To the Editor of the Evening Star. Sir.—ln yesterday morning's issue of your con temporary, we Ayere favoured with two opinions concerning the ad visability of having the graying dock made deeper. The dock, as I have been informed, has 13ft. in the sill at neaps, apd la at springs. This will admit ve3se?s,.of the Hawea class deeply laden at any time". Also all the English traders to this port, up to the size^oE the Miltiades. which I think is the largest that has been here for somo time. That Auckland will ever be the terminus of such ships as the City of San Francisco I think very improbable, seeing that £15,000 per annum is looked upon as too heavy a subsidy. Should Ncav Zealand hereafter start a mail ccrvice of its own, it would, in all probability, be by steamers more in accordance with the require, ments of the Gity of Melbourne class, and certainly not larger than the Wakatipu or Cyphrenes, all'of which vessels could pc accom modated as far as depth Is concerned. -I cannot in any AA-ay see the desirability, of Aupklauu entering into competition Avith tiie rrimie Alfred dock in Melbourne, anfl «** .*;, ktt>»t,o_ v.~*^- --■-■■-■ _--__atoo in -_ —~, -.__, __ winch coat an enormous sum to complete, and hoav do not pay working expenses, .much less interest on outlay. The hardest worked and most economical slip in the colonies pays only a nominal per centage, ai^d j. oply keptrwprklhf. for the trade it brings to Its OAvhcr. 'There is no doubt the dock has beetjvery well proportioned by experts, and if increased in depth'shoiild.be in length, and then there Avould be ho stopping till it could take in the Warrior or Great Eastern, It should be borne in mind the larger the dock, the greater tho 1033 on every small ship that goes into it. < Imagine the Pretty Jane, which is a fair sample of the A-essels most Jik*uy to occupy it—at colonial rates. Is per ton Sret day, tid per day after, two days about £7, Why jt would not pay for pumping the water

Herald "also alludes to the dredge as a costly monument, a copy, I belieA-e, of the A-ery small est Avorking in hi.S.W. It appears, however, to lift, the mud quicker than they can get it aAvay. 