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power is given to make regulations for granting licenses to take seals, and it is provided that any person taking seals without a license shall be liable to a penalty of not exceeding £100 for every seal so taken. No regulations have yet been made, and it has not yet been decided when an open season shall be prescribed. Reference was made in last year's report to a request made to the Admiral of the station to despatch H.M.S. "Rapid" to the Auckland and Campbell Islands, with the view of preventing the Norwegian vessel " Antarctic " from taking seals at those islands. The " Rapid " reached Campbell Islands on the 20th June, 1894, and found the " Antarctic " and ketch " Gratitude " there. The Commander reported that no seals were found when he boarded the "Antarctic," which was apparently engaged in whaling. Five men from the " Gratitude " were living on shore, ostensibly prospecting for gold. It was stated that they belonged to a firm who are searching for gold at Macquarie Island. Copies of the Proclamation extending the close season for seals were placed on board both vessels, and also in conspicuous places on shore. The "Rapid" returned to New Zealand via the Chatham Islands, for the purpose of inquiring as to the possible loss there of the missing vessel " Crest of the Wave," but no tidings of that vessel could be obtained. The department is under obligations to the Admiral, and the Commander of the " Rapid," for these valuable services. Weather Beporting. —The duties in connection with weather forecasts have been efficiently carried out by Captain Edwin, who has also continued to perform the duties of Examiner of Masters and Mates. Government Steamers. —The " Hinemoa " has been fully employed during the year. She has performed the usual work of periodically visiting the lighthouses with oil and stores, and of overhauling and cleaning the buoys on the coast and in the principal harbours under the control of the department; also erecting and repairing beacons, &c. In addition to this work she has paid one visit to the Kermadec Islands, to search for castaways, and inspect the depots of provisions and clothing which are maintained there. She has also made her two ordinary trips to the Auckland, Campbell, Antipodes, and Bounty Islands on similar service, and has made a special trip to the Southern Islands, and to the Chatham Islands, with His Excellency the Governor. During the year she steamed 33,839 miles, was 4,071 hours under steam, consumed 1,871 tons of coal, landed 142 tons of coal at lighthouses, &c, carried 2,169 tons of cargo, and cleaned, painted, and re-laid 116 buoys. In connection with the work of the vessel I may remark that she does a large amount of work for Government departments, but that the Railway Department is the only one which pays for it. On the advice of the Principal Engineer Surveyor, a set of Stone's patent bronze propeller blades has been procured from the builders of the vessel, and it is anticipated that a material increase in speed will be obtained when they are fitted on. At the same time as this is done the vessel will receive a general overhaul, and some necessary repairs will be carried out. The " Stella " has been laid up during the year. The "Pilot" has been brought from Kaipara to Wellington. She was built for harbour work at Kaipara, but in consequence of arrangements having been made for this work to be done by one of the Northern Union Steamboat Company's steamers she is no longer required there. She was offered for sale before leaving Kaipara but no satisfactory offers were received. She was towed down by the "Hinemoa,'' and has been used in the survey of the Inner Passage at Jackson's Head, and the outlying dangers off the Beef-barrel Rocks at the French Pass. After the completion of the surveys she was laid up in Wellington Harbour, and was offered for sale by public tender, but none of the tenders received reached the reserve which had been put upon her. During the heavy gale at Easter she broke adrifc from her moorings alongside the " Stella," and went ashore near Kaiwarra. She has since been launched and repaired, and will shortly be offered for sale by public auction. Coastal Surveys. —A survey of the Inner Passage at Jackson's Head, at the entrance to Queen Charlotte Sound, has been made by Mr. Thomas Perham, Assoc. M.I.C.E. This was a difficult work to carry out, owing to the prevalence of high winds and the strong current which sets through the passage. Even in calm weather it was impossible to work, except for a short time at high and low water, owing to the strength of the current. The s.s. " Pilot " was used in the survey, and Mr. Perham succeeded in finding and locating on the chart the rocks on which the s.s. " Hawea " and " Hinemoa " struck, besides other rocks, the most dangerous of which was one near the centre of the passage, with only 3J fathoms of water on it at low-water spring-tides. A plan of the survey has been sent to the Hydrographer to the Admiralty, in order that the necessary corrections may be made in the Admiralty chart; and a notice to mariners, giving the result of the survey, has been published. Mr. Perham also made a survey of the reefs which were discovered by Captain Fairchild running out from the Beef-barrels at the French Pass, and a plan of this survey has been forwarded to the Admiralty. Captain Fairchild has since placed the buoy in such a position as to mark the ends of both reefs. Wrecks and Casualties. —A table showing an analysis of the casualties reported is attached. Those on the coast of the colony number forty-one, representing 9,850 tons, as against thirty-five casualties affecting 9,599 tons in the previous year. The number of total wrecks within the colony was thirteen, of 2,049 aggregate tonnage, as against eleven vessels of 2,405 aggregate tonnage in the previous year. The number of lives lost during the year was 151, as against twenty-five in the previous year: of these, 150 were on or near the coasts of the colony—namely, four from the " Crest of the Wave" (all hands), three from the "Paku," three from the " Alexander Newton," four from the " Dunedin " (all hands), five from the "Christine" (all hands), four from the " Catlin " (all hands), 126 from the s.s. " Wairarapa," and one from the " Comet." The life lost beyond the colony was from the " Auckland." The saddest feature in connection with the wrecks during the year was the loss of the s.s. " Wairarapa," which, according to the decision of the Court of Inquiry, was caused through the