PORT OF BLUFF.

Southland Times, Issue 21361, 6 April 1931, Page 2

PORT OF BLUFF.

VESSEL IN PORT. Opihi s.s. EXPECTED ARRIVALS. Wainui, Wellington, to-day. Paua, Wellington, April 9. Calm, Lyttelton, April 11. Waikouaiti, Dunedin, April 13. Rangitane, , April 13. Paua, Wellington, April 19. Mahia, Dunedin, April 20. Tongariro, New Plymouth, April 27. Remuera, Port Chalmers, April 30. PROJECTED DEPARTURES. Opihi, Dunedin, to-morrow. Wainui, Melbourne, to-morrow. Paua, Dunedin, April 9. Calm, Dunedin, April 11. Waikouaiti, Sydney, April 13. Rangitane, , April 16. Paua, Dunedin, April 19. Mahia, , April 22. Tongariro, Timaru, April 30. Remuera, . May 4. INWARD CARGO ON HAND. Cathay, ex Waikouaiti, in B shed (D. and Co.) . City of Dieppe, ex Calm, unclaimed in B shed (J. G. W.) . Commissaire Ramel, ex Waikouaiti, m B shed (J. G. W.) . , . Hobson’s Bay, ex Waikouaiti, in B shed (U. S. S.) . . . D v , Kitano Maru, ex Waikouaiti, m B shed (J. G. W.) . ■ T, V J Kyokkoh Maru, ex Waikouaiti, in B shed Mooltan, ex Waikouaiti, in B shed (D. and Co.) • Narkunda, ex Waikouaiti, in B shed (D. and Co.) ... Nieuw Zeeland, ex Waikouaiti, in B shed (U. S. S.) • ■ r, V a Onniston, ex Waikouaiti, in B shed (U. S. S.) . . . . „ , , Orungal, ex Waikouaiti, in B shed (U. S. S.) . f x Rangitane, ex Calm, in B shed (N. L. S.) Tainui, ex Kaimai, in B shed (N. M. A.). Tanda, ex Waikouaiti, in B shed (U. S. S. (I?, and Co.): Dalgsty sna Company. (Hand.): Henderson anti Company. (H.L.T.): H. L. Tapley and Company. • (J.G.W.): J. G. Ward and Company. (N.M.A.): National Mortgage and Agency Company. (N.Z.S.): New Zealand Shipping Company. (0.5. C. Oreti Shipping Company. (U.S.S.): Union Steam Ship Company. . GENERAL NOTES. The Tamatea sailed for Stewart Island at 3 p.m. on Saturday and is expected back at about 5.30 p.m. to-day. She leaves for the .Island again to-morrow at 10.15 a.m. and conies back to connect with the 6.18 p.m. train for Invercargill. Clearing Wellington on Saturday for Bluff direct, the Wainui is due here to-day to load cargo for Australia. She will sail tomorrow for Melbourne direct. The Orari, the second of the New Zealand Shipping Company’s new cargo liners, which is en . route from Liverpool for New Zealand, sailed from Panama on March 29. She is due at Auckland.about April 18. Advice received by the Shaw Savill Company states that the Pakeha left Newcastle-on-Tyne on the afternoon of March 28 in ballast for New Zealand, .where she will load for England. She" is due at Wellington early next month. Personal. Mr Charles Stewart,'who died at Sawyers’ Bay recently, followed the occupation of ship’s carpenter. He arrived at Port Chalmers in 1881 as carpenter of the Union Steam Ship Company’s new steamer Manapcuri, which was under the command of Captain T. Logan. Mr Stewart was one of the company’s foremost carpenters in the intercolonial trade. He was afterwards carpenter on the Mararoa and Monowai. Mr Stewart was a native of Dumbarton and served his apprenticeship in the shipbuilding yards of Messrs Denny Bros., a firm closely associated with the shipping activities and expansion of the Union Steam Ship Company. In the old days when sulphuric acid was carried in steamers’ holds there was a tragic accident on board the Manapouri at Napier. One or more containers of the acid were broken and several men were overcome by the deadly fumes. Mr Stewart was mainly instrumental in rescuing the men from the hold, and all but one —the third officer — recovered. Before coming to New Zealand,

-Mr Stewart was awarded the Board of Trade’s bronze medal for gallantry in saving life at sea. The distinction was conferred on him for saving 17 lives at the wreck of the steamer Hellespont on January 9, 1879. FORTHCOMING LOADINGS. FEDERAL LINE. The Middlesex is due at New Plymouth on Friday from' Australia to commence her Homeward loading. She will subsequently complete at Wellington, Gisborne, and Auckland. The vessel is scheduled to clear Auckland finally on April 30 for London, Avonmouth, Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow, via the Panama Canal. The Tongariro which arrived at Auckland on FHday with basic slag from Antwerp, is to commence her loading at New Plymouth on April 20 and will later complete at Bluff, Timaru, and Wellington. She, is scheduled to clear Wellington finally on May 7 for London, Avonmouth, Liverpool, and Glasgow, via the Panama Canal. The Devon is due at Port Chalmers in ballast from Glasgow on April 30 to commence her loading, and will later complete at Lyttelton, Wanganui, Wellington, Opua, and Auckland. She is to clear Auckland finally on May 23 for London, Avonmouth, Liverpool, and Glasgow, via the Panama canal. C. AND D. LINE. The Port Hobart is to commence her Homeward loading at New Plymouth on April 13. She will subsequently complete at Nelson, Wellington, Lyttelton, and Port Chalmers. The vessel is scheduled to clear Port Chalmers finally on May 1 for London and Liverpool, via the Panama canal. The Port Nicholson is due at Auckland on April 20 from Sydney to commence her loading and will complete at Gisborne, Napier, and Wellington. She is to clear Wellington finally on May 5 for London, via Montevideo. The Port Hunter is to commence her loading at New Plymouth on April 30, and will subsequently complete at Wanganui roadstead, Picton, Lyttelton, and Wellington. She is to clear Wellington finally on. May 19 for Hook of Holland and London, via the Panama canal. UNION STEAM SHIP COMPANY'. STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS. The financial editor of Fairplay, writing under date February 19, gives the following particulars of the balance sheet of the Union Steam Ship Company as at September 30 last:— The company’s ordinary capital, on which a dividend of 8 per cent, for the year is paid, the same as for each of the five preceding years, is owned by the P. and O. Company. The credit balance at profit and loss account, namely £167,978, which ineludes the amount brought forward from the previous year, compares with £162,121 at the end of the previous financial year; £156,592 at the end of' September, 1928; £119,214 at the end of September, 1927; and £115,695 at the end of September, 1926. The paid-up capital of £3,000,000 (£1,000,000 of which is in ordinary shares) remains the same as at .the end of September, 1929; reserves, at £150,000, are also unchanged; insurance fund has increased from £861,674 to £881,840; while sundry creditors and uncompleted voyages aggregate £1,427,062, against £1,361,731. On the other side of the account, the fleet, payments on account of new vessels and investments stand in the books at £4,498,998, against £4,439,196. According to Lloyd’s Register, the company owns 57 steamers and four motor vessels, totalling 227,362 tons gross and averaging about 14 years of age. Owing, however, to the inclusion in the book value of an unstated amount of investments and payments on account of new tonnage, it is impossible to ascertain the figure at which the vessels are valued in the books of the company. Hulks, etc., coal, stores, land and premises appear at an aggregate of £660,335, against £636,555, and sundry debtors and cash total £467,547, against £459,775. It was announced last week that, after 45 years’ service with the Union Steam Ship Company, Sir Charles Holdsworth had resigned the position of managing director, but would remain a director. Mr D. A. Aiken, who has been general manager of the company for the past 17 years, has been appointed to fill the position of managing director, and is succeeded as general manager by Mr A. W. Wheeler, formerly assistant general manager. WITHIN WIRELESS RANGE. The following vessels were within range of the undermentioned wireless stations over the weelu-end: — Auckland: Tofua, Voco, Waikawa, Kalingo Mahia, Tymeric, Ulimaroa, Aorangi, Ventura, Ranella, Golden Coast, Karetu, Nucula. Wellington: Maori, Wahine, Hertford, Ashburton, Wainui, Rangitata, Maimoa, Marama, Niagara, Cornwell, Tekoa, Katoa, Vinemoor, Port Brisbane, Makura. Awarua: Makura, Monowai, Iris, New Zealand, Mahana, Waihemo, Sydney Maru, Karepo. Chatham Islands: Nil. MARINE JOTTINGS ROUND THE LIGHTS. MATAI’S GOOD WORK. LONELY LIFE OF KEEPERS. The lighthouse steamer Matai put in at Onehunga on a recent morning after having been on her usual round of the northern lighthouses, beginning with Mokohinau and ending with Pouto, on the North Head at Kaipara, states the Auckland Star. ' Pouto, not so many years ago, used to figure frequently in the shipping news, but to-day not one person in a hundred would have the slightest idea where it is if they happened. to hear of it. Incidentally the name used to give the compositors a good deal of bother, and many a time it appeared in the newspapers as “Ponto.” The reason it used to figure in the shipping news was that vessels bound to and from the Kaipara used to be reported by the lighthouse keeper, and in those days there was much shipping in and out of the Kaipara. Sailing vessels used to put in for cargoes of kauri timber,- which was sent over to Australia or taken to England. In those days kauri was not. the luxury it is to-day, and 6/- a hundred in the log on the mill skids was considered a fair price. The vessels that ran between the Kaipara and Australia used to bring back goods for the stores, which did a good trade with so many mills at work on the Wairoa. It is not generally known that the Wairoa is navigable for quite sizeable vessels up to Hoanga, and a barque drawing 14ft might be seen alongside the wharf there loading bulk and sawn timber. Today, however, the man in charge of Pouto must find it hard to keep himself amused. Over the Aerial. The visit of the Matai is eagerly looked forward to by the. men and women who spend lonely lives at the outlying lighthouses. Wireless has made a great differ-: ence to the keepers and -their families, ■ and they now feel less cut off from the world. Owing to the isolated situation of the lighthouses, free from all interruption from electrical. currents that Hot about the air near cities and manufacturing centres, the reception is remarkably good, and when a man can listen to, stations as far apart as Tokio and San Francisco he naturally feels less lonely than he did in the days before Marconi’s invention made the whole world kin —or nearly so. From the New Zealand stations the keepers and their families get news of events as soon as the most of New Zealand, and' this fact alone is a tremendous influence in modifying their isolation. The life is excessively lonely, and it requires men and women of singularly strong character to keep from feeling its sinister influence. All lighthouse people take to hobbies out of self-defence, and many of them are wonderfully' clever with their hands. On some of the stations goats are about the only source of fresh meat, and one man on Cuvier used to excell in curing their skins,

which he sent round as presents to his friends and acquaintances. The Unwatched Lights. In recent years many of the out-of-the-way lights have been changed from watched to automatic. Modern achievements in this matter are astonishingly clever, and year in and year out the lights keep winking away warning the mariner of danger. The acme of this automatic method of guarding a coast is reached in France, where, at the entrance to the bay leading to Rochelle, there is a tower with an acetylene gun that is fired automatically during foggy weather, and the controlling factor is nothing more or less than a. filament of human hair, which contracts during damp weather, releases an electric current, which in turn sets in motion machinery that charges the gun automatically from a cylinder under pressure and actually fires the gun at regular and set intervals. In spite of wireless the people who tend the lights round the coast of New Zealand always welcome the visit of the Matai, and they have for her and her capable officers and crew a regard that cannot be properly estimated by people who sometimes wish they did not see quite so much of the world.. The Matai takes stores, and, of course, the oil and other things necessary for the upkeep of the lights, and she also charges the reservoirs that feed the automatic unwatched lights. As there are no wharves at these stations, everything has to be boated ashore, and the Matai is manned by the cleverest boatmen in New Zealand. The work is now greatly facilitated by the use of power launches, but owing to the rough seas, and the exposed position of many of the landing-places, great skill is required, and the remarkable freedom from accident is a fine tribute to the officers and men. TELEGRAPHED REPORTS. COASTAL AND OVERSEAS. Auckland, April 5. Arrived (Saturday): Port Napier 225 a.m. from Gisborne; Kaimiro 12.35 p.m. from Picton; Matakana 1.20 p.m. from Wellington. Sailed: Nucula 10.20 a.m. for San Pedro; Karetu 5.20 p.m. for Newcastle. Wellington, April 5. Arrived (Saturday): Vigrid 12.5 a.m. from Auckland; Maori 7 a.m. from Lyttelton- Port Hobart 5.30 a.m. from Auckland; Margaret W 9.30 a.m. from Gisborne; Vinemoor 11.20 p.m. from Auckland; Arrived (Sunday) : Waimarino 7.30 a.m. from Auckland; Hertford 7 a.m. from Auckland; Wahine 7 a.m. from Lyttelton, Progress 10.20 a.m. from Wanganui; Holmdale 1.10 p.m.'.from Lyttelton; Katoa 2 p.m. from Newcastle; Himatangi 4.30 p.m. from M Sailed (Saturday): New Zealand 10.20 a.m. for Lyttelton; Calm 1.5 p.m. for Wanganui; Ashburton 7.20 p.m. for Lyttelton; Margaret W 7.30 p.m. for Auckland; Kaponga 3 p.m. for Greymouth; Wainui 3.10 p.m. for Bluff; Kamai 3.10 p.m. for Greymouth; Kartigi 4.26 p.m. for Lyttelton; Kiwitea 6.10 p.m. for Auckland; Maori 7.50 p.m. for Lyttelton; Orepuki 8 p.m. for New Plymouth; John 11.10 p.m. for New Plymouth. Lyttelton, April 5. Arrived (Saturday): Wahine 7.10 a.nu from Wellington; Maui Pomare 9.25 p.m. from Niue. Arrived (Sunday): Maori 6.50 a.m. from Wellington; New Zealand 7.10 a.m. from Wellington; Ashburton 8.35 a.m. from Wellington; Kartigi 10.30 a.m. from Wellington ; Waikouaiti 10.35 from Dunedin. Sailed (Saturday): Wakakura 10.50 a.m. for Akaroa; Foxton 12.20 p.m. for Foxton; Kahika 5.30 p.m. for Wellington; Golden Coast 4.30 p.m. for Dunedin; Holmdale 6.30 p.m. for Wellington; Kuku 7.30 p.m. for Wellington; Wahine 8.15 p.m. for Wellington. Dunedin, April 5. Sailed (April 4): Waikouaiti 4.10 p.m. for Lyttelton; Breeze 6.30 p.m. for Timaru. Arrived (April 5): Golden Coast 4.45 p.m. from Lyttelton. Southampton, April 3. Sailed: Port Dunedin. Curacao, April 3. Sailed: Mataroa. London, April 3. Sailed: Rotorua, Balboa, April 3. Sailed: Gallic. New York, April 3. Sailed: Canadian Transporter.