Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4204, 10 September 1874, Page 2

The events of the last few days in the maritime world of Wellington have added greatly to the proofs of the necessity of a powerful steam-tug being procured for the port. It blows hard for the greater portion of the- year, either from northwest or south-east, and the wharves of Wellington are so situated with reference to the entrance to the harbor that each of the prevailing winds may be described as both fair and ,foul at the same time. With a south-east wind a vessel ready for sea can only slip down from the inner to the outer anchorage, and there lio until the wind shifts round. If it blows strong from the north-west, a vessel coming down Cook Strait may make Pencarrow Head, but unless she is a very smart ship she cannot beat up between the reefs and the shore ; and if she comes from the southward by the east coast, with an easterly wind, she may mako tho outer harbor but must there anchor and wait for tho necessary change of wind. Tho consequence is a constant and serious interruption to the trade of the port.

There was a time when the small trade of Port Nicholson was of a patty coasting character, in which a few days' delay either in getting into or getting out of harbor was of comparatively little consequence. But those days, happily, have passed away. Large ships are constantly arriving and taking their departure. The population of the Province, and tho trade of its one great port, are rapidly growing. We are anticipating a not distant time when the whole, or at least the greater part, of the commerce of the south portion of the North Island will pass through Wellington, and when we shall be able to send at least as many loaded ships Homo as are now entered inwards. That steam will then be available to assist vessels in and out there cannot bo a doubt ; but the time has already come when the services of a powerful tug are required. We have only to refer to the ease of the J. A. Thompson, which, after a passage of some duration from Liverpool was signalled from Mount Victoria in the beginning of the week, but was forced to anchor in one of the outside bays; and, unable to beat in, and unable to obtain of a steamer, had to remain outside until the Taranaki, on her way from Picton, picked her up and brought her in yesterday. The ship Strathnaver, also, would not have been in any trouble, and we should not have heard of the law-suit now pending for salvage, if the port had possessed a powerful steamtug which would have gone to sea when the ship was signalled, or would have been outside looking for one or other of the vessels known to be fully due. But for tho accidental presence of the Luna in the harbor, on more than one occasion lately, the arrival of ships full of immigrants would have been delayed for days, tantalising though it would have been to the strangers on board to seo tho promised land before their eyes, and yet be shut out from it by an unkind wind which gave them anything but a friendly welcome. Had there been a tug-boat in port the Frowning Beauty would not have been left to run tho risk of going on shore a short time ago—a peril from which she only escaped with the loss of her mainmast, and by the help of one of the passenger steamers which visit the port ; the Chevert would have received aid when she entered the port in distress ; tho services of the Government steam-vessel would not have been required to help the Edwin Bassott when she got upon the rocks off Halswell's Point ; while a great amount of time and money would have been saved to the shipping generally if they could have employed a tug to take out into a good oiling vessels ready for sea, but windbound in the harbor while strong favorable winds were blowing outside. There is no question, in fact, as to tho services a good powerful steam-tug would be able to render to the shipping now engaged in the trade of Wellington. The only matter is, would those services enablo such a vessel to pay a sufficient profit to her owners, presuming the necessary capital to buy or build her be subscribed? This is a subject which it would be worth tlie troublo of those who aro more directly interested either to calculato for themselves in their own counting-rooms, or to meet together and discuss with a view to joint action. ■- Port Chalmers has her tug-boat; Hokitika and Groymouth have theirs. If it pays the owners of the tugs engaged on tho West Coast to keep them running out and in over tho bars to lighter passing vessels, or tow in a coaster now and then —and it appears to do so—it seems to be amatter of very littledoubtthat Wellington would furnish trade all tho year round, in doing business which is now done by tho Luna, tho Manawatu,- tho Stormbird, the Napier, and other vessels, as well as in performing work which passenger vessels as a rule do not do, but for which the services of a regular tug would be greatly' in 1 demand. It is possible, alHo, that if such a meeting were held, other ways of profitably employing such a vessel would bosuggested,;- Excursions down the harbor, for example, are very rare, and when they do take place they are'very dear ; but in, Hobson's Bay, on every occasion of'holiday, the tug-boats "are prossed into the service of the excursionists, and gaily decorated with flags, and with music on board, .contribute not a little to the pleasure" of the people as well as to. the, profits i: of-,-., the owners. There is no proper supply o? F"h for tha

c ity—there are, in fact, only two or three fishermen, who apparently fish or don't fish, just as it suits their pockets or their humors—and there, is no fish-market, no stand or shop to which a housewife can resort for supplies for breakfast or dinner. If a trawl-net were added to the equipments of such a steamer, an odd hour or two, when the vessel wa3 not otherwise employed, might be employed in fishing, with highly desirable results, not only as regards much-needed supplies of edible fish, but also to the owners. Such a vessel would also be of great importance to the pilotservice. At present that work isof the most arduous and at times dangerous nature. If subsidised for the purpose, as no doubt she would be, her services would enable the pilot to get on board inwardbound vessels with much less fatigue than is now experienced, in weather in which the pilot-boat could only put to sea at much risk, and at such a distance from the entrance as would greatly lessen the anxieties and responsibilities of masters of ships, more especially if they were strangers to the port. That a tug-steamer for the port of Wellington is a necessity, there is no do'ubfc. It is a matter of calculation whether her services would be required so often as to make such a vessel pay as a speculation, and we think they would. At all events, the subject is worth looking into by the harbor authorities, and all who take any interest in the trade and reputation of the port.