Colonial Secretary’s Office, Auckland,
12th June, 1854.

HIS Excellency the Officer administering
the Government has been pleased to
direct that the 38th clause of "An Act to
amend various Laws relating to Merchant
Shipping," 16 and 17 Vict., should be published for general information.

By His Excellency’s command,

ANDREW SINCLAIR,
Colonial Secretary.

"XXXVIII. If any seaman or apprentice
is imprisoned in any part of Her Majesty’s
dominions, on the ground of his having neglected or refused to join any ship in which
he is engaged to serve, or of having deserted
or otherwise absented himself therefrom,
without leave, or of his having committed
any other breach of discipline: and if during
such imprisonment, and before his engagement is at an end, his services are required
on board his ship, any Justice may, at the
request of the master, or of the owner, or
his agent, cause such seaman or apprentice
to be conveyed on board his said ship, for
the purpose of proceeding on the voyage,
or to be delivered to the master or any mate
of the ship, or the owner or his agent, to
be by them so conveyed, notwithstanding
that the termination of the period for which
he was sentenced to imprisonment has not
arrived."

Provincial Secretary’s Office,
Christchurch, 19th July, 1854.

NOTIFICATION.

At the recommendation of the Head
Master of the Lyttelton Grammar
School, the Provincial Government has
sanctioned the division of that establishment
into two classes or departments. The fee
for education in the upper class, will be the
same as heretofore, viz., £2 10s. per quarter.
The fee for the lower class will be £1 10s.
per quarter.

H. G. GOULD,
Provincial Secretary.

Provincial Secretary’s Office,
Christchurch, July 17, 1854.

THE following Report is published for
general information.

H. G. GOULD,
Provincial Secretary.

FROM E. DOBSON, ESQ.,
TO THE PROVINCIAL
SECRETARY.

Sumner, July 15, 1854.

Sir,

1. I beg to acknowledge the receipt of
   your letter of the 10th inst., requesting
   my opinion on the best means of effecting
   a temporary communication between the
   Port and the Plains, and referring me at the
   same time to Mr. Bray’s Report on the
   same subject.

2. I now beg in reply to lay before the
   Provincial Government a suggestion for the
   formation of a dray road over the Port hills
   to the Heathcote Ferry, which appears to
   me to meet the exigencies of the case.

3. Before proceeding, however, to the
   details of this plan, I would beg to make a
   few remarks on the several proposals which
   have been brought forward for the consideration of the Government, because upon
   their respective adoption or rejection would
   depend in a great measure the nature of the
   temporary communication which would best
   meet the conditions of the case.

4. The idea which at first naturally suggests itself is to render the existing water
   communication more efficient by putting a
   steamboat on the berth between Lyttelton
   and the river Heathcote.

A clipper schooner with an auxiliary
screw, drawing not more than six feet of
water, and capable of carrying from 20 to
30 tons of cargo, (dead weight,) besides
fuel and passengers, and making daily trips
from Lyttelton, would be amply sufficient
for carrying on the traffic between the Port
and the Plains until a more perfect mode of
communication could be established.

It is scarcely to be expected that the
present trade between Lyttelton and Christchurch would pay the expenses of such a
vessel, but during slack times she might be
profitably engaged in bringing timber, firewood, and dairy produce from Banks’ Peninsula, and in making occasional trips to the
coast stations of the more distant settlers.

5. There is, however, a serious obstacle
   to the carrying out of this plan, arising not
   from want of any commercial enterprise,
   but from the character of the entrance to
   the Sumner river.

The difficulty is of a twofold nature.

In the first place, the great bulk of the
water brought down by the Sumner river
rushes through the opening of the reef
which forms the eastern side of the navigable channel, the current in the latter being
in consequence too feeble to be of much
assistance in running in or out, whilst the
set of the ebb and flood tides directly across
the channel, exposes vessels to the risk of
running foul of the rocks on the one hand
or of grounding on the sand spit on the
other. In the second place, the heavy sea
which, during easterly weather, breaks along
Sumner bay and the forty-mile beach, often
prevents either ingress or egress by sailing
vessels for weeks together.

In the present contracted state of the
channel, it is not safe to bring into the river
any but the smallest description of decked
craft, and the employment of a steamer of