THE HARBOR TROUBLE.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 337, 13 August 1889, Page 3

THE HARBOR TROUBLE.

TO-NIGHT’S MEETING OF THE BOARD At the meeting of the Harbor Board thi. evening Mr Clark will move that the M arine Department be requested to send an Engineer to report on the present and proposed works> and in the event of that Department refusing to accede to the reqnest, that the Board itself take the necessary steps to procure outside advice. The state of the river remains very much the same as it has been since the discontinuation of dredging on the westward aide of the pier. The condition varies each day according to circumstances—seme days It is very bad, at other times there is a considerable improvement. The Engineer's plan for a training wall to cost £3,500 ought alto to be laid before the Board this evening, It was not ready in time for the hat meeting. Mr Chambers, who was absent from the district, returned on Sunday. Mr Murphy declines to accept his reappointment as Government nominee, and no successor has yet been appointed. A former Gisborne resident, in a private letter to a Gisborne gentleman, makes the • following remarks in reference to our harbor trouble (which the recipient of the letter has requested ns to quotel notice, with interest, the position which the StaXPABD has taken up in regard to your harbor matters, and from what I have seen in other places I am afraid that journal is bringing the ratepayers face to face with a truth whloh cannot be ignored, and which makes it necessary that the people of solidity should look closely into matters. It is the biggest mistake that such people can make, to nave their business faculties lulled by the

Small addition to current revenue. The , mushroom era take the cream of anything £that is to be had from such sources. How Hhlr Dickson must chuckle at the turn things Hiave taken, though as a man who has a large stake in the place he will be one of those ► most deeply concerned. If the training wall il put along the river it merely means ex. tending the river bank into the sea, and it will, if gone on with, be a second Waitara and Napier Iron Pot affair. However, I suppose time Will prove all, though that is not much of a consolation to those who have n trine vested interests in the place. But mow that your back country is going ahead, I observe that there Is a prospect of getting Parliament to pass measures that will allow native land titles to be cleared up, end there is reason to believe that the Ootupuilika grip of the financial institutions is gradually releasing its hold upon the district. All thia being so, then the sooner you get rid of the mushroomsand parasites—even if starving them out Is the only course—the better it will be for all who have really got anything to lose. There is nothing like facing difficulties as they present themselves, and I am glad to see that you have still in the district at least one outspoken journal, but which at ths same time avoids that boxing saloon tone that has sullied the name Of journalism in more than one place in New Zealand. Ever since I was in Gisborne I have taken a deep Interest in all that concerns your district, and I sincerely hope that it will come out trumps, as eventually it must do. The subjoined letter is extracted from a leading Sydney paper which we received by last mail. Though the letter has no relation to our own troubles it may have a practical bearing on any decision that is made, It shows at least what may the result of neglecting Sir John Coodes advice. Sir,— The late flood has devastated 26 years’ labor on the Harbors and Elvers Department at the Clarence Eiver Heads. The flood has completely blocked the south channel running down by Yamba that has cost the country thousands of pounds trying to keep it opened, but the works of nature took effect on the north side, and opened a fine channel, carrying with it a good depth of water varying from 20ft. to 30ft. This is the second time during the past two years ■and a half this north channel has been but, as there is nothing done to aid BBkre in keeping this channel opened, to the ground being all a sand-flat, gales silt it up again. *Now, as nature baa laid her base-line showing the exact course of the natural channel to be kept opened at the Clarence entrance, ia it net time that something should be done to help nature to discharge her work in a proper way, and discontinue the existing useless and disgraceful work that is now in progress, which involves a great waste of public funds ? Strange to say, the channel now opened follows the very lines laid down by Sir John Coode on his plans for improving the Clarence entrance. Now what better proof can we get of Sir John Goode’s ability and great skill than seeing the works of nature backing up his ideas ?