she
was floated and brought to Brisbane to be repaired and supplied with new
moorings, after which she was on the 8th August replaced in her former
position, and by the end of October the works of the Department
generally, which had suffered in the early portion of the year, were
restored.

In January and February of the present year another series of heavy
gales was experienced along the whole coast of the Colony, and on the
6th, 7th, and 8th of June a gale of unusual severity, accompanied by
torrents of rain, swept along the coast from Bowen southwards, causing
heavy seas and abnormally high tides. Such unfavourable weather, of
course, occasioned considerable loss to the Department, a great number
of buoys being driven from their moorings (some lost altogether), and
beacons and other plant receiving a large amount of damage.

MORETON BAY AND BRISBANE RIVER.

The banks at the northern entrance to Moreton Bay are constantly
shifting, and the maintenance of the necessary lights and buoys to
enable vessels to enter and clear the port in safety is a source of
continual anxiety. The floating beacon, which had broken adrift during
the month of February, disappeared altogether on the 10th March; and
although diligently searched for, no trace of her has been discovered.
Two valuable buoys disappeared from the outer banks about the same time.
The floating beacon has been replaced by a new second-class (Trinity
pattern) steel conical buoy, surmounted with a staff and cage, the top
of which is 12 feet above the water, forming a most conspicuous object.
New buoys have been moored in the positions of those lost.

No. 1 cutting, Hamilton Reach, has now a depth of 17 feet at low water,
spring tides; and the entrance to the bar cutting is being dredged to a
similar depth. The increased depth of water in these cuttings is of
considerable importance to vessels of heavy draught. A depth of 15 feet
at low water, spring tides, is fully maintained in the other cuttings,
but there are several shallow places in the town reaches of the river
which require attention.

The more recent gales and floods do not appear to have injuriously
affected the dredged cuttings of the Brisbane River. Several new beacons
have been erected to replace those blown down or found defective; and,
to render them more conspicuous, heads have been placed on some of the
beacons marking the bar cutting. Beyond some slight repairs, now being
effected, all the