length of time. There are, however, varieties which are considered very lasting, and manuka, totara, black birch, kowhai, and matai, or black pine, appear to be the most highly esteemed.

The most common timber trees are the kauri and the red and white pine, frequently displaying clean, branchless stems 80 feet long by 5 feet in diameter, and without a knot, adapted for every purpose of house and shipbuilding. The puriri, or iron wood, equal in durability to teak or oak, the rata and the pohutukawa used for ship timbers and wheelwrights' purposes, the kohe kohe and others used for shingles, split stuff and fencing, and the totara and a variety of fancy woods adapted for general purposes.

The extensive forests of the Auckland district provide constant occupation in the hewing and sawing of wood, and this labour is exceedingly profitable. The timber exported from New Zealand annually is usually a very large amount, in addition to the immense quantity consumed in the Colony for house and shipbuilding purposes and firing. The kauri and totara pines, in size, extent, and durability, equal Baltic pine, for houses and shipbuilding. One totara tree near Akaroa measured 37 feet in circumference. Kauri trees are used for ships' masts, being often 90 feet long without a branch, and the largest kauri trees have often a girth of 40 feet. Shipbuilding and the trade in timber are next to wool growing, among the most substantial elements of the prosperity of New Zealand. Valuable and beautiful furniture planks are sawn from the rimu, kaki-katea, or white pine, matai, mairi, and manuka.

The value of New Zealand spars obtained from Hokianga, on the west coast of the province of Auckland, has long been known in England; but the report of the French Commission on the comparative strength of timbers of various kinds, served to direct the attention abroad to the superior quality for ships' masts of the kauri pine, and cargoes of valuable spars are from time to time shipped from the northern ports of New Zealand.

Certainly, the most serviceable and noble tree of the many that adorn the New Zealand forest is the kauri pine, which attains to very large dimensions, the trunk being commonly from 25 to 35 feet in circumference, at a height of 5 feet from the ground, and tapering slowly throughout a height of 120 to 160 feet. There are some in the valleys of the Wairau whose trunks are upwards of 45 feet in circumference, and attaining a height of 150 feet without a branch.

The wood is light, free from knots, and durable. It is in great demand in every port of the Pacific for spars for shipping, and, indeed, with the exception of New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines, New Zealand is the only country in the Pacific from which these supplies can be drawn, the pine of the south of Chile being comparatively of little value.

There is one curious light wood of the Colony which is worth mentioning; it bears the native name of whau, and is of cellular tissue, and little more than half the weight of cork. When cut plank wise and carefully smoothed with glass paper, it presents all the appearance of a solid wood. It is used in the north island for fishing floats and similar purposes, and is said to answer very well, though when constantly immersed, it has a tendency to become partially water-logged. This material would make admirable life-belts, fenders, and linings for lifeboats, and similar articles only liable to be occasionally wet. It would answer for mary purposes where little strength and great lightness are required, as, for instance, for rollers for the protection of plans and photographs, &c., when transmitted by post.

Having now gone as fully as space would permit over this branch of our subject, showing the value of our Colonies in a timber yielding point of view, we propose to turn, in the next article, to another natural product of importance to their own progress and that of the mother country-viz., coal, and describe the coal-fields of the Indian Empire and our Colonies.

WRECK REPORT FOR 187 3.

JANUARY TO JUNE.

We have to inform our readers that this is a reprint of the veritable official report, with the omission of the tables; and is not, like that which usually appears in the daily press, a copy prepared from this for publication, by the Royal National Life Boat Institution. These preliminary observations are necessary, as we have noticed that one of the London daily papers, referred in a leader, and in plain words, to the report, as the report of that Institution.

General Remarks.

It has been found advisable to make up the tables of the wreck Statistics from the 1st July to the 30th June, instead of as formerly from the 1st January, to the 31st December. This change will enable the Abstracts of Wrecks, Casualties, and Collisions, to be presented to the Houses of Parliament earlier in the session, and will bring together in one publication all wrecks, collisions, and casualties that happen during one winter. In order to make this change, it is at first necessary to publish a return for six months only, and the following pages will, therefore, be found to relate to the first six months of the year 1873; the remainder of the

year 1873 with the first half of 1874 will form the subject of the next publication. In consequence also of this change, most of those tables, especially in Part I. of the tables, in which, for the sake of comparison, the figures for the last ten years are annually repeated, have been re-cast and re-modelled according to the new system; but, in a few instances, it has not been found practicable to do so, and they have been left in in their old form, the figures for the half-year being merely added on. The returns which follow relate to both the Home and Foreign wreck registers. It should be distinctly understood that the wrecks and casualties treated of in the various tables do not mean total losses only, but include accidents and damage of all kinds to ships at sea, of which only a very small proportion are attended with loss of life. Thus, of the 967 wrecks, casualties, and collisions on the coasts of the United Kingdom, only 256 involved total loss, and only 97 were attended with loss of life. The number of vessels from which there was loss of life is 98, but two of these having been in collision with each other, make the the number of wrecks, &c., which involved loss of life, 97.

Wrecks at Home.-In making comparisons of the several tables, it must be borne in mind that, as stated in the Wreck Abstract for 1870, the wreck register of the United Kingdom for each year contains particulars of the whole of the casualties which have been reported to the Board of Trade as having occurred on, and near the coasts of the United Kingdom in the year to which it relates. "At Home" embraces the cases which happen in waters within 10 miles from the shores of the United Kingdom; in waters within any bays or estuaries; in waters around any outlying sandbanks which are dry at low water; in the seas between Great Britain and Ireland; and between the Orkney and Shetland and Western Islands and the mainland of Scotland. For the better understanding of the limits adopted in this classification, the officers round the coasts of the United Kingdom whose duty it is to report wrecks, &c., are furnished with copies of the wreck chart of the United Kingdom, upon which the limits are indicated by a black line drawn from headland to headland as shown in the chart of the United Kingdom appended hereto. These officers have, of course, been distinctly instructed that these limits are to be understood as relating solely to the arrangement of the wreck register for statistical purposes, and as in no way indicating or affecting the limits of British jurisdiction. In comparing the casualties recorded in the later years with those of earlier years, it should be borne in mind that, in consequence of the steps taken for the purpose, the casualties have constantly been more and more accurately and certainly reported to the Board of Trade; and in the returns of later years are included many casualties which would, under the arrangements of former years, no doubt, have been omitted.

Wrecks Abroad.-The Foreign wreck register, on the other hand, contains the wrecks reported in the year, some of which have, of course, occurred previously. As the reports of wrecks which happen at great. distances from the United Kingdom, are not received in the Board of Trade until long after their occurrence, any attempt to include the whole of them in the register of the year in which they occur would have the effect of deferring the publication of the abstract to a late period of the following year. "Abroad" embraces the cases which happen anywhere beyond the limits of the Home Register.

Divisions of the Wreck Register.-It will be observed that the abstract is divided into seven parts, viz. :-(1.) Wrecks, casualties and collisions of British and Foreign vessels which occurred on and near the coasts of the United Kingdom. (2.) Particulars of lives lost on and near these coasts. (3.) Wrecks, &c., of British and Foreign vessels which occurred on and near the coasts of the Channel Islands and the British Possessions abroad. (4.) Wrecks, &c., of British vessels which occurred elsewhere than on or near the coasts of the United Kingdom and of British Possessions abroad. (5.) Particulars of lives lost abroad. (6.) Statement of official inquiries into the causes of wrecks, &c., held at home and abroad; and (7.) Particulars of lives saved and of means adopted for saving them.

Classification of Wrecks.-With a view to the careful and accurate recording of wreck statistics, the Board of Trade have adopted the following classification of wrecks and casualties for the purposes of the wreck register :

(a.) Collisions.-(1) At home; (2) abroad; embracing collisions of all kinds between ships.

(b.) Founderings.-(3) After leaving a port in the United Kingdom; (4) after leaving a Colonial port; (5) after leaving a Foreign port; embracing founderings (other than those which result from collision, stranding, or striking on any sunken wreck or anchor), even though the vessel be subsequently raised again; vessels which sink after capsizing; vessels abandoned by their crews on the point of foundering, if not subsequently heard of.

(c.) Strandings.-(6) At home; (7) abroad; embracing strandings, whether through stress of weather, or accident, or to avoid collision or foundering; striking against piers, quays, cliffs, &c.; abandoned vessels driven on shore.

(d.) Miscellaneous.-(8) At home; (9) abroad; embracing fire, irrespective of result; scuttling and intentional damage to vessels; collisions with icebergs; striking on sunken wreck, anchors, or buoys; leakage (except when the vessel founders, or is run ashore for safety); loss of masts, sails, boats, bulwarks, &c.; loss of anchors and chains;

vessels which have capsized, but have not sunk; damage to machinery; fouling of anchors; shifting of cargo; derelict vessels brought into port. (e.) Vessels not heard of after sailing.

Parts I. and II. of the return include both British and Foreign vessels; they do not, however, include the numerous wrecks and casualties of British vessels which occur elsewhere than on the coasts of this country and in the seas adjoining (i.e., outside the black line on the accompanying chart of the United Kingdom), but statistics of these are given in Parts III., IV., and V. The number of wrecks, casualties, and collisions from all causes on and near the coasts of the United Kingdom and in the surrounding seas, reported during the first six months of the year 1873, is 967, being 246 more than the number reported for the corresponding period in the year 1872. The following table shows the annual average number of wrecks and casualties on the coasts of the United Kingdom reported since 1858, divided into four periods of five years :

Periods of 5 years ending 1857 Wrecks and Casualties 1,051

Of the total number of casualties included in Parts I. and II. (of the tables) a small proportion only are attended with loss of life. The following table shows the number of casualties on and near the coasts of the United Kingdom which were attended with loss of life, and the number of lives lost, in each year since 1861, distinguishing British from Foreign vessels:

1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873

Jan. to
June.

170 130 129 96 147 172 245 177 183 101 116 100 90 705 617 533 475 597 792 1106 720 800 676 530 487 708 30 16 22 12 17 87 34 19 28 23 19 25 8 179 73 87 41 101 104 227 104 133 98 96 103 20

Total vessels

Lives lost

200 146 151 108 164 199 279 196 211 124 135 125 98 884 690 620 516 698 896 1333 824 933 774 626 590 728

Of these casualties, from January to June in 1873, about one out of ten results in loss of life. Amongst the returns is given an abstract showing for each year since 1861 the casualties attended with loss of life. (See end of Table 21.) The particular number of wrecks, casualties, and collisions reported for any one year is increased or diminished according to the prevalence or absence of gales of remarkable violence and duration.