270
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

For sums exceeding £7 but not exceed-
ing £8
... £ s. d.
0 2 8

For sums exceeding £8 but not exceed-
ing £9
... 0 3 0

For sums exceeding £9 but not exceed-
ing £10
... 0 3 4

By order.
W. GRAY
(for the Secretary).

NOTICES TO MARINERS.

No. 8 of 1872.
Customs Department (Marine Branch),
Wellington, 14th May, 1872.

THE following Notices to Mariners, received from
the Governments of Victoria and Queensland,
are published for general information.
JULIUS VOGEL.

JETTY LIGHT.—PORT FAIRY.

ON and after the fifteenth day of April instant, a
green light will be exhibited, from sunset to sunrise,
from the end of the Jetty at Port Fairy; the light
will be cut, to clear the buoy off the foul ground to
the northward of the Lighthouse, and will be visible
between the bearings of W.S.W. and South at a
distance of about three miles.

Vessels entering Port Fairy should steer in until
the green light on the Jetty is opened out, when steer
for it and anchor.

The best anchorage is in about 3 fathoms at about
a cable's length to the N.W. of the black buoy off
the foul ground, with the light on Rabbit Island
bearing S.S.E.

CHARLES B. PAYNE,
Chief Harbour Master.

Office of Ports and Harbours,
Melbourne, 5th April, 1872.

TORRES STRAITS AND GREAT NORTH-EAST CHANNEL.

The following information has been supplied by
Captain Moresby, R.N., having been obtained by him
during the recent visit of H.M.S. "Basilisk" to
Torres Straits.

A reef, not laid down on the charts, lies two miles
S.S.W. from Brothers Hills' Island (Gabba). It is
three and a quarter miles long, W. by N. and E. by
S., and two miles wide, and is named Mourilyan's
Reef.

An island (Sibie Island), not shown on the chart,
lies three miles E.N.E. from Mount Cornwallis
Island. It is about four miles long, N.N.W. and
S.S.E., by one and a half wide, its northernmost point
being in about 9° 23′ 50″ S. latitude, and 142° 37'
40" E. longitude.

Warrior Island.—A sunken reef, with two fathoms
of water over it, extends one mile to the westward of
the fringing reef shown upon the chart. In the
passage between this island and Dungeness Island,
the tide was found to run from four to five knots,
the flood setting N.W. by N., and ebb S.E. by S.

The correct position of the sunken rock (now
named Moresby Rock) reported by Mr. Jardine as
lying off Saddle Island, in the Great North-east
Channel, a notice of which was issued from this
office on 9th February, 1872, is as follows:—

Bearings from the sunken rock, —

Banks Island Peak just open of Burke Island
West.
Nine-pin Rock, S.S.W. W.
Bet Islet, E.N.E.
Sue Islet, E. by S.

Bearing of sunken rock from south point of Saddle
Island, S. 85° 20′ E.

The flood tide in the vicinity of the rock was found
setting to the north-east, and the ebb to the south-
east, at the rate of two and a half knots at springs.
The channel between the rock and Saddle Island is
clear and free from danger.

Captain Moresby is of opinion that the "Wreck
Shoal," shown on recent charts as lying five miles
E.N.E. from Saddle Island, will be found not to
exist.

He also remarks that, as a general rule, the fringing
coral reefs round the islands are of greater extent
than shown on the chart.

INNER ROUTE TO TORRES STRAITS.

Mourilyan Harbour, about forty miles northward
of Cardwell, is marked on recent charts as "Shoal
Haven," "Reported good harbour," and is situated
in latitude 17° 35' S., and longitude 146° 9′ E. It
has been examined by Captain Moresby, R.N., during
the late trip of H.M.S. "Basilisk" to Torres Straits,
and is reported by him as being a harbour likely to
prove a valuable refuge for vessels during heavy
south-easterly weather.

The least depth of water found in the centre of the
channel, until well inside the harbour, was thirty
feet. The width of the entrance from rock to rock
being only 120 yards, with high land on either side,
sailing vessels should not attempt to enter except
with a fair and commanding breeze; steamers may
enter safely at all times. After entering, the water
immediately deepens to 7, 8, 10, and 12 fathoms;
but the area over which this depth of water is found,
though affording space within which four or five large
vessels could moor, is apparently of limited extent,
the greater part of the harbour being an extensive
mud flat, with from 3 to 6 feet on it at low water;
the rise and fall apparently ranging from 8 to 12
feet.

Moresby River (not shown on the chart) empties
itself into the southern end of Mourilyan Harbour,
and a narrow channel, with 9 feet at low water, leads
from Camp Point—the point on the south shore
inside the entrance to the mouth of the river. For
the first mile after entering, there is not less than 6
feet at low water, and above that for fourteen miles,
not less than 8 feet in mid-channel. The current
was sluggish, and the banks fringed with mangroves,
which, however, did not seem to extend far beyond
the farthest point explored.

Glady's River, in latitude 17° 30' S., and longitude
146° 6' E., is marked on the chart as "Shoal Rivulet."
It has a bar entrance with only 2 or 3 feet at low
water. Inside the bar, the stream is about 150 yards
in width, with an average depth of 6 or 8 feet. The
stream was sluggish, but fresh to within a few
hundred yards of the bar.

REEF OFF PIPON ISLANDS.

Captain Thomas Harris, late master of the "Jeanie
Oswald," reports striking on a reef in the position
given on the chart to a five fathom patch, lying one
and a quarter mile to the north-westward of the
Pipon Islands. He estimates the depth of water
on this patch as not exceeding one fathom at low
water.

Captain Harris also reports that the two and a half
fathom patch, lying about two miles from the main
land, in 11° 31' S. latitude, has not now more than
three feet of water upon it at low water.

He also reports a reef lying six miles S.S.W. from
the southernmost, Sir Chas. Hardy's Island.

G. P. HEATH, Commander, R.N.,
Portmaster.

Department of Ports and Harbours,
11th April, 1872.