The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, SATURDAY MORNING. Saturday, March 8, 1890. EBBING OUT.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 426, 8 March 1890, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, SATURDAY MORNING.

Saturday, March 8, 1890. EBBING OUT.

Be just and tear not; Let ail the ends thou aiin'et at be thy country's, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

The quickly-diminishing; funds of the Harbor Board make it necessary that great care should be exercised in the winding up process, It will amount to little short of an insane commercial proceeding if the Board allows every penny to be converted into concrete work, leaving no provision whatever for contingencies that may arise. To the public the consequences would possibly be graver than if Mr Chamber’s ingenious method of reasoning were followed out. That gentleman has a happy way of construing the Act, and if all the members were of like mind, the ratepayers might look on serenely, and see the members compelled eventually to refund, from their own pockets, anything which had been spent beyond the limit. But the credit of the district would inevitably suffer in conse-

quence, and therefore it is just as well that Mr Chambers should be saved from himself—in other words, that no opportunity should be offered forgoing beyond a limit which has been as clearly set out for the guidance of members as the stonework itself stands out for the enlightenment of a future generation. But the line of argument taken up by Mr Chambers may do at least some good, showing how rash even the best of people may sometimes become when a work upon which one’s heart has been set must gradually draw to a close without realising what has been expected of it. But if we cannot offer much praise for a thing in which all are interested, the most sensible plan, when the hope of remedy is past, is to preserve a merciful silence. There are enough and to spare of weak points from which the district may be attacked by its detractors —and they unfortunately are numerous —but they may be safely left to make the discovery for themselves. Even the frankness of friendship may be turned into the censure of antagonism by those who have not the wisdom to see that there are occasions when plain speaking is desirable* So that the less there is said on some points, the better it will perhaps be at this juncture.

What should now be emphasised is that it will be utter folly if the Board persists in the unwise course of leaving itself without a coin in the coffer. It is all very well to say that there should be no contingencies, and we can heartily endorse that view, but'to merely say that such should not be in no way disposes of the practical objection that there zvrzybe, and if the past records are examined it will be found that many unexpected channels of expense have originated. To go no further back than the training wall question, we find that it has now been discovered that a greater length is required than was at first anticipated. A few feet cannot make the slightest difference in the pier, but the necessity of retaining a sum in hand is so apparent that argument in its favor need hardly be employed. Of course if, after carefully going into the matter, the Board is convinced that the additional section proposed can be completed without leaving the Board penniless, it should be done, but it is not wise to believe that such will be the case merely because the Engineer has, cn the spur of the moment, given a favorable opinion. As to the training wall there is really so much made of the thing that one would think it was a great engineering work, requiring a very expensive staff of supervisors, instead of being a structure which any intelligent master workman could carry out. Assuming that the training wall is found necessary to preserve the river entrance, it might be carried out in a much cheaper manner than it is being done at present.