TELEGRAMS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2630, 1 February 1868, Page 4

TELEGRAMS.

Lyttelton, January 30. Sailed — 6.55 p.m., Comerang, for Timaru. Port Chalmers, January 30. Arrived— B a.m., Pfiel, from Foo-chow-foo. January 31. j Arrived — 8 a.m., Banshee, from Pictoa ; Queen of the Isles, from Auckland. Bluff, January 31. ' Arrived — 8 a.m., Gothenburg, from Melbourne. Hokitika, January 31. Sailed — 1 a.m , Crest of the Wave, for Dunedin. Greymouth, January 31. Sailed — Midnight, Bruce, for Westport. Arrived — Early, Persevere, from Hokitika; Kennedy, from Nelson. + The 8.8. Rangatira, Captain Seymour, arrived in harbor at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon. She left Dunedin at 7 a.m. on the 29th ; arrived at Lyttelton at 4 a.m. on the 30th ; sailed at. 6 p.m., and arrived here as above. Had fine weathor and smooth eea throughout tho voyage. She brings 19 passengers. The barque Fanny Fisher, hence the 9th January, arrived at Sydney on tho 22nd. She had heavy weather on the passage.

The ship Wild Duck hauled out into the stream yesterday morning. During the last two days she hus shipped nearly 500 bales of wool, and has now between 900 and 1000 bales on board..

Tho s.s. Egmont is at present laid up in this port, and her crew and firemen have been discharged. She will, it is txpected, bo able shortly to resume her services.

An attempt was made yesterday morning to tow. the Lady Bird, which has been lying for some months at the back of the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company's offices, into the stream, by means of the s.s. Ahuriri, but it was found impossible to do so, swing to the Lady Bird being firmly imbedded in the mud, and after a vast dusl of tugging, the attempt was given over. The 8.8. Auckland, Captain Harris, arrived at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon from Sydney vid Nelson. She left the latter port at midnight on Thursday and brings Sydney files to the 23rd.

The subjoined notices to mariners have been published : — Frith of Thames, Hauraki Gulf. — Harbor Office, Auck'and, Ist January, 1868. — Buoy in Sandspit Passage, P< nui.— Notice is hereby given that a can buoy (ra 1) has been placed on the end of tho Spit ruiniing out N.E. from the Island of Ponui. The buoy is moored in twelve (12) feet of water at low water spring tides on the following compass bearings : — Northern extreme of Ponui, E. $ N. ; high peak of Pakiki, B.W. £W. The channel between the buoy and Ponui is a cable's length in width, and has a depth of three to three nnd a half fathoms at low water. — I. J. Burgess, Port Master. — Light at Jacob's River, Fovenux Strait. — Notice to bout men frequenting the Port of Riverton. — On and after the first day of March next, a red light will be shown on the South Head, near the flugstaif, from sunset till sunrise. This light will show the position of the South Bead, but it is not intended as a guide for clearing the sandspit lying off it.— Thos. Thompson, Hurbor Master.

One of those casualties which fortunately have not been of frequent occurrence lately near Port Philip Heads— namely, the total loss pf a large ship, almost within sight of her destination, after a voyage of some 18,000 miles — took plnce at an early hour on Thursday morning, the 16th Jan., about, a mile west of Point Lonsdale. Tho ship was the Light of tho Age, a fine clipper of 1300 tons, and was under the command of Captain Porter. She left Liverpool on the 13th of October, and, from her well-known sailing qualities, was expected to make a rapid passage out here. She had a very large cargo, consisting chiefly of salt, slates, iron, iron ;tipen, hardware, nnd malt liquors, and had also on board two cabin pnssengers — Miss Hampshire and Miss M'Candish — and fortythree in the steerage. She was in company wiili the Dover Castle on the 14th, and early on tho morning of the 16th the look-out on board ,the pilot schooiier Rip, which was at that time in mid-channel, descried a light to the westward, and mnde towards it, showing flash lights every five minutes. These lights were exhibited until about a quarter past two a.m., and the Rip burnt blue lights ut intervals. The wind had been south- easterly and moderate, but the weather became thick and rainy, and it was difficult to see more than a mile and a half or so ahead. On

board the pilot schooner it was thought that the ship was on shore, and to guard against the Rip running into Bimilar danger, it was decided to send a boat to the vessel to ascertain her position. A boat, in charge of Mr Pilot Draper, wbb lowered, and in about an hour he returned, and stated that the ship Light of tho Age had gone on shore and was bilged, and that Captain Porter wished them to Rend to Queenscliff for assistance. After n brief consultation amongst the pilots, it was deemed that the most judicious course, in case of bad weather coming on, would be at once to convey the passengers from tho wreck onboard the Kip, and this wus done chiefly by the boats of the latter, in charge of Pilots Rich and Draper. The work was one of no small difficulty, but was successfully accomplished, and the passengers — forty-five in number were taken on board. After placing a pilot on board the Dover Castle, Mr Pilot Caught, in charge of the Rip, steered to Queenscliff, to get provisions for the passengers, and was tben instructed by Mr J. Guthrie, In-spector-General of Customs, to take tho passengers right on to Melbourne, where they arrived in the afternoon, the agents of the vessel, Messrs Loriruer, Marwood, and Rome, having made every arrangement for their reception Before tho passengers left the ship the masts had gone by the board, and it is stated that at eight a.m. the pumps showed fifteen feet of water in the hold. On receipt of the intelligence in town the steam-tugs Resolute and Titan were dispatched by their owners to the scene of tho wreck, to render whatever assistance they could give. The steam tug Warhawk, with Mr Lorimer and Lloyd's agent, and one or two other gentlemen, also left the bay for the Heads later in the day. Tho Titan wns expected back again last night, in order to take down a lighter, and a number of men, to be employed in saving as much, as the cargo as could be got at. [The Light of tho Age is described in Lloyd's Register as a barque of 520 tons burthen, built in 1863, and hailing from Bristol.] — Argus The report of the inquiry into the wreck of the brig Mountain Maid, which happened on the Buller bar in September last has been published in the Gazette. Mr Kynnersley recommends that the master's certificate be cancelled.

Tho clipper ship Edward P. Bouverie, one of Messrs Patrick Henderson & Co's line of Clyde packets, arrived off Port Chalmers Heads from Glasgow, on Sunday afternoon, bavins* made a fine passage of 93 days. She brings 113 passeugers. The crew of the ship Campbell, of Leith, 675 tons, which has arrived in tho Clyde from Moulmein, with teakwood, have been singularly unfortunate. While on her passage from this country to Bombay, the master, Captain GK W. Roy, died from the effect of an overdose of laudanum taken to relieve pain ; he was suffering from internal inflamation. He wns twenty-eight year 3 of age, and belonged to Dundee. James Laurie, an ordinary seaman, aged sixteen years, belonging to Liverpool, foil from tho maintopsail-yard and fractured his skull. He died next day. George Matthews, an ordinary seaman, aged twenty years, belonging to London, was washed overboard by a heavy 6ea on the passage home. James M'Lellan, a seaman, nged twenty-one years, belonging to Greenock, was drowned at Moulme-in by the scaffolding giving way as he and two other men were painting the ship's side. The other two men were picked up. — Scotsman.