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Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3833, 29 October 1883, Page 2

Mr W. W. Culctietii, C.E., in a letter that he wrote from Stawell, Victoria, on the 15th instant, acknowledges his error in supposing that the travelling , shingle troubling tho Napier harbor came from the Bluff. Ho is. convinced that works are required at tho Bluff to stop tho supply of boulders, and that additional ones are necessary for tho stoppage of tho shingle. He therefore be? lieves that the principles of his schemo for harbor improvement are correct, and require no alteration, tho details, only needing modification. Mr Cnlchctli, however, seems, to forget that his schemo would involve the expenditure of nearly a quarter of a million of money to givo us a very little better, harbor than that which wo have now. Tho principle of his scheme is to. obviate thjfc shingle difficulty whereby the entranco tq the inner harbor would be improved. Hα overlooks the fact that, given any amount of depth, the inner harbor is not largo enough to accommodate half-a-dozen wool ships—there is not turning room on tlis surface of the water. There is another objection that wo have to Mr Culcheth's scheme, and that is the recognition in it of a shingle "difficulty." The shingle, properl}' regarded, is one of the best gifts that Nature has given to Napier, and it is only our ignorance that prevents us taking advantage of it. Properly trapped our travels ling shingle would malco a brcalcwatpr with very small cost. It only wants tho application of a little science and a good deal of patience to convert tho " difficulty" into a blessing , .