MORE ON THE MARINE BOARD'S MANAGEMENT.

Colonist, Volume VIII, Issue 770, 10 March 1865, Page 2

MORE ON THE MARINE BOARD'S MANAGEMENT.

(From The Colonist, February 24)

Frequently since the passing of the first and abortive Marine Board Act by the Assembly of New Zealand in 1865, reference has been made in these columns to the impolicy of creating such an expensive staff of officials, and of levying the heavy light dues on shipping which that Act contemplated, and which, under the new act the Marine Board has fixed, and now charge through the Customs. We wrote more particularly on the subject of light-dues early in the present month, and we are pleased to see that some of our contemporaries are now taking up the subject. What is wanted now is that business-men, shipowners, merchants and others more intimately connected with shipping should bring pressure to bear on the Ministry, and, through them and the members for the various localities, on the Assembly, in order to procure a large reduction of the light dues as now charged, and a total remission of such dues at ports where no light exists, or to reach which no lighthouse is used by ships entering.

A Wellington contemporary, treats very pointedly of the composition and powers exercised by the Marine Board, which is a subject capable of bearing a good

deal more disquisition. The best evidence of ability in any. corporate body is to be found in its works. The works of the Marine Board for the most part do not appear to be of a kind calculated to inspire faith in its competency to exercise wisely the very large powers which the act bestows on its mern-i bers. Passing from the light dues, which are certainly no monument of the Board's good judgment, the site of the lighthouse in one of the most important and much frequented parts of the New Zealand waters,'namely,—Cook's Strait,—is of itself a gross blunder. Mana island is rarely seen, and captains of steamers which pass through Cook's Strait six or eight times a month, inform us that if in their passage from one port to another, they wished to see Mana lighthouse, they would have to go in search of it! Mana island lies in front of Porirua harbor, and is so close to the coast, that vessels going from the South to Wellington along the East Coast, never see it at all; and it is scarcely of any value to ships even if it were visible when going to and from that port by way of the French Pass. Moreover, to steer for the light in bad weather during westerly winds, if driven within view of it, would be to place themselves in danger of a lee shore, as it lies in the bight which the coast there forms. Nautical men, of large experience all over the world, unite in affirming that the erection of a lighthouse on Mana island is utter waste of public money, for it can be hardly of any service to the shipping trade of the colony. It is usual for careful official enquiries to be made in the case of lighthouses to be erected, as to what places most require these beacons; and this is done in Great Britain by a Board composed of gentlemen who are themselves well qualified to judge, and have the best assistance that the first nautical nation in the world can afford them. Judging from the out-of-the-way place in which the only light in Cook's Strait (except that on Pencarrow Head), is situated, it would seem as if our Marine Board had made no enquiries at all, but in the light of their own private wisdom, had gone as far as was possible from the sailing line invariably followed by vessels which pass through the Strait, making the light useful only to vessels running between Wellington and Wanganui. About three miles from the most easterly point of land on the Middle Island are two rocks termed the Brothers, and had one of these been selected as the site of the new light in the Strait, there would have been good sense and sound judgment in the choice. These rocks are about twenty miles in a south-westerly direction from Mana island, and in every respect offer advantages for a lighthouse site infinitely superior to any possessed by Mana Island. Vessels coming from the South to Picton, Wellington, or Nelson, open up the line of the Brothers when passing Cape Campbell, while the Mana is hopelessly hid by the high lands of Cape Terawiti. And on the passage from Nelson, either by rounding Stephen's Island, or going through the French Pass, or coming an over-sea voyage from Australia or elsewhere, if bound to Wellington, a light on the Brothers would be a prominent and more readily seen object to steer from, and far safer as a beacon than ever the light on Mana will become. A site equally good with that of the Brothers, is on Cape Terawiti, which is a promontory forming the most westerly point of the North Island, and from which the Brothers is situated about fifteen miles due west. A light on this Cape would be, like one on the Brothers, visible a long distance at sea by vessels entering the Strait from either side. But Mana is entirely hidden to ships coming from the South, while those from the North are generally too far from it for the light to be of any actual service. And so the money goes away. The really useful is passed over by a Board with powers too great, while costly experiments are made with the public money, resulting in next to no service to the public, and a tax as unwarrantable as it is unbusiness-like, and from its very terms arguing incapacity on the part of those whose undue powers called it into being. A light on one of the Brothers, or on Cape Terawiti, and one on the Farewell Sandspit, with, perhaps, years hence, one on Mana, when every other important place had been supplied, the navigation of Cook's Strait would be rendered safe and secure in the darkest nights to the greatest strangers on the coasts. Till that is done, the light on Mana will remain a monument of the maritime folly of the New Zealand Governmeut and its subordinates.

We hope to see some of the leading merchants of this province taking steps in concert with those of other provinces to obtain a reduction of the light dues nowexacted in New Zealand, and a total abolition of those leviable in Nelson and Marlborough on vessels which do not pass anylight on their way to the ports of these provinces. ■