234 report— 1879. 



only too glad to find that the heavy coast line should be extended, but I 

 trust that no one will be able to remove any of that line or the shading. 



The large cross in the Bay of Bengal represents the Department 

 recently established in India for Marine Surveys, and which will be men- 

 tioned hereafter. 



On the home coast there is one small surveying vessel, the Porcupine, 

 under Staff- Captain Parsons, as well as the hired steamer, Knight Errant,. 

 under Staff- Commander Stanley. It should be borne in mind that owing 

 to their shifting nature the sands surrounding our shores require constant 

 examination, while the mouths of rivers are often as changeable as the 

 fashions. The continuous attention of a strong surveying staff is there- 

 fore indispensable, if the charts of our own coasts are to be kept in good 

 working order. It is not enough to make a road and then leave it, or to 

 lay down rails and then neglect the permanent way. The same principle 

 applies to our ocean highways, and charts, like roads, require constant 

 attention and repair to prevent them from falling into decay. 



The Alert left England in September last under the command of Sir 

 George Nares, and reached the scene of her first year's labours — Magellan 

 Strait and the adjacent waters — early in January. Sir George, as already 

 observed, has since accepted an appointment at the Board of Trade. 



The Fawn, under Commander Wharton, after determining the position 

 of the Cosmoledo group, and other islands to the north-west of Mada- 

 gascar, has been transferred, at the request of Admiral Sir Geoffrey 

 Hornby, to the unsurveyed waters of the Sea of Marmora. 



The Magpie has been employed on the sea-board of China, between 

 Hong-Kong and Shanghai, and is now in the Gulf of Tong-King, while 

 the Sylvia, under Commander Pelham Aldrich, is steadily working on 

 the western shores of Japan. 



It is much to be regretted that a very important part of the comple- 

 ment of officers in these vessels is generally overlooked. The well-known 

 labours of Sir Wyville Thomson and his staff lead us to hope that the 

 surveying ships of the future will carry a skilled naturalist, as in the 

 days of Sir Francis Beaufort. The opportunities offered by a surveying 

 vessel for observing and collecting on distant and little-known coasts, 

 such as those of East Africa and Japan, are so exceptional that we can 

 only wonder at their being neglected. In other respects, also, an amount 

 of economy is now enforced which impairs efficiency. 



Staff- Commander Maxwell, in the hired steamer Gulnare, is working 

 in Newfoundland, and the shores of Jamaica are being surveyed by 

 Lieutenant Pullen, in the schooner Sparroivhawh. 



Lieutenant Moore, in the Alacrity schooner, is following up the 

 examination of the Fiji Islands ; and Lieutenant Richards, in the schooner 

 Renard, is under the orders of the commodore of the Australian station. 

 The Hydrographer observes that the useful surveying work performed 

 among dangerous reefs, in these two small sailing vessels, deserves warm 

 commendation. 



The Queensland coast survey, under Staff-Commander Bedwell, is 

 now being pressed forward in a hired steamer. Staff-Commander 

 Howard is working on the mainland in the neighbourhood of Nuyts 

 Archipelago and Fowler Bay ; and we are also told by the Hydrographer 

 that Staff- Commander Archdeacon, with one naval assistant, has been 

 working hard for six years in Western Australia, with ' limited nautical 

 resources.'' Now this phrase is worthy of special notice. It means that 



