204
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
(Judicial Branch,)
Wellington, 11th May, 1870.
HIS Excellency the Governor has been pleased to
appoint
JOHN THOMAS TYLEE, Esq.,
to be Curator of Estates of deceased persons for the
Curator's District of Hawke's Bay, vice G. E. G.
Richardson, Esq., resigned.
W. GISBORNE.

Government Annuities Office,
Wellington, 1st March, 1870.
NOTICE is hereby given, that Government
Insurance and Annuities Offices, under "The
Government Annuities Act, 1869," have been opened
at the Chief Post Offices at Auckland, New Plymouth,
Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Blenheim, Christchurch,
Dunedin, and Invercargill, and at the Post Offices at
Hokitika, Greymouth, Westport, and Charleston.
All persons wishing to obtain Annuities, immediate
or deferred, Life Insurances, or other advantages
under the Act, will receive every information and
the necessary forms on application at either of the
above-named offices.
W. GISBORNE,
Commissioner.

Customs Department,
(Marine Branch,)
Wellington, 5th May, 1870.
THE following Report of the Court of Enquiry
held under "The Enquiry into Wrecks Act,
1869," on the burning of the barque "Hera," is
published for general information.
W. GISBORNE
(in the absence of the Commissioner of Customs).

ENQUIRY INTO WRECKS.
REPORT on the Wreck of the "Hera."
To the Honorable the Commissioner of Customs
of New Zealand,-

I, the undersigned Stephen Lunn Muller, Esquire,
one of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace, and
a Resident Magistrate in and for the Colony of New
Zealand, having been on the twenty-first day of
March, 1870, applied to by John Barleyman, Esquire,
Principal Officer of Customs at the Port of Wairau,
for a formal investigation pursuant to section 8 of
"The Enquiry into Wrecks Act, 1869," and other
provisions of the said Act, respecting the loss of
a certain foreign ship called the "Hera," of the
Port of Kragero, in Norway, on the eleventh day of
March last, at Port Underwood, in the Port of
Wairau, did duly proceed with the said investigation,
to wit, on the twenty-first day of March instant,
and had before me and examined on oath divers
persons and witnesses, to wit, Anderas Turkelson,
Peter Thorsen, Kund Larsen, Thomas Gunderson,
Richard Widdowson Morley, and John Henry
Johnson, the original depositions of whose evidence
were signed by me, being assisted therein by Samuel
Bowler, Master Mariner, holding no Certificate of
Competency, who was duly appointed by John
Barleyman, Esquire, Principal Officer of Customs
at the Port of Wairau, to act as Assessor to me the
said Justice of the Peace and Resident Magistrate;
and upon such investigation and examination of
witnesses as aforesaid, I find and beg to report to
the Honorable the Commissioner of Customs of
New Zealand as follows, that is to say:--

1. That the official number of the said ship
   called the "Hera," is 90, of which Anderas

Turkelson is Master, who holds a Certificate
of Competency, and which ship belonged to
H. Biorn, of Kragero, in Norway, a Ship-
owner and Merchant.
2. That the loss or damage herein more par-
ticularly mentioned, happened on the eleventh
day of March, 1870, at about four o'clock
in the morning, in the harbour of Port
Underwood, at the Port of Wairau.
3. That the loss or damage appears by the
evidence to have been caused by fire.
4. That the nature of the loss or damage done
was burning to the water's edge. That the
vessel was insured for 16,000 specie dollars in
the Kragero Insurance Club. That the
"Hera" was barque rigged; her Port of
Registry, Kragero; her registered tonnage,
440 tons. 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 from the evidence, it appears that the fire
broke out in a bale of flax, on the starboard
side, a little behind the after hatch-way.
That there is no evidence to show how or
by what means the fire originated. The
suggestion of spontaneous combustion appears
opposed to all principles of reason or expe-
rience. In spontaneous combustion the focus
of heat should be near the centre of the
heap, and the heat should radiate on all sides.
From the evidence, it appears that no heat
nor close smell had been detected below as
late as the day upon the night of which
the fire took place, while in the provision
room, which was separated from the flax by a
thin bulk head only, no heat was felt until
some hours after the fire was discovered in
the after hatch-way. After the fire became
known, the captain and officers appear to
have exerted themselves to the utmost to
subdue it, and when all hopes of saving the
vessel became lost, every effort was made
to save as much of the apparel and cargo
of the ship as was possible; and in my
opinion no blame is attributed to the officers
and crew of the ship.
Given under my hand this thirty-first day
of March, one thousand eight hundred
and seventy, at Blenheim, in the Pro-
vince of Marlborough, New Zealand.
S. L. MULLER,
Justice of the Peace and Resident Magistrate.

I, SAMUEL BOWLER, Nautical Assessor on the En-
quiry into the burning of the "Hera," concur in the
above Report concerning the burning of the said
vessel.
SAMUEL BOWLER,
Nautical Assessor.

NOTICE TO MARINERS.
No. 8 of 1870.
Customs' Department,
(Marine Branch,)
Wellington, 3rd May, 1870.
THE following Notice to Mariners relative to a
change of the Weather Signals at the Pilot
Station, Moreton Island, is published for general
information.
W. GISBORNE
(in absence of the Commissioner of Customs).