THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out Faciam." DUNEDIN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1134, 9 August 1865, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out Faciam." DUNEDIN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9.

The rush to the West Coast Gold Fields has been marked by one feature of dark pre-eminence. That gold is plentifully j diffused throughout the extensive district ! of which Hokitika is at present the capital, j is now proved by a sufficiency of evidence. The area of auriferous ground being worked is constantly extending. The population is rapidly increasing. The escort returns are rising. It is believed that the field is capable of sustaining a mining and trading community two or three times as great as is already gathered on the spot. In this instance, as in so many others in Australasia, the agency of I gold discoveries, in diffusing population and causing unoccupied lands to be colonised, is seen. Where the most elaborate schemes of settlement devised by human enterprise and wisdom fail, this irresistible power operates. The colonisation of the West Coast of the Middle Island had been attempted in vain by speculative companies. But what the devices of men have proved insufficient to ' effect, accidental discoveries have more

than accomplished. Within the course of a few months the magnet of gold has attracted to a district that before offered little inducements to settlement, a population whose requirements sustain a very considerable commerce, and whose successful labors have contributed no insignificant addition to the floating wealth of the Colonies. The situation of these Gold Fields, at a remote distance from the old centres of population—lying in fact on the coast of the island opposite to that to which settlement has hitherto been confined—will operate most powerfully in the development of the interior. The long stretch of unoccupied country between the plains of Canterbury and the western boundaries of the island, promises now to be thrown open. An overland route for travel and for mail transit has already been found, and along this will ultimately be carried a large portion of the supplies by which the markets of the new gold districts will be fed. The establishment of stations and depots along this route will form the preliminaries to the establishment of a settled industrial population. Upon the attainment of this object the neighboring Province of Canterbury is very wisely intent. It aims at securing, not only the supply of the markets at Hokitika, but the virtual monopoly of the passenger traffic. The anxiety display din this matter should read a lesson to Otago. There is every ground for the belief that the mining country on the West Coast is more accessible from the peopled districts of this Province, than irom any other part of the Middle Island. No adequate attempt has yet been made to test this fact, although the Government and the merchants of Otago have the strongest possible inducements to push forward the investigation with vigor. For some considerable time to come, however, it is certain that the main approach to Ilokitika both for passengers and goods, from whatever quarter they may come, will be by way of sea. And whatever expectations may be entertained of a new state of things, when roads shall pass through the interior of the island with settlements on either side of them, the present state of circumstances must be practicallydealt with. The West Coast gold fields are an established fact. They are already contributing a considerable revenue to the Colonial Treasury, and have given a most welcome stimulus to interprovincial trade. It is in the face of these facts that a melancholy interest attaches to the long list of "casualties at Ilokitika, to which we have referred as giving to tbi3 rush a dark pre-eminence. In no other instance in the history of gold field settlement, has there been snch a succession of shipping disasters, and such a lamentable loss of life. Not a mail reaches us but it brings its additions to be made to the wreck register, and scarcely one without the announcement of some fresh boat acaccident. There are scores and hundreds of families that will have to mourn the fatal attractiveness of the rich districts to which the only present access is by the treacherous waters of these bar rivers. Viewing the subject from a lower point of view, it is patent that the frequent recurrence of disasters to shipping, must enormously enhance the cost of articles of consumption to the miner. The present quotations of prices are, in some instance?, almost fabulous ; whilst it is notorious that shipment has rapidly followed after shipment from all the ports that have eagerly competed for this new trade. Cargo after car^o has gone down or been damaged, whilst frequently a whole fleet of laden vessels have been obliged io keen to sea for days, or to proceed to other ports, from the absolute impossibility of reaching what is called "the harbour" and discharging. The shipping and mercantile interests of Dunedin have snffered largely, but their misfortune has been amply shared by others. These casualties it is admitted are far from being due in all cases to the prevalence of boisterous weather off the Coast. " Whether it blows a gale or imperfectly " calm," says the Lyltelton Times, " seems " a matter of little importance to the ship- " ping lying off this dangerous coast. In " the one case vessels have to slip and run " to sea, or else to be driven on shore; in " the other they are compelled to wait till " they either sail straight on to the beach, " from sheer impatience, or have to run to " Nelson for fresh water and provisions. " From the experience of the last four " months, we may safely say that the bar " rivers of the West Coast are not practi- " cable for ordinary traffic." Yet it must be repeated, these bar rivers are destined to serve all the purposes of ordinary traffic with the Western Gold Fields, for many months to come, if not indeed for a still more protracted period. And no precautions ought to be omitted which are compassable by human ingenuity, to avert as much as possible the dangers to navigation that are known to exist. It is hardly possible to believe that in this respect the authorities have thus far thoroughly discharged themselves of their duty. Wreck haa been a too common fate to vessels frequenting this Coast, to allow of the hypothesis of bad seamanship having had much to do with the bulk of the disasters that have occurred. In isolated insfuices there may have been some measure of ignorance and unskilfulness, or even of recklessness. But to assume that any such cause has operated generally, would be to pass a sweeping condemnation upon the officers of the mercantile marine of the colonies. It is impossible to review the circumstances, as detailed in evidence, under which the eteamer Titania was lately lost on the

bar, without coming to the conclusion that the arrangements for intelligible communication between the shore and vessels desirous of entering the port, are lamentably defective. The wreck of this serviceable and favorite boat has naturally created a very general feeling of regret in Danedin; and the regret has been enhanced by the circumstance that she was lost in calm weather and smooth water, through a simple misunderstanding of the signals shown from the shore. It is impossible to say how far the same cause may have operated in other cises. But the unpleasant impression is left on the mind, that the safety of wsselß visiting liokitika has been very unnecessarily jeopardised. The evidence in the Titania enquiry discloses the curious fact of the use of two separate code 3of signals—one Marryatt's recognised code, and the other,the Hokitika Harbor Master's code. A copy of the latter, it appears, Captain Hughes had not on board, because he had been " unable to find them." With whatever force it may be urged in this particular case, that the existence of a code of Port signals ought to have been known to the master and a copy of them obtained, the game remark does not apply to ship 3 arriving at Ilokitika from a distance, or for j the first time. It has been deemed by all civilised nations, a most necessary precaution against maritime disaster to establish a universal sea language, and Marryatfs signals have been adopted by common and formal agreement. The use of tidal signals is of course necessary, especially in bar harbors ; but these ought never to be allowed to interfere with, or throw any ambiguity upon, the regular mercantile code. On arriving off Hokilika, Capt. Hughes appears to have proceeded cautiously. He opened communication with the shore, learnt that the Bar was I dangerous, and went to sea under canvass for the night. Next morning, he saw the signal, "Ebb tide" displayed, and proceeded again seavard ; when he saw the signal, "High water" flying. The following point in Captain Hughes' evidence is important:—" The signal denoting High Water was not the usual tidal signal, but the signal for High Water according to Marryatfs code, which had previously been used, denoting ' Ebb Tide.' " At the same time, another vessel, the Montezuma, Captain Hughes says, was also being spoken, the code employed being Marryatt's. The impression produced, it appears, was that the first signal, "Ebb tide," had been made in error, and that the subsequent one, Marryatfs " High water," could be relied upon. We say nothing of this exercise of judgment on the part of Capt. Hughes. But it seems indisputable that i until after the Titania was within the breakers, the signal "High water " was fly'iig. The explanation given by Captain Kerley, the Harbor Master and Pilot, is a curious one. lie says:—"l hoisted the ' Titania's number at the flagstaff. I then " hoisted, according to Marryatfs signals, " ' Ebb tide.' I then signalled ' What " water do you draw?' I got the answer "'Seven feet,' and then hoisted 'High " water at'—intending to tell him at what " hour it would be high water. I then " saw the Titania apparently going off " from the bar. I was going to breakfast; " I had gone a few yards away from the " signalman, when I saw the Titania " making for the shore. I immediately '' ordered the signalman to haul down the " signal ' High water at. 1 /am not sure " whether the signal was 'High water' or " ' High water at.1 I then ran up the blue " flag with yellow centre. This is the " nearest flag we have to the blue peter, " meaning ' Keep to sea.' The meaning of " the blue flag with yellow centre, accord- " ing to Marryatfs code, is number " ' eight.' " To signal " high water" and the depth of water, after Marryatfs system, requires two signals—the first indicating full tide, and the second the number of feet. Here then was a curious complication. The number indicating High Water was first exhibited, and on this being pulled down " the blue flag with the yellow centre" was hoisted as the nearest approach to the blue peter, meaning " Keep to sea"—the blue flag with the yellow centre, "meaning, according to Maryatt's code, "number 'eight.' " We are not writing in Captain Hughes" defence. He will be more competently and no doubt more justly judged. But it requires little nautical knowledge or experience to see that under such a confused system of signals on a dangerous coast, no sufficient guarantee for the safety of shipping 13 afforded. And seeing that these new gold fields can only, for a long time to come, be accessible for commercial purposes from the sea, it is of imperative importance that the most stringent measures should at once be taken to make the signals from the shore speak one certain unmistakeable sound.