MARITIME REQUIREMENTS.

New Zealander, Volume XIX, Issue 1762, 8 January 1863, Page 3

MARITIME REQUIREMENTS.

We have so frequently had inquiries on the subject of Nautical Almanacs, Admiralty Charts, and copies of the New Zealand Pilot, from Master Mariners, and others urgently in need of such works that we deem it incumbent to call the attention of the hon. the Colonial Secretary and,' through him, of the Admiralty of Great Britian, to the important service, they can and ought to afford to nautical wayfarers in these remote seas by transmission of sufficient supplies of Almanacs, Charts, and all books published under Imperial Government authority connected with trade and navigation.

Admiralty Charts and “New Zealand Pilots” have been applied for again and again; and, within the last two or three days, we have had different applications requesting to know where a Nautical Almanac could be purchased or procured, not a copy being on sale in Auckland. The want of that Seaman’s guide is a serious loss ; and as it and the Admiralty Charts are published by authority, at a moderate price, and for general information, it behoves our Colonial Secretary or Commissioner of Customs, to take immediate action in order that sufficient supplies may always be kept available at the several Ports of the Colony to meet the requirements of all shipmasters. The surveys of the Pacific and other Oceans, which have been undertaken and completed at much cost, were intended for universal information ; so also the compilation of the Nautical Almanac. But how can their results be generally useful, if such works cannot be placed within reach of mariners doing daily business in those very oceans? We have been informed that Commander Sullivan of H.M.S. Harrier , on this station, expressed great surprise at the impossibility of shipmen procuring such necessary companions, and that, with a very proper desire to remedy the defect, it was his intention to bring the matter under notice of the proper authorities, This is like all we have heard of Captain Sullivan, who has ever shown a commendable desire to render every requisite aid to his brethren of the Mercantile Marine.

question, to our thinking, admits of prompt and satisfactory solution. The Governor, of New Zealand,'Ve feel confident, has only to make the case known to the Admiralty, stating our disposition to receive copies of all such works for disposal, to be furnished with immediate and adequate supplies. Those supplies might be placed in charge of Collectors and Sub-Collectors of Customs at the several ports of entry, and an officer—say the Shipping Master —appointed to dispose of them. If this were so, not only Nautical Almanacs, (for a series of years in advance), Charts, New Zealand Pilots, and other works of maritime necessity would be surely and readily procurable; but such convenient books as the Mercantile Navy List—the Universal Code of Signals —now scarcely to be obtained—would, with others of a similar character, be within the easy reach of all desirous of possessing them. We repeat that the inquiries for such works have been so constant, and the need of them to mariners so urgent and so obvious that we deem it to be a duty to call attention to the fact; and we heartily hope that Mr. Domett will, without circumlocution or delay, do his duty in the matter.