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"The following has been received at Lloyd's, from the Board of Trade relating to New Zealand:

"Sir, I am directed by the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council of Trade to transmit to you the following observations on the approaches to the town of Auckland, which have been received by Her Majesty's Government, from the Governor of New Zealand, viz.

"The town of Auckland on the southern bank of the river Waitemata, is situated in lat 30° (a) 51′ 36′′ S., long 174° 43′ E., nearly. The entrance to Waitemata is on the western side of the Shouraka (or the Frith of Thames), and is screened from the N.E. by the islands of Range, Toto, Moton, Tasso, and a succession of precipitous islets lying off the N.W. end of the large island of Waihekeh. (b)

DIRECTIONS.

"Vessels bound to Auckland from the northward, after making Point Rodney, should steer for the island of Tiri Tiri Mantangi (taking care to avoid a small rocky islet lying one league N. 53 W. (mag.) from point Takatoa Tenoa) and passing in on either side steer for Rangi Toto, keeping between that island and the main, and not approaching either in less than five fathoms water, When to the westward of Rangi Toto, the bluff N. head of the river Waitemata becomes visible. Vessels coming from the eastward should enter the Frith between the Cape Colville and the great Barrier, passing on either side of the small island of Moton Takupa, which is about a league distant N.N.W. from the Cape, whence a course may be shaped for the mid-channel between Tiri Tiri Mantangi, and Moto Tapon, which nearly joins Rangi Toto, are visible. Then proceed as if coming from the northward. (c)

Vessels drawing less than 18 feet may enter the Telemaki Channel (d) on either side of Waihekeh, and pass to the southward of the group formed by Waihekeh, Moton, Tapon, and Rangi Toto (e) to the entrance of the Waitemata, but this channel is not recommended to strangers unaided by a pilot, in the event of stress of weather or other emergency, excellent shelter may be found inside any port of Waihekeh, or under the east end of Moton Tapon, the channels leading to it being perfectly free from danger. On approaching the entrance to the river care must be taken to avoid a ledge of rocks extending in a N.W. direction from the southern shore which may be avoided by keeping the northhead

(a) This must be 36°, instead of 30° as no part of New Zealand is in 30° latitude. Assuming that 36° is meant, the position of Auckland will be about a mile and a half inland from the south shore of the gulf, and immediately opposite to Second Point, (being in the same longitude,) by the survey of Lieut. Fisher and the officers of the Herald, lately published by the Admiralty.

(b) These must be Rangui Toto, Moton-tabou, by the Admiralty chart of the Shouraka Gulf.

(c) We have endeavoured to ascertain the meaning of this part of the directions, and believe that the rocky islet alluded to lies south 53° east, from the point Takatou-fenoa, instead of north 53° west. The meaning of that part, alluding, to vessels from the eastward, (although there is some imperfection in the latter part,) is perhaps sufficiently clear with the above chart, reading Moton-tabou and Rangui-toto for the names.

(d) Called Tehmaki Strait in the chart. (e) Moton-tabou and Rangui-toto.

southward of West (mag.), until a remarkable rock on the south shore, resembling the Bastian of Fort (called the Bastian Rock), bears S. (mag.) (f) With a fair wind the N. head may be rounded at half a cable's length distance, and a mid-channel course will lead to the auchorage off the town. With a beating wind tack on the south shore, on coming into six fathom water, and on the north shore, which is much steeper at the first shoal cast. The only dangers within the heads are a spit of sand that projects half a cable's length from a low sandy point on the north shore about a quarter of a mile inside the north head (g) and a mud flat which lines the southern shore to a distance of nearly one third of a mile throughout the whole river, and all the bays on both sides are shoals. These dangers may be avoided by attention to the lead, and the directions given above.

"The navigation of the Gulf of Shouraka, with ordinary care, is perfectly safe, but attention is required in hazy weather, or at night, to avoid many small islets, which vary in height from 6 or 8 feet to 100 feet and which are generally surrounded with deep water. The only known exceptions to this rule are the Perogues, (h) in 39° 7' S., and long, 175° 18′ E., according to D'Urville, and a rock on which the sea breaks occasionally, called Simpsons Rock, lying about four or five miles N.N.E. from the N.W. end of the Great Barrier. There is a sunken rock reported to exist on the N side of Waihekeh, and is marked on the charts about N from the centre of that island a long league off shore, the position, or even the existence of which, is not positively known. These rocks, as will be seen by reference to the chart, are out of the ordinary track of vessels, but contrary winds may oblige vessels to approach them, and therefore are worthy of notice. The rock off Point Tokata Tenoa, above alluded to, stands about eight feet above high water mark, and is bold to. Its position is accurately laid down by the Baron D'Urville. High water at Waitemata on full and change 6h. 45m. Rise and fall about 11 feet on the spring tides. The flood runs to the southward with the Frith of Thames, but to the northward on the coast.

As we have not met with the original document from which the above was printed, we insert the foregoing for the advantage of our own readers. It is quite evident however that the New Zealand orthography requires considerable attention to preserve it free from such inaccuracies as we have pointed out; but the general careless manner in which the

(f) A dangerous reef extends in a northerly (mag.) direction, above a mile from the south point of the entrance of the Waitemata, by Lieut. Fisher's chart. We shall be glad of the position of the Bastian rock alluded to.

(9) The Sandy Point is three-quarters of a mile within the north point of entrance, and the spit extends about a cable's length and a half east from it.

(h) Pirogues. The middle of the reef called the Pirogues lies in lat. 36° 16' south, and the reef is about a mile in extent, in a north-west and south-east direction, about two miles and a half on a south-east course from the islands off Cape Kruzenstern of Otea, which we presume is the great barrier before alluded to; the longitude is identical, but the mariner will look in vain for Pirogues in 39° 7' south. Simpson's Rock is not known to us, but that off the north shore of Wai-hekeh appears on the chart.

important particulars of geographical positions and directions for ships appear to be turned out of hand, on which particulars their very safety so much depend, certainly is not calculated to be of much service to them.-ED.

NOTICES TO MARINERS.

PILLAU, April 20.-After special soundings of the channel have been taken, the buoys which mark the flats and shoals in the same, as well as those streaks running from the shore into the Haff have been laid; and for the information of the inexperienced navigator the following remarks will be found very useful:-On Geerster Point, being the most dangerous shoal in the Haff, a large buoy, painted half white and half black, is laid, which may be seen at a great distance. In the middle of the mouth of the channel there is a black buoy, with a cross broom, which according as the wind serves may be passed on either side. The other black buoys, in leaving the Haff, must be passed on the starboard, and the white buoys which mark the westerly flats on the larboard side. The Kohlholz Rock is marked with a black, and the flats of the Heerdes with a red buoy. For the greater security of the inland navigation, it is to be observed, that on the, so called, Katzhaken, at the entrance of the Passarge, there is a black buoy; and on the Leissuhns Stones a buoy fixed on a stake; both of which, in sailing from Pillau into the Passarges are to be passed on the left side.

STEAM PASSAGES TO INDIA BY THE CAPE.

WE have recorded the progress of steam round the Cape in its earliest stages, when it was matter of speculation what kind of voyages would be made; and we have heard of companies being formed, for the purpose of establishing a line of vessels to brave the dangers of the Cabo Tormentoso, and force their way to our Indian colonies by sea, without encountering the plagues of Egypt; but we see nothing of the kind yet realised. However, it is useful to place in one view the following account of the various passages which have been made, with the discussion relating to them, as we find it in the Bombay Times :

The Berenice used to be a clever sailer, but she has been so improved by the Indian Navy people that while she has become vastly more "man-of-war-like," her motions have been the very reverse of accelerated. On her last voyage from Suez she reached Bombay on the 22nd November, having taken twenty-one days down, including a delay of sixty-two hours at Aden. February is a short month, and moreover we expect that she will be late in leaving Suez as the weather is still stormy off the south coast of France; and allowing her nineteen days to come down, and assuming that she starts on the 24th, she may, as above stated, be looked for on Sunday or Monday next.

The Enterprise steamer is, we observe, expected round here very shortly with treasure from Calcutta. This is not the vessel which originally bore that name and served with such distinction in the Burmese war, but a namesake of hers built at Calcutta, and launched in 1839. She measures 470 tons, and carries engines of 120-horse power. The

Calcutta papers seem to expect that the Enterprise will be here before the departure of the Overland of the 1st April, and if this be so, we presume she will bring with her a host of passengers for the Red Sea steamer. The Cleopatra's new fittings-up are nearly completed, and are extremely convenient indeed, affording cabin accommodation for no fewer than twenty-eight first class passengers. We understand, however, that her berths are already mostly engaged, so that should an influx of Bengallees make their appearance with the Enterprise, those who defer bespeaking their places are very likely to experience disappointment.

The

The India steamer, which left England on the 4th October, arrived at Calcutta on the 19th February, having been thus 137 days on her passage. Of these she was 100 under steam or sail, and thirty-seven in port at the various coaling stations at which she required to stop. India is 1200 tons burthen, and is thus a fourth larger than any steamer which ever came out to India by the Cape-the Sesostris being 860, and the Semiramis, the next to the Sesostris in magnitude, being only 733 tons. The engines of the India which are 325-horse power, do not exceed those of the other steamers in the same ratio as her burthen. The engines of the Semiramis, which came here in 1837, were 300, and those of the Zenobia (684 tons) 280-horse power. The India has made the most tedious steam passage of any on record except the Nemesis which lately went to China; having been eighteen days longer in her voyage, and ten days longer under weigh than any steamer from the time the Enterprise rounded the Cape in 1825. The Cleopatra sailed out all the way, and so we rather think did the Zenobia:-these appear as if exceptions in the table. The speed of the India seems to have been considerably under seven miles an hour; whereas few of the others given in the subjoined table have fallen behind eight and a half. Her consumption of coals, as might have been under these circumstances expected, is extremely low; ranging not much over six pounds per horse power per hour, the average in general being ten pounds. This is a common occurrence and easily accounted for-the quantity of fuel required for propulsion decreasing in a much more rapid ratio than the rate of speed. If a steamer passing through the water at ten knots an hour consume ten pounds per horse power, should her speed be let down one-fourth under this, that is to seven and a half knots, her consumption of fuel will probably fall to near a half, or five pounds per hour. As the resistance of the water, and consequently the power required to overcome it, encreases as the square of the velocity of the vessel passing through it, so of course at the same rate must the wastage of the fuel required to generate the power which originates the motion be decreased. It is in cases of high rates of speed that an extravagant expenditure of coal is required. The following table has been somewhat carefully compiled to show the time occupied in the voyages to India of nine several steamers which have rounded the Cape since 1825. It is much less complete than we could have desired, as the documents are not so accessible as we expected to have found them, but we believe it may be pretty closely depended on so far as it extends :

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Table shewing the time occupied under steam, under sail or in coaling, and the sums of the three in the various voyages performed from England to India by steamers round the Cape, from 1825 to 1841, arrival and departure.

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The Zenobia sailed from Cork. After leaving St. Vincents she anchored on the 20th of April at a village on the African coast to procure wood and water remaining there five days, leaving on the 25th April Having steamed two days or her course towards the Cape of Good Hope, and finding the wood obtained would not burn, bore up on the 27th April for St. Helena, under sail-where she arrived on the 7th May, remained eleven days left on the 18th May, arrived at the Cape under steam on the 30th May, left Cape of Good Hope on the 6th June, arrived at the Mauritius on the 22nd June, left on the 29th, and arrived at Bombay on the 14th July.

The Cleopatra sailed the whole way out-her engines were up, but the wheels and funnel were not.-December 3rd, carried away the foremast, and put into Lisbon December 10th, where she remained until the 10th January, arriving at Bombay on the 30th April, having been 129 days under sail, viz. eighteen to, and 119 from Lisbon; and thirty-one days detained at Lisbon, making in all 160 days from England.

The Nemesis proceeded from Colombo on to China, where she arrived November 27th-having been hove down in the Straits of Malacca, She encountered numerous delays besides those noticed in the table. She took 194 days from England to Ceylon, and six days have been added to this as her hypothetical voyage to Bombay.

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