296
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

Master of Otago, and a master mariner, holding a
Certificate of Competency from the Board of Trade
in London, who was duly appointed by Thomas Hill,
Esq., Principal Officer of Customs at the Port of
Dunedin, to act as Assessor to me the said Justice of
the Peace and Resident Magistrate, and upon such
investigation and examination of witnesses as afore-
said I find, and beg to report to the Honorable the
Postmaster-General of New Zealand as follows, that
is to say:-

1. That the official number of said ship called the
   "South Australian" is 29,570, of which Hugh
   Mackie is master, who holds a Certificate of
   Competency, and which ship belonged to
   Messrs. McMeekan, Blackwood and Co., of
   Melbourne, Victoria, merchants.

2. That the loss or damage herein more particularly
   mentioned happened on the second day of
   April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-
   seven, at about eleven o'clock in the evening,
   on the reef of rocks lying four miles south of
   "Cook's Head," on the East Coast of Otago.

3. That the loss or damage appears by the evidence
   to have been caused mainly by the incorrect-
   ness of the deviation card supplied by the
   authorities at Melbourne, inasmuch as the
   actual course made by the "South Australian"
   on the night in question has been one and
   three-quarter (14) points to the westward of
   the course indicated by the deviation card,
   supposing the position of the point at which
   the course was shaped to have been correct.

4. That the nature of the loss or damage done
   was total wreck. That it is not known to the
   master or any one in Otago whether the vessel
   is insured or not. That the " South Austra-
   lian" is barque-rigged; her port of registry,
   Adelaide, South Australia; her registered
   tonnage, 435 83-100. That no lives were lost
   through the wreck.

And I, the said Justice of the Peace and Resident
Magistrate, further state my opinion on the matter
aforesaid to be as follows-That at the time the course
was shaped abreast of Cape Saunders (up to which time
the vessel to have been about four miles off the coast,
as appears by the evidence of the master, she must
have taken considerably more than the customary
offing for steamers in daylight: the usual course
being when abreast of that Cape about one and a half
(1\frac{1}{2}) miles from the land, a S.S.W. course, which was
the course set, steered according to the deviation
card, from one and a half (1\frac{1}{2}) miles from Cape
Saunders, the usual track for steamers, would, with
the current on the port bow, which is known to exist,
place the vessel on the reef on which she struck.
There seems by the evidence to have been no effort
made from time to time to determine the true
position of the vessel, and, particularly at the time of
shaping the course, the evidence of the master and
that of the chief officer being on that point very con-
flicting. Moreover, this is the more apparent from
the fact of the master having after the vessel struck
supposed his position to be south of the Nuggets,
and having given an order to one of the officers in
charge of a boat to steer a N.N.E. course in order to
fetch the Molyneux. It appears from the testimony
of all the witnesses that the night on which the
disaster occurred was fine, calm, and starlight, with
a slight haze over the land, but quite clear overhead.
Under these circumstances it seems somewhat un-
accountable that the close proximity of the land was
not observed by those connected with the manage-
ment of the ship, and consequently but one conclusion
is forced upon me, (i.e.,) that the lookout was
insufficient and careless of his duty; and even
supposing that the land was partially obscured by
the haze, a cast of the lead every hour should have
been taken. The evidence discloses that no officer
was in charge of the bridge of the vessel where the
telegraph to the engine-room was fixed. This cir-
cumstance appears to show something, to say the
least, unusual, when a steamer is under weigh; but
from the evidence adduced I must conclude that the
loss of the "South Australian" was not, in the words
of the two hundred and forty-second section of "The
Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," caused by the wrong-
ful act or default of the master or any other officer of
the ship. In conclusion, I deem it right to state that
the master had been fourteen years at sea, and four
and a half years in the trade between Otago and
Melbourne, and had never before met with the slightest
accident.

Given under my hand this twenty-third day
of April, one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-seven, at Dunedin, in the Province
of Otago, New Zealand.

A. CHETHAM STRODE, J.P. and R.M.

I, William Thomson, Nautical Assessor on the
inquiry into the cause of the wreck of the steamship
"South Australian," concur in the above Report
concerning the loss of the said vessel.

WILLIAM THOMSON,
Nautical Assessor.

General Post Office,
Wellington, 10th July, 1867.

NOTICE is hereby given that all lists of persons
authorized to frank and receive letters and
parcels "On the Public Service Only" free by post,
issued prior to the 27th May, 1867, are cancelled and
repealed.

JOHN HALL,
Postmaster-General.

Office of the Commissioner of Customs.

IN exercise of the power in me for this purpose
vested by "The Customs Regulation Act, 1858,"
I, the Commissioner of Customs, do hereby approve
and appoint the undermentioned warehouse, at the
Port of Westport, viz., a building situate in Wharf
Street, on the Government Reserve, and known as
"The Westport Bond,"
to be a warehouse for the reception of goods under
bond.

Given under my hand, at Wellington, this
fifth day of July, one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-seven.

J. C. RICHMOND.

THE undermentioned persons have been duly
licensed to act as Custom House Agents at the
Port of Greymouth :--

Frank Cohen
Patrick Comiskey
Henry Gloucester Cook
James Davies
Ralph De Costa
David Girdwood
George Glenn
Martin Kennedy
Donald Maclean
George William Moss
Richard Nancarrow
George Willis Nichol