THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 209

OBJECT AND CHARACTER OF THE NEW
"COMMERCIAL CODE OF SIGNALS," AND
"MERCANTILE NAVY LIST,"

Published by the authority of the Board of
Trade.

official number would be appropriated to every
British ship, and that such number would be
permanently marked upon her beam-end, and
entered upon her certificate of registry.

By that means the identity of every British
vessel is established throughout the world.

But in order to realize that advantage fully,
it was necessary to enable ships to communicate
by signals their distinctive numbers to other
ships at sea, as well as to Signal Stations on
shore; and the enormous extent of the British
mercantile navy made it impracticable to devise
the means under any of the existing codes of
signals, to signify or telegraph the special
numbers of vessels readily.

That difficulty led the Lords of the Com-
mittee of Privy Council for Trade to appoint a
Committee of experienced officers to consider
the whole subject of telegraphic communication
at sea, and that Committee have recommended,
and Her Majesty's Government have adopted,
a new code of signs or signals which are repre-
sented, with slight variations, by the flags now
employed in Marryatt's Code, so far as these are
applicable.

Of that new code I now transmit to you six
copies, which you will deposit in the hands of
the resident functionaries at the Stations of
Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Plymouth,
Canterbury, and Otago, whose business it is
to attend to the signals of ships.

The object and character of that code, and
the advantages which it posesses over all other
codes now in use, are sufficiently explained in
the report of the Committee, and in the remarks
which preface the book.

In truth, no British vessel should be without
that code, and I earnestly recommend to you
to impress upon the mercantile interests of New
Zealand, the great advantages which they
cannot fail to secure by taking care that their
vessels are provided with copies of the book,
which is published by Mr. Mitchell, 54, Grace-
church Street, at the price of 7s.

I further transmit to you six copies of the
Mercantile Navy List, which contains the
name and official number of every British
registered vessel, as well as her distinctive code
signal as represented by four letters and their
corresponding flags.

This List will be found very useful for
purposes of reference, and may afford the means
of detecting fraud in cases where a ship's name
has been illegally assumed or altered for
improper purposes.

It is published by Messrs. Bradbury and
Evans, of 11, Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, and
also by Mr. Mitchell, of 54, Gracechurch
Street, at the price of seven shillings and
six pence, and will be renewed every year.

You will deposit these Lists in the hands of
the Registrar of Shipping for New Zealand,
and of other proper officers.

I have, &c.,
H. LABOUCHERE.

The Officer
Administering the Government
of New Zealand.

"The Commercial Code of Signals for the
Use of all Nations," founded on the Report of
a Committee of Officers of the Royal Navy
and Merchant Service, has at length been
published, by authority of the Board of Trade.
The contents, so far as regards the words
and sentences, are necessarily much the same
as in other signal books; they have been care-
fully selected, and are concisely expressed.
The arrangement of the subjects, and the
mode of communicating, is different from that
of other Codes hitherto in use.

Numeral system rejected.

A great improvement is effected by reject-
ing the numeral system, with its perplexing
concomitants of repeating and divisional flags,
and substituting a system which will give to
every subject of communication, whatever its
nature, its own separate signal. For this
purpose, 18 flags are used, and are designated
by letters, being the 18 consonants of the
English alphabet from B to W. The permu-
tations of these 18 letters, never taking more
than four together, amount to nearly 80,000 in
number, and the Code will therefore admit of
nearly 80,000 separate signals. The flags
employed are in design generally the same as
those now in use in merchant vessels. The
Code may be adapted to any sets of flags by
simply inserting plates or tables showing the
different flags and the signs, and pointing out
how they are intended respectively to corres-
pond. This facility is important, with a view
to international communication, in cases where
foreign flags or alphabets differ from our own.

Arrangement of Code for international
purposes.

Next, the alphabetical arrangement on which
all existing signal Codes are formed, is aban-
doned, and the important communications are
classed under subjects. This will give an easy
means of translation, which under alphabetical
arrangement is impracticable, as words of the
same meaning have not the same initial letters
in different languages.

In translating the Code the substance of
each signal may be set forth in any language,
in the words, and after the manner best calcu-
lated to express it; but as all signals will be
denoted by the same or corresponding symbols,
they will always be recognized as being the
same in meaning.

No signal composed of more than four flags,
from first to last, is made with less than two or
more than four flags, in a row. Each signal
is made complete in one hoist, and in one place.
The most urgent or important signals are
made with two flags, the next important with
three, and the remainder with four flags.
All signals which are likely to be wanted