VI.—Shipping Dues, etc.

Rarotonga is the only island of this group that can boast of harbours, and these are by no means capacious, while their safety is at certain seasons very questionable. The three harbours—the twin openings in the reef at Awarua and the larger one at Ngata-ngihia—are neither of them more than mere boat havens, and are all alike exposed to northerly and north-easterly winds, so that they are unsafe during the hurricane months. On this trip the steamer Janet Nicoll entered the larger of the Awarua harbours, but had to be turned round on entering, so that she might get a clear run out. This operation was not unattended with danger, as, in slewing, her stem was rested against the reef on one side, while her stern was within fifteen feet of the reef on the other. When in, she seemed to fill the harbour; but two little vessels were got in alongside of her—one of them carrying away her foretopmast in so doing. The steamer had about a dozen mooring lines out, some attached to chains anchored on the reef, and others to cables attached to cocoa-nut trees on shore. Ngatangihia harbour, about six miles round the coast, is larger, and the entrance is said to be five fathoms deep, by about twenty fathoms wide. This harbour many years ago was frequented by whale-ships; but since then the bottom is said to have silted up by the deposit from a stream that flows into it. There being no wharf at the chief harbour at Awarua, all loading and unloading has to be done by means of boats and punts, and this process, besides being tedious and costly, frequently leads to goods being damaged by wet. There are no Customs duties levied at Rarotonga, neither are there any harbour or quarantine dues, or taxes of any kind on shipping or commerce, beyond a charge for pilotage of 4s. for every ten tons register.