The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-04 00:00:00

SYDNEY 1121RBOUR.

THE NEW SHERIFFS.

(Prom the London Gazette of Tuesday Eventing.)
At the CJurt at Buckingham Palace, the 3dFeb.
—present, the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in
Council—the following sheriffs were appointed for
the year 1858
Bedfordshire—John Sambrook Crawley, of Stookwood,
Esq.
Berkshire —Henry Richard Eyre, of Shaw-place, near
Newbury, E€l.
Buckinghamshire—Matthew Knapp, of Little Linford,
ECaq. mbridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Christopher
Robert Pemberton, of Newton, Esq.
Cumberland—Anthony Bean Steward, of Chapel Howse,
Esq.
Cheshire—George Fortescue WilbrahaM, of Delamere
House, near Northwich, Esq.
Derbyshire —Gladwin Tartu% of Ogeton Hall, Esq.
Devonshire—Sir Edward Mar wood Elton, of Widworthy
Court, Bart.
Dorsetshire—George Frederick William Miles, of Ford
Abbey, Esq.
Durham—Timothy Hutchinson, of Egglestone Hall, Esq.
Nisex—Oggood Hanbury, of Holfield Grange, Coggles•
hall, Esq.
Gloucestenhire—Thomas Beale Browne, of Salperton
Palk, near Cheltenham, Esq.
Herefordshire—Richard Snead Cox, of Pembridge and
Eaton Bishop, and of Brozwood, near Kington, Euq.
Hertfordshire— William Wilehere, of the Frythe
Welwyn, Esq. in
Kent—Bolward Ladd Bette, of Preston Hall, Aylesford.
near Maidstone, Esq.
LeicestersLire—Chas. Thos. Freer, of Billesdon Coplow,
Esq.
Lincolnshire—George Neville, of Stubton Park Esq.
Monmouthshire—Godfrey Charles Morgan, of
Tredegar
Park, Esq. •
Norfolk—Stephen Lyne Stephens, of Lynford, Esq.
Northamptonshire—John Christopher Mansel, of Coss
grove, Esq.
Northumberland—Lancelot.. John Hunter Allgood, of
Nunwick, Esq.
Nottinghamshire—Jonathan Hardcastle, of Blidworth
Dale, Esq.
HOxfordshire—Henry Lomax Gaskell, of Kiddington
all, Es
Rutlandq.
shire—W
ham, Esq. m. Rudkin Morris, of North Luffen•
Shropshire—Edmund Wright, of Holston, Esq.
Somersetshire—Sir Alexander Acland Hood, of St. An.
dries, Bart.
Stafordshire—Philip Williams, of Tipton, Esq.
County of Southampton—Thomas Smith, of Droxfords
near Bishops Waltham, Esq.
Suffolk—Peter Robert Burrell, of Stoke Park, Ipswich*
qq.
Surrey--The Hon. George John Cavendish, of Lyna
Grove, Chertsey.
Sasser—Edward Smith Bigg, of the Hyde, Slaugham,
Esq.
Warwickshire— Owen Pell, of Radford Semele, near
Leamington, Esq.
Westmoreland—Robert Addison, of the Friary, Apple.
by,W Esq.
iltshire—Francis Alexander Sydenham Locke, of
Rowdeford, Esq.
Worcestershire—Samuel Baker, of Thorngrove, near
Worcester, Esq.
Yorkshire—John Walbanke Childers, of Cantley, neat
Doncaster, Esq.' .•

WALES.
A.nglesey—Ricbard Davies, of Bwlch-yfen, Esq.
Breconshire—Thomas Wood, jun., of the Lodge, Et q.
Carnarvonshire—John Nanney, of Maesyneuodd, Mari.
onetbehire, Esq.
Carmarthenshire—William Morris, of Coomb, Esq.
Cardiganebire—Thomas Hughes, of Noyadd-fawr, Esq.
Denbighshire—John Jocelyn Ffoulkes, of Erriviatt,
Denbigh, Esq.
Flintehire—Philip Bryan Davies Cooke, of Gwysaney
Hall, Esq.
Glamorganshire—Efenry Le of Green Meadow, Esq•
Montgomeryshire—Richard Penroddock Long, of Dol-
forgan, Esq.
Merionethshire—Edmund Buckley, of Plasyndinas, Esq.
Pembrokeshire--Nicholas John Dann, of Westmoor,
Esq.
Ra.dnorshire—Howell Gwynne Howell, of Llanelwed4
Hall, Esq.
T W

4:1IE ,EATHER IN THE NORTH.-;SHIELDS, Tuesday
Night. —The wind has been more moderate to-day,
Plough the weather ii Litter cold, and the thermometer
has fallen to seven degrees below freezing point. No
veeFels have left the Tyne or Wear since Sunday night,
and the sea looks very rough and stormy. Mendel
night's tide ran higher up at Sunderland than has been
observed for some time. The sea broke over the em-
bankment a little to the south of the eastern ballast
cranes, and floated along the railway and into the dock,
doing damage to some wooden erections as it swept past.
Considerable damage has been done at the south en.
trance; about 100 feet of the masonwork of the north
pier has been torn down to the foundations; the timb,
Torks and breakworks are, however, but little injured*
The sea also broke over the embankment at the south-
eastern extremity 9f the extension, and floated into the
dock in large quantities, rendering the railway impr",
sable, and sweeping away portions of the deposit wbl(
forms the dock. A considerable quantity of snow fell
on Monday in the hill distriCts of Northumberland and
Durham. There has been no fall upon the coast.

The awful wreck of the Dunbar, and the more
recent but less terrible catastrophe of the Catherine
Adamson, have turned the attention, not of the
Government only but of the people at large, to the
necessity of more perfectly marking by lights the
approaches to our harbour. The loss of the last-
named ship, indeed, was not attributable to any
want of this kind, but it has, nevertheless, had the
effect of keeping the popular feeling alive. This
feeling has strengthened the hands of the Govern-
ment, and instead of any mere temporary or imper-
fect system of lighting, the unquestionably splendid
harbour of Port Jackson will be rendered easy to
approach and easy to traverse, either by night or
by day, by the adoption of one of the most com-
plete designs as to lights and land-marks ever de-
vised. The subject has been discussed in all quar-
ters. There have been suggestions innumerable ;
some of them by thoroughly practical men, and
therefore worthy of the most serious consideration.
But something far more effective than mere discus.
sion, however competent the persons engaged in it,
has in the meantime been gone on with. The cap-
tain, officers, and crew of her Majesty's ship Herald
have quietly set themselves to work to make a com-
plete and elaborate survey of the harbour and its
approaches. How they have accomplished it in
the time we can scarcely understand, but the survey
has been so perfect that the chart in which its re-
sults are shown, and which we have seen, is as much
-a map of the land beneath the waters as of the lands.
which border them. Every little shoal, every in-
equality of depth, is clearly traced by the most
careful soundings. Every distance and position
have been calculated avid laid down with the utmost
nicety. A very little consideration will show the
great difficulties and labour of such a work. To
survey and map down with similar accuracy even
the same space of dry land would be a stiff job.
But the surveyor's assistants cannot run about with
flags and chair is over the waters. There must be
the most careful observations in every direction,
with good instruments, and with a man or men
who know how to use them. And not only must
the series of angles be taken and laid down with
the most minute exactness, but the same strict and
continuous attention is necessary in the boats.
They must traverse the whole surface, feeling their
way along the bottom with their lead lines. AS
ordinary observer, looking at a chart covered
over with shadings and figures, mayadmire its
execution, but can scarcelyappreciate the enormous
labour which the accurate delineation on paper of the
portion of our globe's surface there represented must
have occasioned. The chart, and the beautifully ex&
cuted drawings which wompany it,will reduce--the
task of entering and traversing Port Jackson to one
of mere care. Every line of approach and of tra-
verse is made plain even to the most unscientific
eye. The lights and landmarks, which have been
designed by Captain Denham, and yrhich, as the
necessary vote has already passed the Assembly,
will in a few months be erected, will give such
bearings to the mariner as will lead him clear of
every danger, whatever his course. The sailing
directions, which afford the key to the chart and
drawings are plain and simple. We will not attempt
here to go into details. The design must be seen
and understood as a whole to give a correct appre-
ciation of its completeness and of the necessity of
each component part. Some of the obelisks, for
instance, were nearly vetoed in the, Assembly last
week because hon. members could not understand
the need of such landmarks. it was easy, they
conceived, for any one to traverse 'our harbour b 7
day. Nis so in vessels of light draught and with
ordinary care ; but there are shallows in the
apparently fair way on which a large ship, handled
by a stranger or by any one not well actrosinted with
the bearings and soundings, may stick. We have
seen a fine ship of 800 tons fast upon one of these
banks, and with a pilot on board too. But with
ordinary attention to the bearings which the obe-
lisks will give, such an accident would be impoisible
even to a stranger. The chart, drawings, and sail-
ing directions, will, we understand, be immediately
despatched to Eugland, and, as it will take some
time to execute them, will be in the hands of ship-
masters about the time that the new lights and
obelisks are completed. All honour, then, to Cap-
tain Denham, and all honour to the men of science
and the men of sinew—the officers and crew of the
And wer by whose aid this work has been accomplished.
do hope that there will be something more
substantial in the way of acknowledgment than mere
thanks. When the naval estimates were considered
last year the proposed allowance for the ship was
negatived in the Assembly upon the plea that she
had been engaged on Imperial, not colonial ser-
vice. This was not wholly true even then, as her
surveys in the Pacific must ultimately benefit the
Australian more than Britain, for it is by these
colonies rather than by the parent land that the
commercial resources of the Polynesian Isles must
be developed. But now that Capt. Denham and
his officers and men have done us such a service
--
a service of greater magnitude than twenty years of
guardianship against foes who would probably
never come—the same excuse for parsimony cannot
hold good.—Sydney Morning Gerald, Nov. 17.