GENERAL.

The trade to several of the ports having considerably diminished, I have as vacancies occurred, been able to recommend reductions in the staff by 13 officers and men, which will effect an annual saving of £1,932, without in any way impairing the efficiency of the Department.

Having visited all the lighthouses on the Queensland coast, I find the sites upon which the structures are erected have been selected with great care and judgment, and the illuminating apparatus of the most modern description (excepting Cape Moreton, which, however, shows an excellent light), and supplied principally by the eminent lighthouse engineers, Messrs. Chance Bros., of Birmingham.

Additional 1st or 2nd order lights are not necessary at present, but in the Inner Route and Torres Strait much time is lost by the mail and other large steamers through having to anchor at night. Steam vessels are fast superseding sailing vessels, and their number passing along this coast increases every month, which will soon render additional lights necessary.

Pintsch's gas for beacons, buoys, and light-vessels is being adopted to a great extent in Europe, Asia, America, and the Suez Canal. In the colony of Victoria Pintsch's gas buoys are also in use. It possesses great advantages, owing to the cheapness of first cost and to the fact that no outlay is necessary for lightkeepers, as the light burns from six weeks to two months without attention. This system of lighting is admirably adapted for use in the Inner Route and for the shifting channels at the entrance to Moreton Bay. Several lightships with their crews have been recently dispensed with in France, and gas buoys substituted.

Another cheap and very effective light, the "Trotter Lindberg," is being introduced into the lighting system of Europe. This light is produced by burning paraffin or lythene oil in a specially designed apparatus. With the latter the light burns 14 days, and with the former 7 days without attention. A special feature of the apparatus is that an intermittent light is produced by the automatic action of a screen, which is made to revolve by the ascent of the heated air produced by the light. To mark the outer end of a cutting or narrow channel, the Trotter-Lindberg light might be utilised instead of a lightship. A lantern, with optical apparatus complete, costs about £100 to £125 in London.

SUNKEN WRECKS.

Disfigure several of our rivers, and are not only a source of danger to navigation, but are liable to cause deposits which may hereafter render dredging necessary. I have endeavoured—without success—to find owners for the vessels referred to. Ownership has evidently been transferred from one to another with the intention of evading the responsibility of raising or removing the wrecks. Some legislation is needed on this subject. The steamer "Settler" was removed from the river bank at Bulimba in February last, the lowest tender for the work being £100.

WRECKS AND CASUALTIES.

A tabulated statement is attached hereto, giving particulars of the wrecks and casualties to shipping on our coast for the year ending 30th June last. Happily no loss of life has been the result. Nor have the crews suffered much hardship, being in most cases rescued by means of their own boats.

WATER POLICE.

Good work has been done by the Town Water Police, all their vigilance being required to prevent breaches of the Port Regulations.

UNIVERSAL SYSTEM, BUOYS AND BEACONS.

The system as recommended by the International Maritime Conference at Washington, the Life-saving Appliances Act, the new Load Line Act, and the Report of the Bulkhead Committee are having the special attention of the Marine Board, and will be dealt with as soon as possible.

TREE-PLANTING ON ISLANDS AND REEFS.

The pilot vessels at Broadsound, Mackay, Townsville, and Cooktown have been frequently utilised during the last twelve months in conveying cocoanut and other trees, to the various islands and reefs adjacent to our coast, where they have been planted, and the lightkeepers in the neighbourhood have been instructed to protect the young plants as far as possible. Tree culture, especially the cocoanut—for which the coral islands form congenial homes—is important, not only commercially, but as contributing to the safety of navigation, the existence of trees rendering the outlying islands and reefs more conspicuous, and are more serviceable than beacons. As an article of food, the cocoanuts would prove invaluable to shipwrecked crews. Those planted on some of the islands are thriving well, especially some 200 young plants on the Lizard Islands. The trees that have been planted recently require protection in some way, or they will disappear, as did the fully-matured trees which existed some years ago on the Frankland Islands.

FISHERIES.

The revenue derived from the Oyster Fisheries has increased in a substantial manner during the past year. This is owing to the large number of banks which have been licensed in Rodd's Harbour, and also the successful sale of dredge sections in Moreton Bay. Banks at the Flinders Group, Princess Charlotte Bay, have also been licensed, the oysters being sent to Normanton and Burketown. On my recent Northern trip I visited Flinders Group, and saw indications of what may develop into a large industry, not only in connection with edible oysters, but with pearl oysters, several samples of which were shown to me. The quantity and value of oysters exported from Brisbane and Maryborough up to 30th June last were as per following table, viz.:—

BRISBANE.

YearNo. of Bags.Value.(£)

187045231644

187151271625

187240601427

187330360,768

187439121704

187553492622

187666482792

187727361639

187817901227

187937932729

188052933475

188175596153

188299539074

188388787342

188482568475

188580768094

188675128533

188771678240

188861917616

1899679113368

18901290615981

1891[A]871911381

MARYBOROUGH.

YearNo. of Bags. Value. (£)

18871,6921,967

18881,9903,326

18891,9143,677

18903,2576,580

1891[A]1,8693,542

The revenue received on account of Oyster Fisheries for the year ending 30th June, 1981, was as follows:—

Brisbane£4,360179

Maryborough875100

Gladstone40000

Rockhampton200

Thursday Island (Flinders Group)700

Total£5,64579

The number of men and boats employed in connection with the oyster industry in Moreton Bay are—men 82, boats 36; and the number of banks worked are 241.

Licenses for catching fish at this port have been issued as follows for the current year:—Europeans, 99 men and 46 boats; Chinese, 32 men and 16 boats.

Attached hereto is the Inspector's Report on the Oyster and other Fisheries in the Maryborough district.

I have, &c., T. M. ALMOND, Portmaster and Chairman Marine Board.

Casualties to Vessels on the Queensland Coast for the year ended 30th June, 1891.

Name of Vessel.Tonnage.Date.Nature and Locality of Casualty.Total or Partial Loss.No. of Lives Lost.Result of Inquiry.

Taldora, s.s.23214 July 1890Stranding, Eagle Rock, Fitzroy River Partial None Master cautioned.

Archer, s.s.69420 July 1890Stranding, M Reef, Inner Route Partial None Pilot's license suspended 3 months.

Changsha, s.s.146322 July 1890Stranding, Rattray Island, Inner Route Partial None Master severely censured.

Volga, barque162006 August 1890Stranding, Beresford Shoal Total None No default.

Grace Lynn, schr.9312 August 1890Stranding, reef off Low Island Partial None Master Guilty; gross negligence.

Joseph, barque68722 August 1890Stranding, Heroine Reef, Endeavour Strait Total None Foreign vessel. No inquiry.

Royal Duke, schr.10522 August 1890Foundering, Cooktown Harbour Partial None No default.

Jennie Scott, ketch3821 September 1890Stranding, Flora Reef Total None No default.

Taiyuan, s.s.226914 October 1890Collision, Brisbane River Partial None Pilot's license suspended for 3 months.

Corea, s.s.38209 November 1890Fire, Brisbane River Partial None No default.

Kate, s.s.14711 November 1890Collision, Brisbane Bar Total None Insufficient lookout on Burwah.

Burwah, s.s.56811 November 1890Collision, Brisbane Bar Partial None Insufficient lookout on Burwah.

Maori King, s.s.247608 December 1890Stranding, Brisbane River Partial None No default.

Orange Grove, barque38515 December 1890Stranding, Dungeness Partial None No default.

Fiado, s.s.98518 December 1890Stranding, Brisbane River Partial None No default.

Sybil, schr.15007 January 1891Dismasting off Double Island Point Partial None No default.

Perseverance, schr.16308 January 1891Foundering 18 miles from High Peak Point Total None Master's certificates cancelled.

Wawoon, s.s.5008 January 1891Damage to boiler, Fitzroy River Partial None Engineer's certificate suspended 3 months.

Kingswear, s.s.20105 February 1891Stranding, Cordelia Rock Partial None Master cautioned.

Recorder, s.s.67706 February 1891Stranding, Madge Reef, Normanby Sound Partial None No default.

Moltke, barque82721 May 1891Stranding, Flinders Opening Partial None Foreign vessel. No inquiry.

Wastwater, s.s281010 June 1891Collision, Brisbane River No Loss None Master Ranelagh cautioned.

Ranelagh, s.s.83610 June 1891Collision, Brisbane River No Loss None Master Ranelagh cautioned.

Anahuac, ship122015 June 1891Stranding, reef near Bramble Cay Total None Foreign vessel. No inquiry.

Harbour Master's Office, Maryborough, 31st July, 1891.

Sir,—In accordance with your instructions, I have the honour to submit the following Report on the Oyster Fisheries of this port, the extreme limits of which extend from Tin Can Inlet on the south, taking in Wide Bay, Great Sandy Strait, and Hervey Bay, to the Burrum River on the north, covering a distance of nearly 100 miles, exclusive of many large creeks, all containing oyster ground between those limits.

I commenced marking off these oyster banks in July, 1886. We then had licenses issued for 72 banks, 18 boats, and 42 men, at a revenue of £398 for the year ending 30th June, 1886. We now have for the year ending 30th June, 1891, licenses issued for 175 oyster banks, 30 boats, and 53 men, at a revenue of £942 2s. 6d. [Vide Schedule appended.]

I hope to have the survey of the different sections in Hervey Bay completed by the end of the present year, when tracings of plans of same will be forwarded to you. This would have been finished before, but that I can only spare a few days in each month from my other duties for the work. I shall then require to run over the whole district again, as a considerable quantity of new ground has been taken up in the different sections since first survey, owing to the heavy falls of spat which have since taken place, portions of which ground previously never carried an oyster. During the past year large quantities of spat have fallen on the oyster banks in Hervey Bay and Great Sandy Strait, some of the banks being literally covered, thus preventing the shipment of good marketable oysters, which, if removed in their present state, would cause the destruction of all the young oysters attached to them.

Great attention has been paid by the different licensees to the cultivation of their banks by removing the poor oysters from the high ridges, after being carefully culled and separated into clumps containing from three to four oysters, are deposited on the grass flat and lower ground lying near. Upwards of 4,000 bags have been treated in this manner with excellent results.

Over 9,000 bags of marketable oysters, at a rough value of 30s. per bag (£13,500), have been shipped during the past year by the different licensees to the various markets of the colonies. Messrs. Leftwich and Sons alone have sent over 3,500 bags; the Moreton Bay Oyster Company and Messrs. Perry and Griffin have also shipped large quantities of oysters for the purpose of cultivating the Moreton Bay banks.

In conclusion, I am pleased to state that the whole business throughout is in a flourishing condition and steadily increasing in magnitude, and I feel confident that the revenue received from this industry for the following year will reach four figures.

FISHERIES.

There have been large quantities of mullet in this district during the season which commences when the westerly winds set in, generally about the end of May and ending about August, when they come close in to the shore to spawn. Crabs are also plentiful.

I do not think that a close season is at all necessary at this port, as there are so few persons engaged in the traffic.

Licenses have been issued at this port for the year ending 30th June, 1891, to 6 Europeans and 4 Chinese; also 6 boats.

I have, &c., EDWD. J. BOULT, Inspector of Fisheries.

The Chairman, Marine Board, Brisbane.

Schedule respecting Oyster Fisheries, Maryborough.

Period.Banks.Boats.Men.Revenue.

Year ending June, 1886721840398 0 0

Year ending June, 18871403070765 0 0

Year ending June, 18881504073836 0 0

Year ending June, 18891673777923 0 0

Year ending June, 18901633351903 0 0

Year ending June, 18911753153949 2 6

Transfers and Fishing Licenses. £12.

Price 1s. 6d.

By Authority: James C. Beal, Government Printer, William street, Brisbane.