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 L1,932,
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 L100 to L125 in London.