H.—l9a,

1873. NEW ZEALAND.

EIGHTH REPORT OF THE MARINE DEPARTMENT FOR, THE YEAR ENDED 30TH JUNE, 1873.

Presented to both Souses of the General Assembly by command of Sis Excellency.

Office of the Commissioner of Customs, Wellington, 19th September, 1873. Sir,— I do myself the honor to transmit herewith for your Excellency's information, the Report of the Marine Department of this Colony for the Financial Year ended on the 30th June last. With regard to that part of the Report which refers to the necessity for erecting a Lighthouse at the entrance to Tory Channel, I desire to state that it is the intention of the Government, before the close of the present Session, to ask the Legislature to grant the necessary funds for the erection of this light, as also for the erection of lights at the places named below, which are considered to be urgently required for the safe navigation of the coasts of the Colony:—Cape Maria Van Diemen, Moko Hinouj Islands, Portland Island, Cape Saunders, Western entrance to Foveaux Strait and Cape Foulwind. I have, &c, To His Excellency the Right Hon, Sir James Fergusson, Bart., William H. Reynolds. Governor of New Zealand.

Customs Department (Marine Branch), Sir, — Wellington, 28th August, 1873. I have the honor to submit the following report on the Marine Department for the year ended on the 30th June 1873, accompanied by the usual financial and other returns:— 2. Lighthouses. —During the past year the Lighthouses have all been maintained in an efficient state, and they are now well supplied with oil and other stores. But two changes have taken place in the staff of lightkeepers, viz., one Assistant Keeper, C. H. Regnart, resigned ; and another, J. Murphy, whose services had to be dispensed with on account of his suffering from a diseased knee, resulting from an old injury, which rendered him latterly quite unfit for service. To fill these vacancies a Second Assistant Keeper (A. McKinlay) was promoted to be Assistant Keeper, and a new Assistant Keeper (F. Ericson) was appointed. Material for fencing has been supplied to the Keepers at Cape Campbell, to fence in the reserve at the end of the Cape. The greater part of the fence has been already erected by the Keepers themselves; when completed it will add greatly to their comfort by enabling them to keep a cow or two, and a few sheep. As a comparatively small sum spent for the same purpose would confer the same benefit on the Keepers at many of the other stations I think this expenditure should be sanctioned at once. In my last report I alluded to the proposed use of kerosene oil in Lighthouses. Some valuable information, received from Commander G. P. Heath, Portmaster at Brisbane, and from the Deputy Minister of Marine and Fisheries of Canada, induced the Department, in ordering the light for Manukau and a small light for the Provincial Government of Napier, to suggest to the engineers in Great Britain who superintended the construction of the lantern and apparatus, that lamps to burn kerosene should be adopted; they recommended that Captain Doty's patent burners should be used, and these have accordingly been ordered. It is probable that, 'ere long, the whole of the Lighthouses in New Zealand may be made to burn kerosene, which not only gives a much brighter I—H. 19a.