IMPORTS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1881, 17 August 1874, Page 2

IMPORTS.

(A special charge is made on consignees' announcements inserted in this column.) Per St. Kilda, from Wanganui— l2 head cattle* 90 sheep. 25 pigs, and a quantity of potatoes and poultry. Per Richard and Mary, from Wellington. —3000 bars iron, 54 cases, 1000 rail joints. EXPORTS. Per St Kilda, for Wanganui .— 9O tons coal. ' Per Annie Brown, for Lyttelton— lso;tons coal. Per Ino, for Hokitika— 3o tons coal, 2 cases. -

The schooner Richard and Mary, Hutchison, master, arrived in the river in tow of the Dispatch on Saturday. She comes from Wellington with a cargo of railway material. The little s.s Ino returned from her Okarito trip on Saturday morning, after a most successful run, and after loading up a cargo of coal, left for Hokitika. Too a.s «t, Kilda, with the balance of hpr cargo of live stock from Wanganui and Westport arrived on Saturday morning. During the day she took in a cargo of coa], and left on Sunday morning for Wanganui The schooner Onward arrived on Friday from Wellington, leaving that port; on the 13th inst, and experienced light north-east winds throughout the trip. She cross"d the bar inwards in tow of the Titan, and will bulk this morning. — "West Coast .Liniv^)}^ • The Jn^j^ Q ompan y' s g ne sc hoon°r Lizzie Guy, was^^ * n FrM b the Titan. She left EW the 3rd in.t After passing the PemnsuTa-u^ w it Q ii gnt drifting winds until arrival She"cv-, e g f u u freighte'l with an assorted cargo. — " VVb<* Coa«t Times." 5 _ la the concluding part of a paragraph descriptive of thn late fatal accident to Cantain Hart, of the s.s Beautiful Star, the " Otago Daily Times" of August 6, says : "Last night we heard suggested a very: simple plan for the prevention of the i e accidents, which are far too frequent It is as. follows - To the whole length of the tow' . rope lash a smaller >ope in loops. The small rope will not have to bear any strain while thevessel is being towed, but iv the event; oithe tow rope breaking it must be suffi-; ciently strong to prevent any recoil. The' suggestion seems : a good one, and has the merit of being simple an H inexpensive. j The "Otago Daily Times "has beenfa-j vored with the tenor of advices received; from Foo Chow by a gentleman at Port Chal? mera. The intelligence is important, and may; be accepted by shipmasters who have to go ca'go seeking as a note of warning that may perchance be <>f service to them. The letter was dated Bth June last, and stated at than time there were ten B' earners of an aggregate carrying capacity of 30,000 tons; waiting at Foo Chow for the early teas, The market had not opened, and was scarcely expected to he for a fortnight. N^» clipper sailing ship had reached Foo Chow at the time. bur. many were expected. ! The Hokitika river has lately been in a very bad state, and some attention is now being eiven towards its improvement. The "West Coast Times." of Saturday, says that there can be no doubt, that the operations on the shngle bed of the river, opposite GWsop's Hotel, nea" the o'd race-course 1 have heen of great utility in assisting the natnra ; flow of the water towards the north bank of the river. Since the time that men. under the direction of the Inspector of Works, commenced to move the shingle, for the purpose of assisting th* current to flow towar's the northern side many hundreds of tors of shingle have been removed, and scoured out of the mouth of that river, arid the consequence now is, that a very fair stream of water trends to the Gibson's Quayside of the river. Judging from 'he decided manner in which the current of the river impinges on the north-east comer of the shingle bank, hopes are raised, that if the work of assisting nature, which hitherto has proved so beneficial, was carried out in a style more extensive and systematic, that the benefits to be derived -from f this method of diverting the stream from the southern side, would be even more satisfactory. Any person who has not seen this portion of the river recently, and remembering the impediments offered to the straight flow of the river some mouths ago, would on a visit at the present time be astonished to find how much good has been done with bnt little expense, and their astonishment would no doubt, be greater on learning that the Corporation with the greatest reluctance, vote the m»st paltry sums towards this very beneficial and necessary work; though only a little while ago thousands of pounds of the ratepayers' money would, without the slightest hesitation, have been disbursed in stopping up the South Channel, the sum of LSO or |L6O could be now judiciously expended in still farther opening up the breach in the shingle bed, which has he-n already made, an<l if that was done, and the snags, wbi -h are at present being operated upon by the harbormaster, were removed, there can be no doubt that the first fresh would scour out the present small Northern channel, in such an effective manner as would cause the g -eater portion of the stream to flow by ibson'sQuay. This work should be carried out at once while the river is low; for if left in abeyance until a flood occurs, what can be done now cheaply and well, would after a freshet cost a much larger sum of money.