in London to the amount of 0.43 inches, which is equivalent to 43 tons of rain acre. The rainfall during the previous week varied from 30 tons acre in Edinburgh to 215 tons acre in Glasgow. An English acre consists of 6,272,640 square inches; and an inch deep of rain on an acre yields 6,272,640 cubic inches of water, which at 277-274 cubic inches to the gallon, makes 22,622.5 gallons; as a gallon of distilled water weighs 10 lbs., the rainfall on an acre is 226,225 lbs. avoirdupois; but 2,240 lbs. are a ton, and consequently an inch deep of rain weighs 100-993 tons or nearly 101 tons acre. For every 100th of an inch a ton of water falls

ADMIRALTY TANKS.

acre."

1352. WATERPROOF CLOTHING. The royal mail steam ship Seine, Capt. R. REVETT, left the Island of St. Thomas, 13th August, 1865. At 9-30 p.m., when 30 miles off, smoke was observed coming up one of the pipes leading to the chain lockers. In the fore hold were 1,200 packages of indiarubber waterproof clothing, tobacco, and cases of cigars. The hatches were battened down, holes cut in the deck, and five or six hoses played on the burning cargo. She returned to the island, where, with help from the ships Solent, Eider, Conway, and Derwent, the fire was extinguished. It is supposed to have originated through the spontaneous combustion of the macintosh clothing shipped back from Havannah to Europe; the charred remnants smelt strongly of naptha; the directors have prohibited such articles from being shipped on board their vessels.

1353. WELL, an apartment formed in the middle of a ship's hold, by bulkheads, to enclose the pumps from the bottom to the

lower or upper deck. It is used as a barrier to preserve those machines from being damaged by the friction or compression of the materials contained in the hold; also for preventing damage to a dry cargo by water escaping from the pumps; and particularly to prevent the entrance of ballast, &c., by which the tubes would presently be choked, and the pumps rendered incapable of service. They are also convenient for descending into the hold in order to examine the state of the pumps, &c.

WEIGHTS.-LIST OF BRITISH IMPERIAL WEIGHTS OF ORDINARY MERCANTILE PACKAGES.

1354. WEST AUSTRALIA. An experienced master says:The principal port is Fremantle, situated on the coast, on the south side and at the entrance of the River Swan, the anchorage is termed Gage's Roads, but ships are anchored for safety during the winter months under lee of Garden Island, the heavy north-west and westerly gales sending such a heavy sea into the roads that it is not safe to lie there. Bills of lading from England especially provide for discharge at Gage's Roads, Owen's Anchorage, or Cockburn Sound. Lighterage 5s. ton from the roads and 10s, or 12s. as per agreement, but this expense is borne by consignees-the last charges from Garden Island.

1355. Lead ore, 14 bags equal to 1 ton of 2 cwt., is shipped by the vessels taking wool for England, at 30s. p ton, an extreme rate for cargo, which is of so much importance as dead-weight, and with

out which the ships would have to take either sand or stone ballast. Four to five ships, averaging about 500 tons register, load direct for London each season (October to February) with wool, principally at a rate of from 14d. to 11⁄2d. † lb., in pressed bales of irregular shape and size, which involves great labour in the stowage, consequent detention, and considerable expense. Manna gum has been largely shipped heretofore for England in empty beer hogsheads (four to the ton), but at present there is no demand, and it comes to a bad market; large pearl oyster shells are packed also in casks and cases for England; they are brought from Nicol Bay (north-west coast), where a number of small vessels and boats are employed in the fishery. Champion Bay is about 230 miles north of Fremantle, from whence the bulk of the lead ore is shipped in the wool vessels on the completion of the discharge of the outward cargo; the copper and lead ores were carted to Champion Bay when the Wheal Fortune and other mines were at work, but at present the Geraldine mine on the Murchison River, is the only working mine producing large quantities of ore, which is carted to and shipped at Port Gregory, a naturally-formed harbour inside a remarkable long reef, which, attached to the main at one end, diverges at an angle extending some three miles, with two breaks at the north-west end, forming navigable openings, makes a triangular-shaped dock-like harbour. Vessels of from 200 to 300 tons register, drawing 15 feet of water, can easily, with a leading wind, run up the harbour and load to the south-westward of the temporary and incomplete jetty now standing; the entrance from the north-westward clear of the extreme rock of the reef is perfectly open and safe, and is the preferable passage for a fair-sized vessel. Inside the entrance of the port is a whaling station with try works, winch on the beach, and several houses for accommodation for the men during the season, which extends from June until September, at which time the fish abound. Much larger quantities of oil could be obtained if all the fish that were killed could be towed into the harbour instead of being left outside for some time, and then partially, if not entirely devoured by the multitude of sharks with which the waters are teeming.

1356. Horses, sheep, and kangaroo hounds are shipped off to Singapore and the Indian ports, in the vessels that carry sandal wood, and in the larger ships that find employment in the conveyance of railway sleepers (Jarrah timber). A considerable timber trade has sprung up between Swan River and South Australia, as also the Mauritius; for the latter place, small building material is principally shipped, but for the Eastern Provinces large heavy timber is more

frequently required. Most of the timber vessels are sent (when chartered) to Geographe Bay, where there are several anchorages, but all more or less open and exposed, and therefore not safe. A small township named Bunbury is the principal place from whence shipment is made of the wool of the district, about the end of the year, and a good deal of produce is forwarded thence to the Fremantle and Perth markets.

1357. A timber, called raspberry jam wood, is found in the colony, which can be worked into furniture, and takes a very handsome polish, cut into three feet logs; it has been sent in some quantities to Melbourne, where it has found more favour than in England; it recommends itself partly by the strong flavour or odour when it is cut or scraped, of the jam from whence it is named.

1358. Coal exists in the country, but its distance from the seaboard as yet deters anyone from attempting to open out any mine or workings, and until steamers are placed on the coast to do the work in lieu of the sailing vessels, there can be no inducement. In the vicinity of the mines, where fuel is getting scarcer from the large consumption of wood for engine purposes as well as domestic use, it will eventually become a necessity to form coal depôts, and either work the existing seams or import from England direct, or New South Wales.

1359. In Shark's Bay a large fish called the dugong is very plentiful, from which a good oil is procured, said to be equal to cod liver oil, each fish yielding from three to five gills; on the islands in this extensive bay, those also forming the group called Houtman's Abrolhos, and on nearly all the islands on this coast, there are considerable deposits of guano with which small vessels are frequently loaded when other produce does not freely offer; the quality of the guano varies very much. King George's Sound is a considerable bay or harbour to the eastward of Cape Leeuwin, and is principally known as the coaling station for the P. and O. mail steamers; the colonial vessels between Fremantle and Adelaide and Melbourne frequently call on their passages either way to land and embark passengers and any cargo that may offer. It will be a long time before Port Eucla, at the head of the great Australian bight, can be made useful; it is just inside (westward) of the W. Australia boundary, but produce will inevitably be forwarded to the great shipping ports, and settlers will be very chary to go so far back in either province where they would find no outlet for their surplus stock, &c., without making new roads and establishing a new port with all its difficulties and drawbacks.