Casualties to Vessels on the Queensland Coast for the year ended 30th June, 1891.

Name of Vessel.	Tonnage.	Date.	Nature and Locality of Casualty.	Total or Partial Loss.	No. of Lives Lost.	Result of Inquiry.
Taldora, s.s.	232	14 July 1890	Stranding, Eagle Rock, Fitzroy River	Partial	None	Master cautioned.
Archer, s.s.	694	20 July 1890	Stranding, M Reef, Inner Route	Partial	None	Pilot's license suspended 3 months.
Changsha, s.s.	1463	22 July 1890	Stranding, Rattray Island, Inner Route	Partial	None	Master severely censured.
Volga, barque	1620	06 August 1890	Stranding, Beresford Shoal	Total	None	No default.
Grace Lynn, schr.	93	12 August 1890	Stranding, reef off Low Island	Partial	None	Master Guilty; gross negligence.
Joseph, barque	687	22 August 1890	Stranding, Heroine Reef, Endeavour Strait	Total	None	Foreign vessel. No inquiry.
Royal Duke, schr.	105	22 August 1890	Foundering, Cooktown Harbour	Partial	None	No default.
Jennie Scott, ketch	38	21 September 1890	Stranding, Flora Reef	Total	None	No default.
Taiyuan, s.s.	2269	14 October 1890	Collision, Brisbane River	Partial	None	Pilot's license suspended for 3 months.
Corea, s.s.	382	09 November 1890	Fire, Brisbane River	Partial	None	No default.
Kate, s.s.	147	11 November 1890	Collision, Brisbane Bar	Total	None	Insufficient lookout on Burwah.
Burwah, s.s.	568	11 November 1890	Collision, Brisbane Bar	Partial	None	Insufficient lookout on Burwah.
Maori King, s.s.	2476	08 December 1890	Stranding, Brisbane River	Partial	None	No default.
Orange Grove, barque	385	15 December 1890	Stranding, Dungeness	Partial	None	No default.
Fiado, s.s.	985	18 December 1890	Stranding, Brisbane River	Partial	None	No default.
Sybil, schr.	150	07 January 1891	Dismasting off Double Island Point	Partial	None	No default.
Perseverance, schr.	163	08 January 1891	Foundering 18 miles from High Peak Point	Total	None	Master's certificates cancelled.
Wawoon, s.s.	50	08 January 1891	Damage to boiler, Fitzroy River	Partial	None	Engineer's certificate suspended 3 months.
Kingswear, s.s.	201	05 February 1891	Stranding, Cordelia Rock	Partial	None	Master cautioned.
Recorder, s.s.	677	06 February 1891	Stranding, Madge Reef, Normanby Sound	Partial	None	No default.
Moltke, barque	827	21 May 1891	Stranding, Flinders Opening	Partial	None	Foreign vessel. No inquiry.
Wastwater, s.s	2810	10 June 1891	Collision, Brisbane River	No Loss	None	Master Ranelagh cautioned.
Ranelagh, s.s.	836	10 June 1891	Collision, Brisbane River	No Loss	None	Master Ranelagh cautioned.
Anahuac, ship	1220	15 June 1891	Stranding, reef near Bramble Cay	Total	None	Foreign vessel. No inquiry.

Harbour Master's Office,
Maryborough, 31st July, 1891.

Sir,—In accordance with your instructions, I have the honour to submit the following Report on the Oyster Fisheries of this port, the extreme limits of which extend from Tin Can Inlet on the south, taking in Wide Bay, Great Sandy Strait, and Hervey Bay, to the Burrum River on the north, covering a distance of nearly 100 miles, exclusive of many large creeks, all containing oyster ground between those limits.

I commenced marking off these oyster banks in July, 1886. We then had licenses issued for 72 banks, 18 boats, and 42 men, at a revenue of £398 for the year ending 30th June, 1886. We now have for the year ending 30th June, 1891, licenses issued for 175 oyster banks, 30 boats, and 53 men, at a revenue of £942 2s. 6d. [Vide Schedule appended.]

I hope to have the survey of the different sections in Hervey Bay completed by the end of the present year, when tracings of plans of same will be forwarded to you. This would have been finished before, but that I can only spare a few days in each month from my other duties for the work. I shall then require to run over the whole district again, as a considerable quantity of new ground has been taken up in the different sections since first survey, owing to the heavy falls of spat which have since taken place, portions of which ground previously never carried an oyster. During the past year large quantities of spat have fallen on the oyster banks in Hervey Bay and Great Sandy Strait, some of the banks being literally covered, thus preventing the shipment of good marketable oysters, which, if removed in their present state, would cause the destruction of all the young oysters attached to them.

Great attention has been paid by the different licensees to the cultivation of their banks by removing the poor oysters from the high ridges, after being carefully culled and separated into clumps containing from three to four oysters, are deposited on the grass flat and lower ground lying near. Upwards of 4,000 bags have been treated in this manner with excellent results.

Over 9,000 bags of marketable oysters, at a rough value of 30s. per bag (£13,500), have been shipped during the past year by the different licensees to the various markets of the colonies. Messrs. Leftwich and Sons alone have sent over 3,500 bags; the Moreton Bay Oyster Company and Messrs. Perry and Griffin have also shipped large quantities of oysters for the purpose of cultivating the Moreton Bay banks.

In conclusion, I am pleased to state that the whole business throughout is in a flourishing condition and steadily increasing in magnitude, and I feel confident that the revenue received from this industry for the following year will reach four figures.