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Station 238 : After hauling up at station 237, decided to trawl across to Farewell Spit. Steamed 12 miles, and shot the net for the next haul at 11.50 a.m., the position being—lat. 39° 41' S., long. 173° 25' E. The depth was 61 fathoms, and bottom soft mud. Towed S.S.W. for an hour and a half, 5 miles, and hauled up in 62 fathoms from the same bottom. The result of this haul was almost a blank, the only fish in the net being 6 kingfish and 2 tarakihi. Station 239 : Steamed on the same course 10 miles from last station, and shot the net for the next haul at 3 p.m., in 60 fathoms, soft-mud bottom, the position being—lat. 39° 59' S., long. 173° 12' E. Towed on the same course S.S.W. for an hour arid a half, and hauled up in 60 fathoms, bottom mud. This haul was also a very poor one, consisting of a few kingfish and tarakihi. Lay-to for the night. November 22. —Station 240 : Shot the net for the first haul to-day at 7.30 a.m., the position being —lat. 40° 12' S., long. 173° 1' E. ; depth 65 fathoms, and bottom soft mud. Towed S.S.W. for an hour and a half, and hauled up in 68 fathoms from soft-mud bottom. This haul was also very poor. After hauling up at last station, steamed in towards Farewell Spit, taking soundings about every half-hour. Station 241: The net was shot for the next haul at 3.15 p.m., 9 miles N.W. xN. from Farewell Spit Light; depth 36 fathoms, bottom fine sand. Towed S.W. xW. for 5 miles, and hauled up at 5 p.m. in 11 fathoms from a fine-sand bottom. This haul gave satisfactory results. Lay-to for the night. November 23.—Station 242 : Steamed down coast 19 miles, and shot the net at 7.15 a.m. 1| miles W. |S. from the south headland of Wanganui Inlet; depth 21 fathoms, fine-sand bottom. Towed E. \N. for 6 miles, and hauled up at 8.50 a.m. in 21 fathoms, and fine-sand bottom. This haul gave a very good variety of fish, but rather poor in quantity, which was rather disappointing, as it was expected that good hauls of flatfish would be obtained off this inlet. Station 243 : Blowing a gale, and heavy sea to the south of Cape Farewell prevented any further work being done off Wanganui Inlet, and we had to steam to the east of the cape, and trawled with wind and sea. The net was shot at 10.15 a.m., 8 miles W. xN. from Farewell Spit Light, in very shallow water, lead only showing 4 fathoms, bottom fine sand. Towed N. xE.\ E. 6 miles, and hauled up at 11.55 a.m. in 8| fathoms from the same character of bottom. This haul was a very poor one as regards quantity generally, but gave a considerable number of soles. Station 244 : Steamed S.E. from last station 7 miles. Shot the net at 1 p.m., 2 miles N.E. from Farewell Spit light; depth 9| fathoms, fine-sand bottom. Towed S.E. for an hour and a half, 6 miles, and hauled up in 13 fathoms from a fine-sand bottom. This haul was fairly satisfactory After hauling up, steamed into Totaranui Bay ; anchored. November 24, Sunday. —Lay at anchor in Totaranui Bay. November 25. —Station 245 : Hove up anchor in Totaranui Bay at 5 a.m., steamed out N.E. 30 miles, and shot the net at 9.40 a.m., 21 miles W. x N. from Stephens Island ; depth 35 fathoms, softmud bottom. Towed N.E. JN. for 4 miles, and hauled up at 11 a.m. in 40 fathoms, the same bottom the net was shot in. This haul yielded very poor results. Station 246 : Weather threatening, with a considerable sea running, making work very difficult. Steamed on the same course, after hauling up, for 28 miles, testing the bottom by sounding with the lead in four places. At 3.10 p.m. decided to try another haul. Shot the net in 47 fathoms on a softmud bottom, the position being—lat. 40° 14' S., long. 174° 11' E. Towed N.E. JN. for an hour and a half, 5 miles, and hauled up in 48 fathoms, soft-mud bottom. This haul was a very poor one, the only fish taken being 22 kingfish. After hauling up, lay-to for the night. November 26. —Weather very bad, with heavy sea running. At 5 a.m. took soundings, which showed a depth of 48 fathoms, and sticky-clay bottom, so, owing to the bad state of the weather and risk of losing nets on such a bottom, I decided to abandon the work for the present and steam for Wellington. Arrived at Wellington 6 p.m. November 27. —Lying in Wellington. Landed fish, and took in stores, &c. November 28. —Left Wellington at 10 a.m. for Cloudy Bay for the purpose of prospecting for oyster-beds, which are reported to exist in that locality. Had a stormy passage across Cook Strait, blowing a W.N.W. gale, with very heavy sea. Anchored for the night in Port Underwood. November 29.' —Station 247 : Hove up anchor in Port Underwood at 7 a.m., and steamed out 8 miles. It was decided to make one haul of the trawl-net in Cloudy Bay before commencing dredging for oysters, and the net was shot at 9.1& a.m. 5 miles north of the Wairau bar, in 7 fathoms, mud bottom. Towed S.E. xE. for 5 miles, and hauled up at 10.50 a.m. in 7| fathoms. The result of this haul was rather poor as regards quantity, but a very good variety was taken. Mter hauling up the trawl-net, commenced prospecting for oyster-beds. Made ten hauls with the oyster-dredge ; found traces of oysters, but failed to locate any bed. Anchored in Port Underwood for the night. November 30. —Hove up anchor in Port Underwood at 6 a.m. Owing to thick, squally weather, and the difficulty of picking up a position from where we left off the previous day, dredging was somewhat delayed; however, at 8 a.m. the weather cleared, and a start was made. Four casts of the dredge were made during the forenoon, but no satisfactory result was obtained. As there seemed little prospect of doing any good here, owing to the dredge being too light and unsuitable for using in such a vessel, I considered it would be only waste of time to remain any longer, and so I decided to leave for the west side of Cook Strait, in order to finish the trawling there. Anchored on Guard's Bank all night. December 1, Sunday. —Lay at anchor in Guard's Bay. December 2. —Station 248 : Hove up anchor in Guard's Bay at 7 a.m., and shot the net there for a haul before going out to the Strait. The net was put over at 7.30 a.m. in 9 fathoms, sand-and-mud bottom, towed 5 miles, the first 2| miles W. x S., and the other 2J miles N.W. xW. Hauled up at