“With respect to Port Elliot, the criticisms which have been passed, in doubt of its capaciousness and safety, are such only as new and untried ports frequently receive until they become better known. Until this experience shall have been gained, it is satisfactory to know that Captain Lipson, R.N., the Naval Officer of the Province, after frequent visits to it, and enquiries respecting its character, reports two vessels of from 500 to 1,000 tons may lie at the existing moorings, which are in six and four fathoms of water respectively, sufficiently sheltered by the breakwater to be considered in a safe anchorage; that, after the port is better known, five or six large ships may anchor there; and that it would probably prove safe to extend the anchorage, for large ships, much farther out. A remarkable verification of this last-expressed opinion has recently been furnished to Captain Lipson in the case of the Ameer, a vessel of 400 tons, which in a gale of wind, blowing in on the shore, came to anchor outside the moorings, and beyond the shelter of the breakwater, where she remained safely, although greatly underhanded, both as to the number and the efficiency of the crew. Ever since the Colony has been founded, coasters have been in the habit of going in and out of Port Elliot, at all seasons of the year, whenever freights have offered, and no accident has ever happened, or has any vessel ever been driven on shore, although furnished, as they generally are, with very inferior ground tackle. The holding ground, then, being thus proved to be so good, even outside of the moorings, it is only necessary to place additional moorings beyond the site of the present ones, whenever the exigencies of commerce may require this accommodation. The trade of Port Elliot will, however, probably for a long while, in connection with the River Murray, not require more tonnage than can, at any one time, at present safely find anchorage there. Of the readiness with which mails may be landed at Port Elliot, as compared with mails to be landed (especially in winter time) in Gulf St. Vincent, and of the great use, to vessels bound to Port Elliot, of the Sturt Light, on Cape Willoughby, Kangaroo Island, it is only necessary that I should refer you to Captain Lipson’s report, published in the Government Gazette of the 10th February last:”— _Extracts from the Report of Captain Lipson on Port Elliot._ “Harbour Master’s Office, Port Elliot.