WRECKS AT HOKITIKA.

Otago Witness, Issue 715, 12 August 1865, Page 2

WRECKS AT HOKITIKA.

(From the Daily '? imi:s Auuust 9 )

The rush to the West Coast Gold Fields has been marked by one feature of dark pre-eminence. That gold is plentifully diffused throughout the extensive district of which Hokitika is at present the capital, is now proved by a sufficiencj 7 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 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, aud whose successful labors have contributed no insignificant addition to the floating wealth of the Coloflies.

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 confiued — 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 alargeportioa

x of the supplies by which the markets of the 7 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 Ilokitika, but the virtual monopoly of the passenger traffic. The anxiety displayed in this matter should iym<l a lesson to Otago* There is ewry gro-m i for the belief that the mining country on the Wtst Coast is more accessible from the peopled districts of this Province, than irora any other part of the Middle Island. No adequateattempt has yet been mule to test this fact, although the Government and the merchants of Otago have the strongest possible inducements to push forward the" investigation with vigor.

Tor 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 practically dealt 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 Hokitika, to which we have referred as giving to this 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 tome fresh boat acacciuent. There are scores and hundredsof families that will have to mourn the fatal attractiveness of the rich districtsto 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 disasicrs to shippin-r, must enormously enhance the cost oi articles of consumption to the miner. The present quotations of prices are, in some instances, almost fabulous ; whilst it is notorious that shipment has rapidly followed alter shipment from all the ports that have eagerly competed for thid uew trade. Car^o after carsro has gone down or been damaged, whilst frequently a whole fleet of laden vessels have been obliged to keep to sea for days, or to proceed to other ports, from the ab-olute impossibility of reaching what is calied "the harbour" and discharging. The shipping and mercantile interests of Dunedin have suffered 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 eale or is perfectly " culm," says the Lijltelton Times, "seems "' a matter of little importance to the ship- " ping h ing off this dangerous coast. In ■ v 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 3heer impatience, or have to run to " Nelson for fresh water and provisions. " From the experience of the last four " months, we may saftly say that the bar " rivers of the West Coast are not practi- " cable for ordinary traffic." Yet it mu3t 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 compaseable 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 has 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 instances 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 pas 9 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 steamer Titania wa3 lately loston 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. Dunedin ; 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 oa the mind, that the si'etv of vessels visiting Hokitika Ins been ve*-y unnecessarily jeopardised. The evidence in the Titania enquiry discloses the curious fact of the use of two separate codes of signals— one MirryaU'* recognised code, and the other, the llokitika Harbor M.-ister'd code. A copy of the latter, it appears, Captain Hughes had notion board, because he had been " unable to find them." With whatever force it may be urged in this •particular case, that the existence of >i code • of Port signals ought to have been known to the master and a copy of them obtained, the same remark docs not apply to ship 3 arriving at Hokitika from a distance, or for the first time. It has been deemed by all civilised nations, a most necessary precaution against maritime disaster to establish a universal s3a language, and Marryatt's signals have ■been adopted by common and formilj agreement. The use of tidal signals is of course necessary, especially in bar harbors ; but these ought never to b^ allowed to interfere with, or throw an}' ai:\higuity upon, the regular mercantile code. Or> arriving off Hokitika. Capt. Hughes appears to have proceeded cautiously. He opeued communication with the shore, J eirat that the Bar was dangerous, and went to sea under canvass for the night. Next morning, he s>iw the signal, "Ebb tide" displayed, and proceeded again seaward ; 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 Mamatt's code, which had previously been itsed, denoting ' Ebb Tide.' " At the same time, another vessel, the Montizuma, 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, Marryatt's " Ili^h water," could be relied upon. We say nothing ot this exercise of judgment on the part of Capt. Hughes. But it seems indisputable that until after the Ti*-a:iia was within the breakers, the signal " High water " was flying. The explanation by Captain Kerley, the Harbor Master and Pilot, is a curious one. He pays :—": — " I hoisted the " Titania's number at the flagstaff. I then " hoisted, according to Marryatt's sianals, "'Ebb tide. 1 I then signalled 'What " water do you draw ?' I got the answer " ' Seven feet,' and then hoisted ' High ;t water at' — intending to tell him at what " hour it would be lii^h water. I then " saw the Titania apparently goin^ off " from the bar. I was going to brtakfast; " I had gone a few yards away from the " signalman, when I saw the Titmia " making for the shore. I immediately " ordered the signalman to haul down the " signal ' High water at.' lam not sure " whether the signal was ' High water' or " ' High water atJ 1 I then ran up the blue " flag with yellow centre. This is the a nearest flag we have to the blue peter, " meaning ' Keep to sea.' The meaning of " the blue flag with yellow centre, accord- " ing to Marryatt's code, is number " ' eight.' " To signal " hi;*h water" and the depth of water, after Marryatt's 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 Hiah 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 f-hipping is 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 meaeures should at once be taken to make the signals from the shore speak one certain unmistakeable sound.

The Tasmaman papers report the salmon to be making good progress in the Plenty, and the legislature is making provision for their safety. The " Mercury" remarks that "a bill to regulate salmon fishing in the colony has been printed. It proposes to vest the superintendence of the salmon fisheries of the Colony in the Governor in Council. It asks for large powers, and is very restrictive, but not more so, perhaps, than is necessary. We only refer to it now as a proof that all the necessary steps are being taken to insure the success of the experiment at every stage of its progress."