IMPORTS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1772, 10 April 1874, Page 2

IMPORTS.

(A special charge is made on consignees' announcements inserted in this column.) Per Charles Edward, from Westport : 1 box gold. lOOloz 2dwt 12gr. From iNelson: Free aod duty paid— 2 qr-casks, 4 kegs, 1 cask, 30 cases, 17 bags oats, 1 box, 44 packages, 2 cows, 11 pigs, 4 trunks boots. EXPORTS. Per Kennedy, for Westpoit : 1 gig, 2 cases. For Nelson :23 tons coal.

The p.s Titan sailed for Hokitika yesterday afternoon ; and the s.s. Kennedy left for Weitport by the same tide. The p. 8. Charles Edward arrived alongside the wharf yesteiday at 3 p.m. She left Ne!son on Friday last, was detained at Westport, arriving at Hokitika on Wednesday ; left there yesterday, and arrived as above. , Up to the hour of going to press there was no word of the Claud Hamilton, but she may be fully expected to-day. The s.s. Waipara had not arrived at Hokitika from her southern trip when the Charles Edward left that port yesterday afternoon An immense trade iv timber is now being carried on from the Kaipara. Some idea of the magnitude of the business may be'formed from the fact that on Monday last there were two barques and two brigs lying at the Kopuru, and no fewer than three barques and one ship lying 30 mi'es lower down the river, waiting for a favorable wind to get out with full cargoes. — Southern Cross. Tho cruise of the Tuscarora, under the command of Captain Belknap, for the purpose of making geographical surveys of th Pacific Ocean, has thus far been successful, surveys having been made of the ocean bed for a distance of over one thousand miles from Cape Flattery, Washington territory. .The soundings taken in this distance, thirtyfour in number, indicate that the bottom of the Pacific Ocean is unlike that of the Atlantic Ocean between Newfoundland and Ireland. In the latter ocean the bottom is a comparatively level plateau, with gentle undulations .that form high mountains, although the ascents are so gradual that the bottom may be considered, for all practical purposes, level. In the Pacific Ocean, however, there is a submarine mountain 2400 ft in height, on which the grade of the eastern slope is 123 ft to the liueal mile. The greatest depth found in these surveys was 15,204 f t; the greatest . depth in the NewfoundlandIreland basin is 12,420fet. From the mountain above described to the last sounding, where the greatest depth was found, the grade is only 6ft to the lineal mile, which corresponds closely with the gradients of the Atlantic Ocean, described by Professor Huxley 88 so gentle that a carriage might be driven from shore to shore without the use j of the skid or brake. The character of the bottom of the ocean is of almost as much importance as the depth of water and the strength of currents. That of the Newfound-land-Ireland basin is a grey mud, consisting almost entirely of the skeletons of small marine animals, whose dried bodies also form the immense chalk-cliffs of Dover and the chalk formations of the Continent of Europe The bottom found in the Pacific surveys is described as " blue, black, and brown mud, with ooze and occasional mixture of gravel and shell " . An analysis of this mud may lead to important geological discoveries, and thus the cruise of the Tuscarora be made to subserve science as well as to further the material interests to be benefited by the laying of a Pacific cable. — Philadelphia Ledger.