196
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

does not appear on the Admiralty Charts, masters of
vessels trading to or from Spencer's Gulf are hereby
cautioned while navigating in this locality.

Hydrographic information furnished by Officers of
H.M. ship "Sappho."

SPRING BAY. Chart 1079; Aust. Dir., vol. i. p. 480.
Spring Bay, East Coast of Tasmania. — Entrance
points S. 48° E. mag. S. 24° W., or in place of
4 fathoms on chart No. 1079, a shoal of 10 feet
exists, and shoal water extends across the Bay to the
northward of the position given. This bay is open
to the S.S.E., but the holding ground is excellent,
and probably the force of the sea would be greatly
broken by the shoal water between Maria Island and
Tasmania. It is said to be much used by coasters
and whalers as a port of shelter in southerly gales.
The time of H.W. F. and C. at Launceston, River
Tamar, as given by Chart No. 1080, is incorrect: it
should be as shown in Tide Tables for 1876.

NOTICE TO MARINERS.

No. 6 of 1877.

Customs Department (Marine Branch),
Wellington, 14th February, 1877.

THE following Notices to Mariners, received from
the Marine Board at Sydney, are published for
general information.
GEO. MCLEAN.

NOTICE.—On and after the 1st proximo, the descrip-
tive flags hitherto used on Nobbys will be discon-
tinued, and hoisted on the New Signal Mast lately
erected on Old Signal Hill. The only signals to be
used on Nobbys are the tidal signals, steamers down
the river, state of the bar, and flag for Health
Officer.

By order of the Local Marine Board.
W. F. WEATHERILL.

Newcastle, 20th January, 1877.

NOTICE.—Moorings with buoy attached have been
laid down in twenty-two (22) feet water, ninety (90)
fathoms from the breakwater, to which all vessels
arriving with gunpowder or other explosives on
board for the Magazine can be moored, and where
they can swing in twelve (12) feet at low water.

By order of the Local Marine Board.
W. F. WEATHERILL.

Newcastle, 20th January, 1877.

Despatches from the Secretary of State.

Customs Department (Marine Branch),
Wellington, 12th February, 1877.

THE following despatches from Her Majesty's Prin-
cipal Secretary of State for the Colonies, with
their enclosures, are published for general informa-
tion.

CHARLES C. BOWEN,
(in absence of Commissioner of Customs).

[CIRCULAR.]

Downing Street, 8th September, 1876.

SIR,—With reference to my Circular Despatch of
the 22nd October, 1875, I have the honor to trans-
mit to you a copy of "The Merchant Shipping Act,
1876."

2. I also transmit to you a copy of a letter from
   the Board of Trade, calling special attention to cer-
   tain sections of the Act.

3. You will perceive that the Board of Trade pro-
   mise further communications respecting some of the

more important provisions of this measure which
particularly affect the British possessions; and I
need now only add that, as your Government is
doubtless aware, a great amount of consideration
was given, during the framing of the Act, to its
bearing upon the Colonial shipping interests.

I have, &c.,
CARNARVON.

The Officer Administering
the Government of New Zealand.

The Board of Trade to the Colonial Office,

Board of Trade, Whitehall Gardens,
(No. 11,740.) 24th August, 1876.

SIR,—I am directed by the Board of Trade to call
the attention of the Secretary of State to "The Mer-
chant Shipping Act, 1876," and to suggest that it
should at once be forwarded to each of the colonies.

Some of the clauses will have operation throughout
the Empire, and some in the United Kingdom only.

As regards those which have operation in the
United Kingdom, it will be observed that in clauses
6 and 7, which provide for the detention of unsea-
worthy ships in the United Kingdom, provision is
made for appointing as Assessors of the Court of
Survey, which when differences arise will have to
decide the case, persons to be recommended by the
Governments of the different British possessions.

It will probably be well to wait till the machinery
of these Courts is more complete than it is at pre-
sent, before attempting to put this provision into
operation, and the Board of Trade will communicate
again on the subject.

By clause 17, provision is made enabling Her
Majesty, by Order in Council, to make certificates
granted after survey in British possessions abroad,
of equal validity in the United Kingdom with certi-
ficates of survey granted in the United Kingdom
under the Merchant Shipping Acts, so that unneces-
sary surveys may be dispensed with. The Board of
Trade will be ready to inquire and report to Her
Majesty upon any application made under this
section.

Under section 23, space occupied by deck cargo is
to be measured and charged for. Detailed instruc-
tions under this section are in preparation and will
be sent to the Secretary of State.

The special attention of the Governments of the
British possessions in North America, and of any
other British possession from which timber is ex-
ported, should be called to clause 24, prohibiting the
importation into the United Kingdom of certain
deck loads of timber in the winter months, and ample
notice of this enactment should be given to persons
interested in ships and shipping of these possessions.

The remainder of the sections of this Act require
no special comment from this Board.

I have, &c.,
T. H. FARRER.

The Under Secretary of State,
Colonial Office.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1876.

CHAPTER 80.

AN ACT to amend the Merchant Shipping Acts.
[15th August, 1876.]

BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the
Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this
present Parliament assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:—

Preliminary.

1. This Act may be cited as "The Merchant
   Shipping Act, 1876."