WHO ORIGINATED STEAM NAVIGATION?

New Zealander, Volume 1, Issue 29, 20 December 1845, Page 4

WHO ORIGINATED STEAM NAVIGATION?

We have received a pamphlet from Ayrshire containing a breif account of the rise aud early pio^ress of s team navigation — an acco- nt so interesting, aud stated in a manner so lucid, that we have taken the liberty to extract it at length. The principal design of the publication is to denote that steam navgatmu ongiuated in the suggestions and experiments of ihe late Mr James Ta lor, of Cumnock, in connexion with the late Mr Miller, of Dalswtnton ; aud we are bound in fai-ness to admit, that a very conclusive ca«e is made out in favour of the former. The narrative, in the first place, of Mr Taylors cotinexiou with Mr Miller, and of their sueeesful experiments, which we piestune, contains an unvarnished deal ol facis, places the claims of the former gentl in, n in the strongest possible li^ht. But the p imph 1< t contain>, even still mor<" cogent proofs or'his being the originator of an invention, which has since conferred ■><) many lasting benefits on tlie com uercial aud trading world. There are a variety of documents a; yin, which remove all doubt on this head ; aud the tact is moreover, on recoid, that the government, very somi alter his decease, virtually reiognised his cl.um«,by granting a pension oi per annum to his widow, and subsequently another donation of £50 each, nut of the privy purse, to his four surviving datigl'tiis The coutioversy as 10 the originator ol the system seems to have aiisen now iv consequence ol Mr. Symington, mentioned iv the narrative, a. id Mr. Miller, jiuir., on the part of his father, having put their pretensious to the honor. Those pi etensioii-. are all moonshine, and never could have been pref rred had Mr Taylors > discovery been legally protected by a patent, which, it is to he regretted on all hands, was not the case, for reasons stated in the pamphlet. Mr Symington was undoubtedly the engineer who constructed the steam engine, and Mr Miller furnished the means for carrying on and completing the invention ; but Mr Taylors was the head that conceived Jhe plan, and to him and his successors rightfully belong all the hon urs ami emoluments arising iroin so highly valuable a discovery. [Mr. Ta) lor, one of the proprietors of the Kauau mine, and residing at Syrinet, is a son of Mr. James Tas lor of Cumiioek.— Ed. N, Z,]

DISCOVtRYOh aDEPOSII' OF GuiNO AT Sr.LAWRbNCEIbLAND, \bw South Wales. — The Governor of South Ausfialia has despatcued to the Colonial Office an account of the discovery of a considera le deposit ol tfimno on the Uland above named, in lat. 38 23 S., lon. 11l 8C E , immediately of Cape Nelson, and within the ttrnlo.y of New South Wales. This deposit is. represented as being less lien than that in South America, but accounted for Irom the sample having been taken ftom the surface. Lord Stanley, in notifying the fact, wishes it to be cl^aih untleistood, ili-il it is not in liib power to giitiiantee to an) shipowners v\ ho ma) engage in the removal and conveyance oflheyuano in quei>ti(»), ? an c emption fiom such charges as the local governments of the Biiiish settlements in New Holland may deem n't to iwipo^e on the teinoval of that article.