TELEGRAMS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3224, 13 June 1871, Page 2

TELEGRAMS.

PICTON : 11th, 5.35 p m. — Ahuriri, from Wellington, 12th, 2 a.m. Ahuriri, for Nelson. Napiee: 12th, 6 a.m. — Wellington, from Wellington. Nelson: 12fcb, 1 p.m.— Ahuriri, from Picton. South Spit Wapiur : 12th, 5.30 p.m.— Lord Ashley, from Wellington. The 8.9. Claud Hamilton, 800 tons, J. WClark, commander, arrived here early yesterday morning. She cleared Port Phillip Heads at 6.30 p.m. on the Ist instant ; experienced light; W. and N.W. winds, arrived off Hokitika at 9 p.m. on the 7th ; left G-reyraouth for Nelson at 2 p.m. on the Bth, and arrived at 5 a.m. on the 10th ; left at 4 a.m. on the 11th, and arrived off the Heads at 10 p.m. on the same day. The collision (says the ''Argus" of the 27th ulfc.,) between the s.b. Dandenong and Bteamtug Hercules in tho Yarra on Thursday night was the subject of au inquiry before the Steam Navigation Board yesterday. Only two witnesses, the mate of the Hercules and the man who was at tho wheel at the time of the accident, were examined ; but they were a long while giving their evidence. According to their version of the occurrence, the collision was caused by the Dandenong taking too wide a sweep of the bend, whioh brought her right over to the north aido of the river, tho side that belonged to the Hercules. The statements made on the Dandenong side of the question were to the effect that tho Dandenong wus on her own side of the river, and that the collision was solely owing to the sudden sheer of the Hercules, which they attributed to the starboarding of her helm ; whereas if she had kept straight on, there was plenty of room for her to pass on her proper side. The inquiry stands adjourned. Alfred Jasper, chief officer of the barque India T?aa fined £10 and costs at the Hobart Town Police Court on the IGth inst, for keeping or concealing six bottles of geneva and 18 Jba of tobacco, on which duty had not been paid. The ketch Foam, Captain Ashburn, left Lyitelton on May 5, with a cago of oats for Hokitika. On the 13th when eight miles from Greymouth she met with a heavy gale, and on the 14th a sea struck her carrying away the mizenmast; port cathead, bulwarks, and Biuashed the boat. On the 24th sprung her bowsprit, and kept away for Nelson for repairs, when off the Spit lost the jibsail in a squall and having then no command she run on the Spit where she now lies a wreck. Captain Walker, of the Lady Barkly, having seen the Foaro on the Spit, kindly brought over her crew to Nelson this morning. — "Nelson Mail," 2nd inst. The Victorian iron clad Cerberus was moved over to the railway pier from tho breakwater on the 2nd to tho shears, to have the masts taken out of her. Tho work of dismantling her is being prosecuted vigorously. By the schooner Jessie Kelly, which arrived from New Caledonia yesterday, wo have received news of tho wreck of tho schooner Emma Paterson, Captain Edgar, hence to that port. She left Sydney on the 2ud April, and was lost on a coral reef 30 miles from Noumea, on the 25th, through her missing stays. Five of the crew left the wreck on the 27th in a whaleboat, and are supposed to have perished, as the boat was picked up near Noumea on the Bth May, full of water, with several Gsh, a human hand, and two feet in her. Captain Edgar was taken off the wreck by the schooner Bronzewing, which arrived in Noumea on the 9th instant. — " Sydney Morning Herald," May 25. Admiralßous has aentaletter tothe "Times" about the loss of the Captain and other naval matters, which, discloses the curious fact that in 1834 a Bhip whioh he commanded was paid off, and tho crew dispersed, because ho refused to mike a false report of the qualities of the ship. He made one report, and was advised in a friendly way to make another. He refused, and tho result mentioned followed. With regard to the inquiry into the loss of the Captain, the admiral says the finding should have been — " Lost by the officer of the watch not knowing how to shorten sail or keep, bis men on deck." He adds :— " Tho truth is, the boiler has emasculated seamanship. No man can serve two masters— he will hold to tho tea-kettlo and despise the canvas. You can no more rear a seaman on a steamev than on the Bridgewater canul, and in ten yearß time

the British seaman will be a rare bird among the sailors in tho Royal Navy." He tells us that his experience in naval matters " harks back" to 1808.

The Newcastle correspondent of tho "Sydney Morning Herald" writes :— " It is a long time since our harbor looked so empty of shippiug — not a vessel at tho cranes, and ODly two schooners at tho A. A. Company's, and oight vessels in tho stream ; should there be no arrivals to-day, our port will be almost completely bare of shipping. There is a brig, tho Maggie, and one of the dredges on the slip, and some seventeen lighters, all lying idle at anchor near the sandbank. Of course, all tho coal trimoiers are walking about— nothing for them to do ; and the poor miners aro as badly off, many only receiving two or three days' pay during the last fortnight. Our storekeepers are all complaining of the general dulness of the times, and unless a reaction soon takes place, and our accustomed trade at this season of the year returns, much distress must inevitably prevail. Such a circumstance as tho whole of the cranes being idle at one time, and all the coal berths empty, I do not think has happened since their construction. I am given to understand very largo orders for coal have been received, but it is impossible to execute them for want of shipping ; scarcely any tonnage is to be had in any of tho colonies. This is a contrast to a few years einco, when wo had 19 full-rigged ships in port, besides some 70 or 80 barques, brig 3, and schooners, It is to be hoped we shall soon havo a belter 6tate of things."