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Grey River Argus, Volume XXIII, Issue 3609, 19 March 1880, Page 2

The s.s Kennedy arrived early on yesterday's tide, and after landing the Greym.mth portion of the San Francisco maiJ, left on the same tide for south. The s.s Murray sailed early this morning for northern p <rts. The s.s Wallabi is announced to sail for north this day. In a recent dipcusaiou on the severityof the testa applied to steel plates for shipbuilding pnrposes, some members of the Iron and Steel Institute seemed to possess a halfexpressed opinion th it collisions between ships are hardly of s-nflUleht frequency to make it desirable that s hat particular attention should be paid to the choice of material for ships in order to be prepared for this class of •• accident. Steel, it was said, could not fairly compete with iron for shipbuilding, because it is unfairly tested as compared with the iron ÜBed for the same purpose. The tests imposed, it was alleged, made it absolutely necessary to produce a very mild ateel at a comparatively high price, but with mechanical propert'es not much better than those of iron, and not so good by a great deal as those of steel of a soiiewhat harder nature producable at a much lower cost. The very mild metal was urged by one party to be essential to the construction of trustworth ships for steel, it being desirable that the plates should buckle or bend rather than break nnder impact trains. On the other hand, it was contended that steel pbtes of moderate hardness coul<i be made, which , would still withstand shocks due to collision. It has also be*n said that probably when fracture did occur with such steel p ates it would be more likely to be local ; that leas real damage would be done than with plates that would bend and buckle a good dea before breaking. The Steam Navigation Board of Victoria met oa the 16th inst, to investigate into the reason of the Btranding of the Clarence, steamer, in Port Phillip Bay on the 10th inst. ■ Captain Clark and the chief officer, Charles Andrews, gave evidence, and were of opinion that the casualty arose through an error in the compasses. The decision of the Board was as follows — "The Steam Navigation Board having inquired into the cause of the grounding of the steamship Clarence on the morning of the 10th inst, on the east bank of the west channel, between Nos. 14 and 16 buoy a, consider that the grounding was mainly attributable to an error in the ship's compasses. The evidence shows that the master took the necessary precautions of going dead slow, and also taking soundings. It, therefore, dots not charge the master wit J default, but directs that the ship • hall be swung for the adjustment of compasses before again proceeding to tea."