A TRIP IN THE GOVERNMENT BRIG.

Wellington Independent, Volume VI, Issue 484, 1 June 1850, Page 2

A TRIP IN THE GOVERNMENT BRIG.

To the Editor of the " Independent. , '

Sir, —As the Government Brig is public property, (nothwithstanding her having been so long employed as a sort of pleasure yacht by the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, while the public business was standing still for want of her,) and as she costs the colony somewhere about £2,000 a year, with an ocsional £2,000 or £3,000 more for repairs, it may not be uninteresting to your readers to learn something of the way in which this portion of the puhlic property is administered, and I shall therefore by way of illustration give you a short account of her last voyage from Nelson to this place. On the morning of Friday, the 24th. inst., the wind being fresh, and fair for Wellington, the brig got out of the bar-; bour about 8 o'clock, but came to an an-' chor outside for the purpose of taking on board a valuable horse belonging to one of the passengers. As soon as this was 1 effected, the anchor was got up and the vessel stood off and on till about noon, < when her passengers went off to her in the Custom"House boat. They consisted of Mr. Justice Chapman aud his son, Mr and Mrs, Fox, Mr. Woodhouse, and Mr. i Hart. While standing off and on, as before mentioned, the wind being moderately fresh, she carried away her jib, and having only one suit of sails, it could not be replaced with another. All the rest of her sails looked wretchedly thin and had been patched till, like Sir Christopher Hatton's stockings, there was more new than old in them. Some of them, however, did not appear to have undergone the patching process, but afforded a clear look out through both sides. I heard that she had carried away two other sails on her voyage up to Nelson. The main-yard was now squared and we ran cheerily out of Blind Bay, rounding Stephen's Island soon after sun-set. The wind now fell light and we hoped to see the stunsails hoisted, but on enquiring why it was not done, were informed ,that there was not such a thing on board So we continued'to saif along at a knot or two less ttian we mig&t have made if we had possessed that additional canvass. Had the Government been worth stunsails we should have made Cape Terawiti by mid-day on Saturday, and been snug at an anchor in Port Nicholson by sunset. As it was, however, before we could round the Cepe we were caught in a South-easter, which came up with thunder, lightning, and rain, just after the sun had gone down. Had such canvass as we had, been trust-worthy, we might still have held our own, or perhaps, have obtained refuge in the Sound. But it being entirely unfit to show before a gale, the old rags had to be brailed up, the helm put hard a lee. and away we drifted back again through the Straits, Next morning we were well to the westward of Stephen's Island and before mid-day, half-way across Blind Bay, Here we kicked about all Sunday afternoon and night and great part of Monday, till.the wind moderating towards, afternoon, we again made sail. On Tuesday morning we got clear of Stephen's Island, and with light wind pursued on course once more through the Straits. The breeze was light, unci with stun-

sails a good log might have been made, and Terawiti rounded before dark. But owing again to the want of them we wore a second time caught by a South-easter, when just within hail of " the Brothers ;" and a second time we clewed up the old rawed canvass, and went bodily drifting to leeward for the night. Fortunately the gale did not last so long as the previous, one, and we did nut drift farther than about half-way back again to where we had come from. On Wednesday the gale began to subside and by noon we made sail for We<U -iiugton, beating against a light southerly wind. At sunset it fell calm, and a light westerly wind springing up we succeeded in reaching Wellington the following morning, and came to anchor about 9 A. M. It will, perhaps, bo expected that having taken such especial pains to keep the brig at sea five or six times as long as she need have been, had she been properly found in sails, the Government would take great care to.secure the comfort of the passengers during their-invo-luntary imprisonment, by furnishing a oomfortable table, and by making other provision for their wants. You will be surprised to hear that so far from such beiug the case, there is probably not a coasting schooner of 15 tons, with her twe men and a boy, that does not afford a more comfortable provision for the ; wants of her passengers.

Oa leaving Nelson all the fresh meat we had on board was three wild pigeons and one small and lean sheep. All the soft bread was four or five loaves which hod been on board for more than a wetk, a-id'before we were at sea two clays were uneatable from mould. The vegetables: consisted of a few yellow cabbages and some potatoes. And though the brig had lain afortnight at Nelson, where agricultural produce is so cheap and plentiful, there was not a fowl, an egg, nor a morsel of fresh batter, a drop of milk, or any other of the commonest articles of a plain and simple diet. Our first days dinner, which was for eight.persons, consisted of three small pigeons, a little piece of rancid colonial salt pork, a eabbnge.and a few potatoes, followed for second course by one of Chose indigestible commodities called '• a plum dough." Next day the place of the pigeons was supplied by a small piece of lean mutton, and the place of the pork by a small piece of hard lean mahogany colored salt beef, such as sailors in the forecastle know by the name of salt horse. Three following days the bill of fare was the same, the salt horse and the salt hog, on alternate days. On following day fthe last we were out,) our fresh meat being exhausted, we killed a turkey belonging to the Lientenaut-Go-vernor, absolutely to obtain a wholesome' meal, the horse and hog being voted uneatable. On no other day was there fresh meat enough for the dinner of uiQiie than half of those who sat down to eat it. ' For drinkables there were exactly two bottles of ale for eight persons and six days ; a few. bottles of something called sherry that tasted like doctor's stuff—and water the colour of which was I'lat of snuff, and its consistency that of glue—being kept in tanks, because the brig has no suffieiejit water casks. The et ceeteras were all In keeping; «racked dishes, broken mustard pot, battered pepper dredgers, albata plate* grimy handled knives, and a steward that you could hardly see for dirt, a consequence, perhaps, of his doing double duty as steward and cook.

The breakfasts were first cousins to the dinners. A cup of bad tea or qoffee without milk, a small 4ish of something composed of potatoes and .scraps of meat, which sailors, I believe, call "lobs scoose," and a basket of * hard tack,' constituted the meal. .

You know.the days are short and the evenings long, and you know how much a book contributes to abridge them on board of ship. The first evening we were at sea, on descending from the. deck where we had been enjoying the contrast between the modest light of the rising moon and the proud glory of the setting sioii, we called for the more domestic candle. There was not a candle on board—not a sperm, not a nratton! " Light the cabin lamp." " It was broken last, voyage." " Get a lamp of some sort, then." " I don't know where to find one," was the Steward's answer. At last he discovered a sort of cross between a chamber candlestick and a scullery lamp, the latter attached to the farmer by a .string dripjmig with train oil, which he set 'before us. An -addition to this elegant candelabrum was made a night or two after, by an invention of the groom in attendance on the horse above referred to. It consisted of the lower portion of a beer bottle filled with what he termed " cook's slush," in which was fixed a wick of rag. The smoke it emit-, ted was α-ather -unpleasant,' but on the whole we had what the correspondent of the Morning Post, in describing a fashionable rout, calls " a blaze of light." By the united aid of the two lamps, we contrived for the remainder of thp voyage to indulge our literary taste. I assure you, upon my honour, that there is not a word of exaggeration in the above. , I have given you the names of the passengers. I am certain they will verify every word .1 have written.

As to the "salt horse " und " salt hoe" I will give you ocular demonstration. { enclose you a slice of each, tuken from the breakfast table by myself the last morning I was on board. What do yon think of it as diet for the.Judge, engaged on official duty, for three- gentlemen of respectability, a lady, aud a child of t e}l years old i' I won't ask you if you think it dainty—do you think it wholesome ? Try if your dog will eat it—mine would not. If your's won't, put it in your win (low, and let the public see how the (>«. vernment Brig is supplied with provision for her cabin passengers.

Though the Government brig costs the colony so much money, don't suppose that we had our salt horse, salt hog, ami cook's slush for nothing. For the luxuries provided, we were each charged the modast sum of 7.v. 6d. per day. I have refused to pay; but lest the Government should insinuate I want to save my pocket, { will give the amount, to some public institution better managed than the Brig. 1 think, Sir, you -will agree with me that the Brig is, as one of pur passengers said, an exact type of Colonial Government—excessively costly and utterly inefficient.

Allow me to ask, iv conclusion, what exeu.se can be made for such mismana"ement The Government receives from the revenue between £2,500 and £2,000 a year to tnai/itnin this vessel, and every now and tfoen lays out a thousand or two more in repairs and outfits. It gives to 'her the character of a "Government" vessel, which you would expect to be something like a model yticth or minatiuv mau-of-war. And yet the actual reality is unfit for sea—without-a single complete set of sails. Such as she has are unserviceable—•and her accommodation worse than that of a Newcastle collier or a Dutch lugger. It is a positive fraud on the public, and when tkc Brig is lost, (as lost she certainly will be,) the Government will have to "bear the responsibility of an event which ragged sails, worn blocks, deficient ground tackle, and other faults .will be J.he cause of.

Xor have they an excuse oai the score of ignorance. For three months past the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor htive used this craft to carry them about on their trips of pleasure or recrea-tion. The latter hud a terrific passage in h«r from Auckland, during which she split almost every sail, and was driven off the port thi'ee or lour times.. Yet within three days after his arrival he allows her to g<> to sea again, and to entice .within her dangerous clutches confiding and unsuspicious Tovagers ; and tluit, notwith standing the protests and actual resignation of the master, who was only iiHuct'd to resume his berth on aceoirait of the difficulty of otherwise getting back tv Auckland. As regards the disgraceful state of the dietary, we believe tlieir Excellencies provides! iUeir own stares, -and may have been ignorant of it, though their doing so i«ap'lie-s that they enter-tained-a suspicion of the salt horse and salt hog to which they would otherwise have been condemned. Whose business and. profit the cabin department is, I liave -aotljeen -able -really to learis— whether thatof the Government or the Captain, or whether, as I believe is the case, they "go sHacivs."' Any wa? it is inexcusably bad and unprecedentedly shameful.

hi only i«4€ particular can I afford a single word .of oemmetudaiion in respect of any thin or connected with this "fatal *nd perfidious barque." The obliging conduct of Captain Puiham and his chief officer Mr. Deck, {indeed, as for as I had opportunity to observe, of all on board,) is an agreeable exception to the general badness of the .concern in all other particulars. I e-ncloee ray card for your pmate information, and remain, Sir, Your obedient servant, A PaSSKNGEU BY THE GoyKRJJMKXT Wellington, May 30,1850. To the Editor of the IVullingtoit liidcpendrnt. Sfr, —Perlmps α-ou have observed, within the last six months, n peculiar looking auimal .which hituuts our beach .and a Tueigbbanrliig gully, where sweet sounds are sometimes lieard, and nre α-ware of its particularly obnoxious behaviour, especially to females. As I have been much anno.yed :by the suid nnimal, I conceive that the most likely wny to Ret rid of the nuisance is to bring it before the public, tliroiigh the medium of your well circulated paper. In order to gratify your scientific readers, ns the nnimal is rtlmost a " Rara Avis'" in these parts, aud to afford the public .clmvneteristics by which they mny recognise it, I have applied to n learuid friend j who is skilled in Zoology, and he has given the following classification— 'Genus—gent., allied to the Moses family. 'Species—Worn-out Kegenl-sireet swell. Class—Uncertain. j Habits—Ogling, drinking brandy .mil water, aud demifying. General Apiicarance—Siugulaily coloured g ftr ' m.Riils., .and peculiarly out.: youthful, yet oW. One other word of-warning,.aud I shall close. I have heard it hinted that there is an attempt .being made to add.this animal to the too numerous collection whicli is now in our public Menagerie, and, as I consider tho public " wittals'" —vitnls —are too ranch preyed upon already, I hope you will be ready to give one of your powerful remonstrances against a Ivvy being luiil on the people, or support tosncll a nuisance. • T am, yours, &c, A Fathek- op a Famm.v, '■Wellington, May IK), JOGD,

To the Editor of the Wellington Independent. Sin,—Many months have now elapsed since the great "flax raiiuia" existed in this settlement. ' At that time, I was-much pleased to hear that a com pany was in course of formation, for the purpose of miking the flux a profitable article for exportation. What hits become, of the '• Company," or the speculations of private enterprise, I'know not? But this much I do know, that if private enterprise •ceases to exist, the" Company" should nut. It is a shame that the merchants and settlers of this province do not do something f,, r the purpose of developing the natural resources of their adopted Country. While Bill was puzzling his brains to tfnd out the secret to,destroy the g.nn, and Harry, in like manner, making " Models," I heard, Jim) kept silent, and applied myself to the simple method of the natives, and after the lapse of five ■mouths, I can without any hesitation state, that the flax is not a failure ; and any Gentleman who will ■take the trouble to visit my yard, (near the wind mill, on Te Aro Flat,) can there have occult demonstration of the fact, that it is yet a safe spec. Early in December, 184=9, I cut some P/wrmiiim Tenujc, and put it in a hole of water to steep. Several times since then I have taken out a blade, and rubbed it in my.liands, and found that the •who eof the extraneous matter .was destroyed. J took it all out of the water last week, and imagine it requires very little more than being hackle°d to .bring it to perfection. If our community is a speculative one, I would ,advis3 them to venture,Os., 10\>., or even :20s. each, ; tti:eurding to their means, for the purpose of ereciing a small machine, to be turned bya water-wheel •53 or 14 feet in diameter, to be attended to by three iioys. The cost will be only £ ,0, and supposing the sujscribers never receive any return the loss will not be so much as is.often collected for less useful .purposes. I bent some of the flax that I Lad steepe.l yestcrlay, for about four hou's, and I have cleaned Lelweeu 10 and 50 lbs. of it fit for market. The •flax cleaned for experiment by the machine miglit be sold to pay the boys attending it, so that in case .of a failure, xhe firsL expense would be the only one. if my circumstances would enable me, I would have aio hesitation in trying the experiment, so confident *tn I of its success. John- Howe, Fellmoijgor, Te Aro.