EXPECTED ARRIVALS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1836, 24 June 1874, Page 2

EXPECTED ARRIVALS.

Kennedy, from Nolson. Wallace, from Nolson. Murray, from Nelson. Spray, from Lyttelton. Alhambra, from Nelson, &c. Wild Duck, from Lyttelton. Tararua, from Melbourne. Omeo, from Melbourne. Otago, from Melbourne. Zephyr, from Melbourne. VESSELS IN PORT. Janet Grey, from Wellington.

The s.s. Waipara is in about as favorable a position for launching into the still water of the lagoon as could be hoped for, and the work of getting her ou her sea-legs again should not be very difficult. At the time we visited her yfsterday afternoon, about two hours before high, water, she was broadside on to the beach, and there was the probability that she would be hoisted by the next tide further up the beach. Everything portable, except a few bags of coal and the ordinary utensils of the vessel, had been sont ashore, and there is nothing left but her hull and machinery to lift. Her propellers were unshipped, and hawsers were placed from both fore and aft to anchors on the shore, so as to keep her in her present position, which is considered to be the best for her overland journey. It unfortunately happens that just immediately opposite to the vessel the beach is much more than usually high— in fact there is a sort of step about sft above high watermark, which will either have to be cut away or extra expense incurred in raising the ways up to that level ; and in the additional power required to haul the vessel up. The hull does not appear to have suffered any damage. It is said that some small strain is observable amidships, but we failed to observe it, and tbo tight little steamer appeared to be entirely unscathed Tbe contract for launching her has been let to Mr J. Kilgourfor the sum, we understand, of I 500. The w«rk cou & not possibly have been put into better han Is, ana we wisl- h-nh him and the owners of the vessel every success, We regret to learn that the Borough Surveyor has expressed the deliberate opinion that permission should not be given to cut away any portion of the crown of the beach at the place where the Waipara is stranded. He fears that if the surface is tampered with in any way, the next flood may cause the river to make a clean sweep out to sea across the lagoon, and thus damage, if not destroy the port. Should the Borough Council confirm his objections, it will be necessary to haul the steamer clean over the crown of the beach. There seems to be every probability of her being got into her native element before many days The Auckland Star says that intelligence has been received nf the wreck of the Auckland schooner Jessie near the lule of Palms. The vessel sank with everything on board. . The crew, however, escaped in the boats, and after five days' privation were picked up by the French man-of-war, and brought to Noumea. Our contemporary adds the following remarks :--"The schooner will be remembered as the one that was run away with and brought to Auckland, and was purchased at auction by Combes and^Dalby. who sjilt aef-ncr'iijtixrjfLaß vesseJTTjeing claimed by the rightful owner, who had been left on one of the South Sea Islands by his crew. The vessel was condemned by nautical men here as unseaworthy, and it was considered a shame to permit her to leave the port. She was uninsured. " Two hundred and seventy-two tons of shell have been brought into P.oeburne this season, and their value on the' spot is estimated at about L 45.000. This is calculating at LI 7O per ton, but the London price ranges as high as L 240 per ton. A very old and well-known custom has lately been revived on this coast by Chinamen. Small figures of Joss, in metal or stone, are placed in the living pearl oyster, and, acting as a foreign substance, produce irritation, and are in time coated with a pearly substance secreted by the fish. Most pearl when divided shows a central foreign substance, which by a process similar to that which forms a vesical calculus, becomes covered with successive layers, and the growth of the pearl is rapid or alow according to the amount of irritation it produces. The Flower of Yarrow has sailed for Singapore to obtain divers. I understand that some specimen peatls brought out from England in this vessel proved, on comparison, much superior to any found of late on this coast. The largest pearl found this season was one obtained by Mr Sholl, and has been valued at L2OO. Announcements of discoveries of gold and copper in the north, pear Roeburne, and of gold nearßunbury, in the south of the colony, have been made on good authority.— Correspondent of Melbourne Argus.