JULY 20.]
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
971

at or below Fort Denison, in the harbour of Port
Jackson, until boarded by the Health Officer of the
port and by him admitted to pratique,---that arrange-
ments are now made, for the purpose of avoiding
unnecesary delays, by which, on and after the 1st
proximo, all vessels liable as aforesaid, immediately
upon or after their entering the heads of Port Jack-
son, will be boarded and admitted to pratique or
otherwise, according to law, by the Assistant Health
Officer for the port, specially stationed at Watson's
Bay for the purpose; and all vessels not so boarded
will, as directed by law, await the visit of the Health
Officer at or below Fort Denison as heretofore.

JAMES WATSON.

Notice of proposed Loan, Borough of Thames.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Wellington, 14th July, 1882.

THE following notice, received from his Worship
the Mayor of the Borough of Thames, is pub-
lished in accordance with section 145 of "The
Municipal Corporations Act, 1876."

THOMAS DICK.

BOROUGH OF THAMES.

POLL to decide if, or not, it shall be lawful for the
Corporation of the Borough of Thames to borrow a
sum of money by way of special loan for the purpose
of laying down a line of tramway between Shortland
Wharf and Rocky Point, and for the purchase of the
necessary carriages, &c.

I hereby give notice that, at the poll taken this
day, the number of votes recorded for the proposal
has been 472, and the number of votes recorded
against the proposal has been 85; such number of
votes given has exceeded one-half the total number of
burgesses of the said borough, and I hereby declare
the resolution to raise such loan and carry out such
works carried.

WM. WILKINSON,
Mayor.

Thames, 23rd June, 1882.

Decision of Court of Inquiry into Loss of s.s. "West-
port" confirmed.

Marine Department,
Wellington, 17th July, 1882.

HIS Excellency the Administrator of the Govern-
ment has been pleased to confirm the following
decision of the Court of Inquiry into the loss of the
s.s. "Westport," by which the New Zealand certi-
ficate of competency as master ordinary, No. 21,
held by John Gibb, is suspended for six months from
the 5th instant. The official number of the "West-
port" was 69007, and her registered tonnage 263.

H. A. ATKINSON.

THAT the "Westport" left Timaru for Lyttelton on
the 13th June, at 5.15 p.m., with smooth sea, little or
no wind, and fine clear weather, steering a course
that her captain considered would take her six miles
to the eastward of Akaroa light. That she carried
these circumstances with her as she ran her course
until she neared Banks Peninsula, which was ob-
served to be obscured by fog, and about 1 a.m. she
ran into the fog. The captain was called and came
on deck about 1.30 a.m., and about ten minutes after-
wards he observed land. This land is said to have
been about two miles distant, but I am of opinion
that it could not have been more than half a mile, as
little more than ten minutes after this, without any
change of weather, she was run upon the rocks of
Piraki Cove, and the high land of that coast was not
seen until it appeared to the second mate to be

about to strike the masts above her. On first sight-
ing the land the captain appears to have taken no
precaution to ascertain his position, and to have
guessed it incorrectly. The sight of land, even
within two miles, when his course was laid to go six
miles outside the light, must have warned him that
wherever he was he was not on his course. If he had
used the log his distance would have shown him that
he must have been far off it to be within two miles
of land, but the log had not been used. If he had
hove the lead the soundings would at once have told
him where he was, and the loss of the ship would
have been avoided. This was not done. Instead,
the captain put his ship's stern to the land, and ran
about a mile away from it to the south-east, and then
hauled his course again, and in about five minutes
more ran on the rocks. He appears to have been
about thirteen miles out of his position in a run of
about seventy-two miles; and, although there is no
clear evidence as to the cause, the fact itself, and the
negativing of any other sufficient reason, is enough
to suggest deviation of the compass in an iron ship
which had not been swung in this hemisphere.

Examination showed such injuries to the ship that
if they had not been inside a watertight compart-
ment she must, when afloat, have sunk in five minutes,
and also other injuries outside that compartment,
which caused her to make from two to three feet of
water per hour. By jettisoning cargo Captain Gibb
got her off, and in this condition took her round to
Akaroa, where he beached her.

Here the marine surveyor for the underwriters
came on board, and a portable engine and centrifugal
pump were taken on board, and, after some rude
expedients had been used, which cannot be dignified
by the name of repairs, the safety of the ship was
intrusted to the strength of the bulkhead and the
capacity of the pump, and she was taken round to
Port Lyttelton. On this passage the pump, as was
to be expected in a grain-laden ship, choked more
than once, and gave plain warning that the experi-
ment was dangerous even for so short a passage. No
other repairs worth mentioning were effected, and
the marine surveyor for the underwriters gave a
certificate that the ship was fit for sea, with intent
to enable the captain thereby, and which did enable
him, to obtain his clearance. Of course no certificate
given by any irresponsible person can relieve the
person who is responsible of his liability; and it is
only as it influenced the action of the captain and
the loss of the ship that the conduct of this gentle-
man calls for remark; but I feel bound to say that,
on his own evidence, his survey was useless and per-
functory; his recommendation to load down the
leaky ship with wet grain would have increased the
danger; and his certificate was untrue in fact, and
was calculated to lead the captain directly into a
"wrongful act and default."

At 4.45 a.m. on the 18th June Captain Gibb took
his ship out of Lyttelton in this disabled and unsea-
worthy condition, trusting only, for the voyage to
Wellington, to the strength of the bulkhead and the
sufficiency of the pumping gear, and, with from twelve
to twenty tons of loose coal and fifty or sixty bags
of wheat in his hold, a few grains of which were
sufficient to choke his pump, and after many difficul-
ties, reached Cape Campbell, which he left on the 20th,
to cross the Straits. Here it came on to blow heavily,
and he tried to force his disabled vessel through the
storm to the other side, but was at last compelled to
put back with his pump broken and in a sinking con-
dition to Flaxbourne, when the crew had as much
as they could do to escape with their lives, and the
vessel foundered.

In my opinion the loss of the "Westport" resulted
from the wrongful act and default of Captain Gibb—