Thursday Is. Notes.

More “Ocean Messengers.”

From Our Own Correspondent.

Thursday Island, January 25.

A NUMBER of globular glass floats, used on fishing nets down south, come floating round the Torres Strait islands now, and every now and then the natives bring in tide-current papers from bottles flung over from ships cross ing the Pacific.

The currents work up into the central part of Torres Strait, but ocean-current bottles have been picked up on Saibai Island, close to New Guinea.

Through an arrangement arising out of a suggestion by the local branch of the Royal Geographical Society, the records are handed in to the Harbour Master for forwarding, instead of being sent direct, to the United States or Samoa, so that official note may be made of the information for Australia’s benefit.

When the Islanders first came across the glass floats, they imagined they were a new form of container for the tide-papers, but couldn’t dis cover an aperture through which it might be inserted. One widely travelled native explained their real use. “That one he no belong paper; he belong along table when white man he want drink rum. I been see that kind along steamer, for put whisky inside, only he got something stop on top for capsize him along glass.”

But his suggestion that it was a decanter that had come floating in faded out when he, too, couldn’t discover a hole in it.

Produce Shipments.

Shipments of M.O.P. go forward slowly. A consignment of nearly 400 cases was ready for despatch by the “Taiping” this week, but only about 140 cases could be taken, owing to the fact that the oil-tanker “Pinna” was discharg ing a big cargo alongside the wharf, and the “Taiping” had to anchor in the stream, making loading operations much more difficult.

Trocas continues to maintain a good price, and is at present round about £80 to £82 a ton.

Beche-de-mer has dropped again, and, with the troubled conditions in China, the market is very uncertain.