SHIPPING.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 11, 12 July 1873, Page 5

SHIPPING.

■htaJ!^£uW«l* ad « r ' sa y s: - 11 Tl«»*l"wT l«»*l"w been a marked improvement in the shipping trade of the port during the past few weeks, and it shows signs of still SrfMHS" T^Hokitika Steam Tug and Freight Company hTbJn £c522^.Wf&rt«? £ h6 P urchaM <* *» *»g Titan and twVflrst-class sailing vessels show that the Company are determined to lose no time in commencing operations. The Titan arrived at Holdtika on the 24th, having enooTmSwugh Z?W h TZ g r° Ut v o6o 6 v °y?S e fro?n Melbourne, and proved hlrself to bVf cartel SfwSSLJ!? S^&^C? 6 of the Company's fleet of safling vessels, arrived SLJfiffif-2 1 \ *f a l?*l a f ? 1 S*? 0 from Molbourae. She wUI shortly arrive »H?f a + •° adtimber {°f Me Hx>unie. The timber trade of the port U JSL^SEv^ T™* n °- Veß ? 6 } eaving the *«* ta ballast > **«» the exception of those which make aa occasional trip to Qreymouth for coal was some close running between the ship Lucerne and the three-masted =fl|»ner May, both of which are at present in Wellington. The ship sailed from Am Blames, and the schooner from tha Clyde, on the 22nd and 28rd January respectively. They sighted each other off the Canary islands, aod were in company for a week ; they were both to the south of Tasmania on the same day : the Lucerne g^ r * CloC l 0k * 8 S * rait8 > and the M »y fading for the Snares, intending to go south about, but when close to these islands, was oompelled to run away, owing to an adverse gale. She then made her way up the west coast «f the Middle Island, and through Cooks Straits. The Lucerne made the passage in 107 days ; the May in MH» process of lengthening the steamer »t Kilda, which during the last few week^Ras been upon the slip at Smales point, is being rapidly pushed forward, and will probably be completed in a week or two more. When the change has beeu effected, and the boat painted and smartened up. her oldest friend will not know <f? 7^ c lengthening of the vessel will be a great improvement in every respect.— X\ # Xdt XI6VQJ.CL

The barque Hylton Castle, Captain Scott, which arrived at Auckland after a passage of 114 days from D«al, is the pioneer vessel of the Auckland Freight Company, and would doubtless have made a much moie rapid passage but for the bad weather encountered in the Channel. She is a smart-looking vessel of 548 ton* register, and was built at Sunderlaud in 1869. She is classed Al at Lloyd's for 14 years, and is owned by Messrs Briggs & Co. of Suuderland. She brings no passengers, but a full general cargo. Having a quantity of gunpowder on board, she brought up at the powder ground. On discharge of cargo the Hylton Castle will load for London.

A fore-and-aft schooner has been launched from the ship-buildiug yards of Messrs Henderson & Spraggon, Smales point, Auckland. As she glided into the water she was christened "The Ocean" by MiBB Henderson. The following are her dimensions :— Length of keel 51ft, beam Jsft 6in, depth of hold 6ft, register 28 tons. She is lutended for the coasting trade and was built by the builders for their own use After the launch, luck to the vessel and prosperity to her owners was drunk by the compauy assembled. Messrs Henderson & Spraggon intend to lay down a much larger schooner immediately, and contemplate having it completed in about three months. , The screw corvette Pearl, 17 guns, 400-horae power, has been placed in commission. She is commanded by Captaiu Goodenoagh, who succeeds Captain Stirling as Commodore of the Australian Station.

Self-working work is looked on with favor by most people Some of our readera will remember that Admiral Inglefiald invented a plan by which the water wherein a ship floats does the work of Bteering ; and now another invention of great advantage to ships has beeu tried at PI j mouth with results that look very much like success. Foul -water aud foul air in the lower part of a ship are offensive, and often prejudicial to health ; the invention here noticed pumps out both by the mere rolling of the ship. Two iron cylinders connected below by a tube are placed on each side of the vessel. From each cylinder a pipe descends into the air or water that is 1 to be pumped out, and a similar pipe rises as an outlet above. The cylinders are filled with quicksilver, and being connected below, as already stated, each roll of the ship produces an alternative rise and fall into the quicksilver, and creates thereby a vacuum, into which, the bilge-water rushes, and is pumped out at the vent in a continuous stream. The cylinders which expel air are filled with water, but their action ia the same as here described, and in each case the action is so simple and effectual that we may believe that from this time ferward the lower decks of ships will be kept free from foul smells. The experiments above referred to were made on board vessels of the Royal Navy, and with entire satisfaction to all concerned. But it is in emigrant ships that ventilation is especivlly required, and in merchant ships a well-ventilated hold will tend to the preservation of the cargo.

The Newcastle -Pilot' says:- The screw stgamer Ke«ra has recently been purchased by the Colonial Sugar Company for a sum exceeding £6000. She is henceforth to be employed in conveying coal to the Clarence river, and return with sugar. The company have now three mills on the Clarence river, and the requirements of coal between this and August nest, will be over 4.000 tons. The Trade with Fiji.— "The long-expected steamship from Auckland," says the Timos ' of the 18th instant, arrived on Friday evening last, as the pioneer we hope of a regular service between the ports. The Star of the South is a vessel in size admirably suited and fully equal to the trade at present existing, or likely to be in existence for some time to come. At present our business is conducted almost exclusively with Sydney, but the laying on a steamer between here and Auckland will have a tendency to draw off, at any rate, a portion of the traffic into the New Zealand channel. These islands are bo bound up, commercially speaking with New South Wales that she must command a large portion of our trade • but we are now, and if the facilities afforded for steam communication are 'continued to us, we shall be, in a position to offer New Zealand a, remunerative share in our transactions.