at 6 p.m. yesterday from Wellington. She will sail to-day for Greymonth, where she has been fixed to load coal for Wellington. The Kittawa cleared Westport at 4 a.m. to-day "with a cargo of coal for discharge 'at Timaru and Oarnaru. Tire Kokiri is expected to leave Westport to-morrow morning with a carmi of coal for Wellington. ° The weather is fine at Greymonth today, with a smooth sea running on the bar. ■ A moderate sea is running on the Westport bar. . Pile Monowai, which has been engaged in the ferry service for the past three weeks, left Lyttelton at 8.30 last night for Wellington. She will leave the latter port to-morrow afternoon for Napier, Gisborne, -and Auckland. ’ The Kararau arrived at Greymonth at 4 a.m. to-day from Lyttelton. She' is now loading a cargo of coal for discharge at Bluff. 6 According to a Wellington exchange, the Union Company’s steamer Mapourika is still heki up at Wol]ing ton owing to a shortage of firemen. From inquiries made on Monday morning, there does not appear to be much chance of the vessel , resuming her running in the meantime. The Corinna left Wellington late last night for Dunedin direct. ' She is due here to-morrow morning, and is fixed to sail to-morrow evening for Oarnaru, Timaru, Lyttelton, Wellington, Nelson and New Plymouth. The Government steamer Hfnemoa left Wellington on Monday morning on a round trip to the northern and West Coast lighthouses. ‘ j The steamer Himitangi was due at Wellington yesterday from the Chatham Islands and Lyttelton. She is to leave Wellington to-morrow or Friday for Westport to load coal for the Chatham Islands. At a meeting of the Waimakariri Harbor Board on Monday night the harbor master reported that the approximate depth of water on the bar was 7ft Sin to Bft, and recommended that the notice board warning owners of launches against mooring at the pontoon should be shifted to the staging, so that launch owners could seo it. The report was adopted. It was rumored in Wkmganui lust wcell that the Wanganui Harbor Board were considering the advisability of chartering the Auckland Harbor Board’s dredge. Cn being asked by a ‘ Herald ’ reporter if the statement was correct, Mr A. G. Btenell, chaiman of the Wanganui Harbor Board, said : “We have never thought of such a tiling. Besidjes, the dredas is not jßuitable foj isssk ** "

The Rosamond is due at Napier to-day. from Dunedin and Timaru. She will afterwards visit Gisborne, and after discharge 'there will proceed to Wellington to load for Bluff. During 1917 a total of 557 vessels entered the port of Greymouth, while 524 left the port. In December the number entering was 44, and the number clearing 49. Aii examination was made of the tanks of tie collier Ngahere at Wellington on Saturday last to see if she had sustained any damage when she touched a rock at Sinclair Head a week ago. The examination revealed no damage. The vessel left Wellington on Monday for Greymouth. . THE FERRY SERVICE. The Mararoa arrived at Lyttelton at 9 a.m., and connected with the second express for the south. TE ANAU DUE ON SATURDAY. The Union Company advise that the Te Anau, which arrived at Wellington yesterday from Auckland "and Lyttelton, is ■■fixed-to leave the northern port tomorrow for Lyttelton and Dunedin. She is due here on Saturday, and will discharge a large quantity of general cargo. The vessel is timed to sail on. Monday next with general merchandise for Lyttelton and Auckland. MEN AFLOAT AND ASHORE. Captain F. W. Jackson, t«Jio has been on holiday leave in Australia; is returning Zealand to resume command of a Union steamer. Captain A. H. Davey, who has bqen ashore on holiday leave, has resumed command of a Union steamer, relieving Captain D. Ritchie, who has come ashore. Captain G. Lambert has taken command of the Karamu. Mr T. J. Morrison has been appointed second officer of a Union steamer. Mr A. Finlayson has reverted to third officer of the same steamer, Mr Griffiths joining another steamer as third officer. Mr J. 8. Sangster lias joined a Union steamer as third officer. Mr F. S. Songster is at present ashore at Sydney awaiting orders. Mr W." R. Roid, late third officer of the Corinna, has joined the Maori in a similar capacity. Mr Georgeson has joined the Corinna as third officer. Mr Levit, purser, has joined a Union Company's intercolonial cargo steamer. Captain C. Vendors has taken command of the scow Magic at Wellington. DREDGING AT GISBORNE. Tile weather conditions have been unsuitable for dredging purposes at Gisborne during the past two or three weeks, with the result that the dredge Maui has only been • able to work at the harbor entrance on two occasion* (says tda ' Poverty Bay Herald '). . Last Wednesday night the dredger put In some work at mouth, but was obliged to disoontiiiut on Thursday morning. The vessel was then brought into the streama and rested on. a mud bank, where she now lies. There is only 3ft 6iu depth at the entrance to the inner harbor, and the diannel also is "very shallow in places. The dredger John Townley is expected to be in commission within the next thr-*-. weeks, after an enforced idleness of £9JK&3t iiino months. ACCIDENTS ON THE WATERFRONT The New Zealand Waterside Workers' Federation a.t the recent conference iesolved : "That, in the opinion of the conference the most practical way of dealing with the question of accidents on the waterfront would be for the Minister of Marine to set up a board of inquiry, such board to consist of three persons—one to be nominated by the waterside workers, one by the employers, and one by the Marine Department; such board to take evidence in all ports, examine witnesses, etc., as to why these' accidents- occur." The resolution has been communicated to the Minister of Marine (the Hon. T. i\l. Wilford). FOR RAPID CONSTRUCTION. The construction of standardised ships of steel at the rate of more than one a day is advocated by a writer in the ' Iron Age,' a leading American technical publication. The plan, as described, is to build the ship hull in sections, each a casting as large as conditions will allow, and weld the castings together electrically by an arc method. One casting might constitute the bottom of the vessel for a section of Bft in the dimension lengthwise of the ship, another casting would form practically one side of the hull for that section, and a third the corresponding side opposite; a fourth casting would form part of the deck framework of the stiffening between the upper part of the sides. By observing in the welding that the steel is not allowed to get beyond the plastic stage in the heating and that inanganese is supplied through the soldering rods it is claimed that the resultant welded joint has 125 per cent, of the strength of the casting itself. This shipbuilding project, it is declared, could product 6,000,000 tons of shipping per year. OVERSEA SHIPPING FREIGHTS. With reference to the recently-an-nounced increases in oversea shipping freights, Mr A. W. Bimnett, general man-, yger of the New Zealand Shipping Company and a member of the Oveaseas Shipping Committee, has informed a .' Lyttelton Times' reporter that the prevalent impression, that the shipping companies participated in the advance on freight rates was quite incorrect. All overseas freight* were collected by the Government, who paid the companies only for the hire of shipping. The reason for th» advance was that over nine-tenths of. the cargo and produce affected were the property of the Imperial Government, ar».J the charging of freights was mainly a departmental matter, or a matter of bookkeeping only. The cost of sending vessels Home had increased enormously, us the passage now occupied from 60 to 70 days, as compared with 40 to 45 days under normal conditions. Most of the produce affected was owned by the Government, but tallow, a line which was held privately, was one that would also be affected. About 30,000 to 40,000 casks were at present held /in the Dominion awaiting shipment. SALE OF'SIX STEAME.is.iS. In the 'Shipping Sales,' in the September issue of Fairplay,' the sale was reported of six steamers, aggregating, about tons deadweight and averaging nine years of ago, to Mr A. Munro Sutherland, for slightly over £ll per ton deadweight. Tins price marks a considerable fall in the value of tonnage—much more than would be justified by the sale of the six steamers in one lot. 'When, however, the price is compared with what is being offered paid for foreign tonm««e, the comparison is almost ludicrous. For instance, in September last, a foreign steamer of 5,800 tons deadweight, built in 1892, and overdue for her second No. 3 survey, was sold for £330.000. If the six steamers above referred to had been sold en the same basis and without taking • any account of the fact that on the average they are 16 years younjrer. they, would have fetched about £2.223,000, instead of about, £430,000 or £440,000. SHIPPING TELEGRAMS. WELLINGTON, January ■ 8.-10.45 p.m., Corinna, for Dunedin.

(F°x gantinnalann.jsae Late Shipping,)

Auckland—N.E., f Bar. Ther. Weafch. ... 30.01 67- C Napier—N.E., 1 ... 50.20 67 0 Wellington—N., br ... 30.17 70 0 Westport—N._. 1 ... 30.16 70 BC Gre ymonth—N., 1 ... 30.12 67 BC Bealey—S. W., 1 ... 30.21 64 0 Christchurch—Calm ... 30,06 70 BC Timaru—E., 1 ... ... 30.05 67 C Oamani—E., 1 ... ... 30.02 68 0 Dunedin—E., 1 ... „. 29.95 60 BC Queenstown —Calm ... 30.02 71 0 Nuggets—S.E., 1 Bluff-—Variable, 1 ... 30.08 59 Z ... 30.04 62 cz Pt. Chalmers—N.E. , 1 30.08 67 B C Hoxbnrgh—S.E., 1 ... 29.90 65 BC Invercargill—Calm ... 30.13 63 C Naseby—Calm ... ... 28.05 64 C Pembroke—Calm ... 29.50 73 BC Balclutha—Calm 72 B Clyde—Calm 1 V; v.! r Li ... — 76 BC