474

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

3. That the loss or damage appears by the
   evidence to have been caused by error in
   position.
4. That the nature of the loss or damage done
   was total loss. That the vessel was insured
   for £1000 in the Pacific Insurance Company;
   freight, £400 Sydney Marine Insurance Com-
   pany, £525 New South Wales Insurance
   Company. That the "Manukau" is three-
   masted schooner-rigged; her port of registry,
   Wellington; her registered tonnage, 443.
   That two lives were lost through the wreck.
   And I, the said Resident Magistrate, further state
   my opinion on the matters aforesaid to be as
   follows:

That after much consideration I am of opinion that
the "Manukau" was lost through the incompetency
or neglect, or both, of the master. All papers, charts,
log-book having been lost with the vessel, the chief
officer drowned, and the captain's memory appears to
be so bad, that it is, I think, impossible to fix the
exact amount of blame. It would appear that the
"Manukau," on leaving Newcastle, was in good order
although old; was sufficiently manned, equipped, and
properly laden; and that she encountered bad
weather and sprung a leak, as stated in the evidence,
four days after leaving port. The observation taken
on the 2nd, the day before the loss, placed the ship
in latitude 40° 24' and longitude 173° 15' (or had
Cape Farewell bearing S. W. by W. W. twenty-three
miles). This observation the captain did not put
great faith in, as the horizon was not clear. He
thought at the time (3.30 p.m.) that he was in the
middle of the Straits, with Cape Farewell bearing
about S.W. At these two places the difference in
soundings may be fairly stated to be eight fathoms—
the first thirty-eight fathoms, the latter forty-six
fathoms, with fine sand at one place, and sand and
gravel at the other—a sufficient difference to cause a
competent and careful navigator to try sounding to
ascertain at which of the two places the ship was.
As it since proved, the ship was sixty miles eastward
of either of these positions, the depth of soundings
would have been at least sixty fathoms. This depth
would have shown he was at neither place he thought
he might be at, but was either to the eastward or
westward of it. Had the soundings been taken at
ten, and again before he kept away between three
and four a.m., it must have shown him he was getting
rapidly into shallow water, and therefore into danger.
The question of whether the ship could beat off shore
in such weather may be an open matter of opinion;
but a vessel under double-reefed topsails is supposed
to be able to do so, and I am certainly of opinion the
wind was not stronger than a double-reefed topsail
breeze at the time. The lookout was certainly not
good, otherwise I do not think the vessel could have
run at such a slow rate into breakers without seeing
them. The first intimation they had of it was the
sea breaching over the stern. With regard to the
chronometer sight which was taken at 3.30 p.m. on
the 2nd, the error might be the fault of either the
master or mate in the observation or taking the time,
or it might be a mistake in the working—it is impos-
sible now to know. Again at 3.30 p.m. of the 1st
October, if the captain thought he was in the middle
of the Straits with the wind at West, he ought to
have hove to at ten p.m. on the starboard tack, and
not the port. From his statements it is difficult to
know how the wind blew; for in one place he says
the wind was W.N.W., in another it was W.S.W., at
the time the vessel went ashore; but it is well known
to navigators that the wind blows through the Straits,
and seldom across it. The captain attaching no
importance to using the lead inclines me in the belief
that he is more incompetent than neglectful. He

seems to have used every exertion at all times, and,
taking into consideration the leaky state of the ship,
which necessitated the constant employment of the
crew at the pumps, a great deal extenuating may be
said in his favour.

Given under my hand this nineteenth day of
October, one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-seven, at Wellington, in the Province
of Wellington, New Zealand.

JAMES C. CRAWFORD,
Resident Magistrate.

I concur in the above report.

R. JOHNSON,
Nautical Assessor.

General Post Office,
Wellington, 29th November, 1867.

HIS Excellency the Governor has been pleased to
authorize

"THE SECRETARY TO THE ROYAL RECEPTION
COMMISSION,"

to frank, free from prepayment of postage, letters or
packets sent by him on the Public Service.

T. M. HAULTAIN,
(in the absence of Mr. Hall).

Registrar-General's Office,
Wellington, 2nd December, 1867.

PURSUANT to the provisions of an Act of the
General Assembly of New Zealand, passed in
the eighteenth year of the reign of Her Majesty
Queen Victoria, and intituled "The Marriage Act,
1854," the following name of an OFFICIATING
MINISTER within the meaning of the said Act, is
published for general information:-

Hebrew Congregation.
The Reverend JACOB LEVI.

I JOHN B. BENNETT, Registrar General of Births,
Deaths, and Marriages, in New Zealand, do hereby
certify that the foregoing NAME of an OFFICIATING
MINISTER within the meaning of "The Marriage
Act, 1854," has been sent in to me, in addition to
the names in Lists published in the New Zealand
Gazette, No. 7, of the 29th of January; No. 9, of
the 11th of February; No. 12, of the 28th of
February; No. 23, of the 12th of April; No. 29, of
the 16th of May; No. 32, of the 1st of June; No.
36, of the 27th of June; No. 43, of the 7th of
August, No. 45, of the 31st of August; No. 47, of
the 27th of September; No. 56, of the 28th of
October, and No. 58, of the 5th November, in the
present year.

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

JOHN B. BENNETT,
Registrar-General.

A PPEALS under "The Appeals from Justices
Act, 1867." General rule under "The Appeals
from Justices Act, 1867," section four, for the
Northern District.
Supreme Court of New Zealand: Northern
District.

BY VIRTUE of the powers conferred upon the Judges
of the Supreme Court by "The Appeals from Justices
Act, 1867," section four, I do order that until further
order, all cases stated under the said section of the
said Act shall be transmitted by the appellant under
the provisions of the said Act.

1. When the Justice or Justices against whose
   adjudication the appeal is made were at the making