[By Electric Telegraph.]

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 147, 7 December 1867, Page 2

[By Electric Telegraph.]

WELLINGTON. Arrived. — December 6, steamer Rakaia, from Sydney. Sailed. — December 4, steamer Wellington, for Lyttelton. PORT CHALMERS. Abeived. — December 4, steamer Tararua, from the Bluff; steamer Gothenburg, from the Bluff. Sailed. — December 4, steamer Wainui, for Oamaru ; , 5, steamer Gothenburg, for Lyttelton : steamer Tararua, for Lyttelton. The brig Lass of Gawler, from the Mauritius, with a cargo of sugar, for Messrs N. Edwards and Co., made the outer anchorage yesterday morning, after a fine passage of forty-one days ; report having encountered heavy weather on the voyage. The ship Water Nymph arrived at Auckland on the 23rd November, ninety-three days out from London. The Bhip Ballarat, which sailed recently from Australia, for London, took the following cargo :—: — 2,116 cases kauri gum, 87 bales of wool, 101 tons of copper ore, 223 bales of cotton, 98 tons of cotton seed, 120 bales of rags, besides some other miscellaneous articles. The whole value of the cargo was estimated at £25,604. The cotton was grown at Tahiti, Fiji or some other of the Pacific islands. On the night of the 30th, or morning of the 31st ultimo, the schooner Hope, an old cruder out of Auckland, struck the Rurimu rocks, near Whale Island, and went down shortly afterwards. She was laden with horses and baggage, and had several passengers on board at the time bound to Mercury Island. The crew and passengers took to tho boat, and pulled to Whakatane, some miles distant from Rurimu rocks. The vessel was insured in the Sydney Marine Office. The Longest Racecourse of the Yeab. — The Taeping having again become the winner of the great ocean race from Foo-chow-foo to the Thames, and all the quarrelings and recriminations of the last eight days having been set at rest by the nonarrival of the Ariel in time to put in her claim to victory, some further details of the competition than have yet been made public will be interesting to many who look on this as the great sporting event of the year. Last year it will be remembered that the Taeping, having to wait the return of the steamtug which took the Fiery Cross over the bar at Foo-chow-foo, gave the Ariel two hours' start, and eventually arrived in dock half-an-hour before her. So close a race over so long a course was absolutely unprecedented, and great preparations were made on both sides for the renewed encounter. Captain Mackinnon, the late commander of the Taeping, not satisfied with the success ho had already achieved, brought all his skill and experience to bear on the improvement of his ship. The yards were shifted from tho mainmast to the fore, proportionately larger ones being fitted to tho main, thus enabling him to spread a much greater breadth of canvas. How judicious were these and other alterations has been proved by the result, but Captain Mackinnon himself -was not spared to enjoy his success, &% on his voyage out he succumbed to the injuries he had received during his successful exertions iv saving a passenger steamer in imminent danger of, total loss off the island of Coll. On his death the command was assumed by and afterwards judiciously continued in the hands of his chief-officer, Mr. Dowdy, who has sailed two previous voyages with Captain Mackinnon, and has now proved a worthy successor. This year sixteen ships are quoted for the contest, but only twelve of these can be considered as fairly in the race. Of these the Maitland, a magnificent new clipper, sailed on the 31st of May, tho Serica (third in last year's race) on the Ist of June, the Taeping (the winner last yeai) on the 4th, and the Ariel (second in 1866) on the 12th of June. The Taeping arrived in dock on the 14th of September, after a run of 101 days, which, considering that the ships bringing the earliest teas have to encounter the most unfavourable monsoons, may be considered a very satisfactory one. Since her arrival, however, large sums of money have been betted on the Ariel, notwithstanding the fact that in the short run to Anjer the Taeping had gained four days upon her, and even on Saturday last (21st) there were some enthusiasts left who still hoped to reverse the result of the race. Now, however, it is too late, and the Taeping has performed the extraordinary feat of winning this great contest two years in succession. This year the usual premiums of 10s. or 20s. per ton having been withdrawn, the race was for honour alone ; nevertheless, the glory was enough to excite the keenest competition between every soul on board the best officered, best manned, and best found line of merchant ships in the world. Captain Dowdy, in winning the " blue riband of the mercantile marine," has auspiciously inaugurated his career as a commander.