The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Morning. Thursday, October 24, 1889. THE CROOKED WORK.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 368, 24 October 1889, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Morning.

Thursday, October 24, 1889. THE CROOKED WORK.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

Only a few short weeks and what a change has come over the Harbor Board ! The majority poohpoohed the idea of asking that a Government Engineer be sent up to inspect the works, and so soon have the scales been removed from their eyes ! Just a few weeks back a minority of the members got laughed at for suggesting anything of the kind and this journal was accused of crying “ stinking i fish” because it told a few plain truths. But now the Board, without a single dissentient, have resolved to carry out the very suggestion which a few weeks ago the majority would not hear of. Certainly this change of front has been brought about in an extraordinary way, but it is none the less a remarkable evidence of the state of things into which we are drifting. The Board’s Engineer was sent down to Wellington, at whose expense we are as yet only able to guess, and on his return his report led the ratepayers to understand that everything was plain sailing and that he had been able to convince Mr Blair that things would continue smoothly. Mr Thomson no doubt believed that such was the case, and he himself appears to have had a rude disappointment. The position now is so clear that the worst dullard ought to be able to judge for himself. Mr Blair knows that the training wall can do no more harm than lead to tj, e sinking of a few thousand pounds in addition to what has already been spent! and he as a matter of course has no objection if the ratepayers are willing : his consent only was required, not his professional opinion, and why should he or the Government be concerned over the matter ? But not so in the case of the pier. If Mr Blair consents to an alteration in that he knows that he must consider his professional reputation, and he prefers to avoid any responsibility in the matter. Probably he had no desire to in any

way mar the pleasure of Mr Thomson’s visit to Wellington, so he waited until that gentleman bad returned and conveyed his decision in the form of a telegram, a little token of professional consideration which in some circumstances might prove very agreeable, but in this case has been unfortunate. Still the Board’s Engineer was quite unconcerned, and went on with the curve in accordance with the original plan. If ever there was a time when plain language was needed in reference to this work that time has now come, though unfortunately there is not much hope of a remedy for past foolishness. For whose benefit is the work being carried out ? Is it for the benefit of the Engineer or for the ratepayers ? We had little to say about the proposed curve at the end of the pier, never for a moment dreaming that such madness was possible. But the Board’s Engineer goes coolly on with the work, and seeks to explain that it is really a matter of no consequence ! Fencing in a sandbank is of no consequence ! If it is not to the Engineer it is to the ratepayers, and if they are not so reckless in this matter as to be deserving of a bitter lesson—much more bitter than in the past—they will very soon demand that the work be stopped altogether in preference to building round a sandhill, for no Engineer can deny that that is really what the thing means. If the Board had in the first instance decided to ask that Mr Blair be sent to Gisborne to inspect the work and the site, it is a tolerable certainty that he would have been one of the first to disagree with the curve proposal, in the present condi'ion of things. Do any of the ratepayers still bear in mind the agitation which was raised when the buoy was placed in the bay to indicate where the pier was to end ? That was partially allayed by the Engineer stating that the pier would be taken straight out, and thus allow any depth of water to be obtained by continuing the work. But now when the time comes, we find that Mr Blair did not feel justified (sitting in his office in Wellington) in agreeing to the straight line, though everyone had been led to believe that he had. That in itself it was not a very serious matter, for when the Board refused to ask that Mr Blair should come up here, Government naturally concluded that it was best to avoid any more responsibility than they could help having thrust upon them. A little pressure would soon have settled any little difficulty in that respect. But now we have the Engineer, in defiance of a distinct understanding with the ratepayers —we believe it might be termed a pledge—rushing on with the curved work. Had we in good time even had a suspicion of anything of the kind, the ratepayers would have been acquainted with the position in time to permit of decided action on their part, for it is nothing short of a gross breach of faith with those who have to pay for the works. Well may we ask, in these circumstances, for whose benefit (assumed) is the work being constructed ? When the training wall is completed, the lighters will not have the same facilities as they had before any harbor works were started, and when the sand has had time to work

its way round the end of the wall, there will probably be a few islets formed the same as now exist higher up the river, if the curve in the pier is continued, and the sand bank is fenced in, there is not much question as to what will then be the condition of things, especially when it is remembered that expensive dredging operations will be beyond our means. Every ratepayer ought to take a walk down to the end of the pier and then form his own judgment, and steps should be at once taken to see that the public money is not squandered on the curved work. The people can no longer be buoyed up with the delusive hopes that were created by the steamers Maitai and Australia being brought alongside, and rather than permit of such an insane use of the small s ;im that remains the work ought to be at ont ;e completely stopped, for it has failure stamped upon it. The Engineer may be prepared' with a light heart, to continue the curved wA and th 61,6 * s certain to be found a few people ready to back up anything that the Engineer is willing to undertake, but if the ratepayers do not arise and see that the jvork is not curved yet they deserve to pay ,thg. penalty that will be the Nemesis of such folly. It is only a sheer speculation to contipup the work even in a straight linC; niter the way experience has belied anticipations, but for the Board to allow the curve to be continued further than the present section —for which, thanks to Mr Thomson, there is now no help—would be a grave abuse of the confidence placed in them by the ratepayers.