The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1808.

Dunstan Times, Issue 303, 14 February 1868, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1808.

Beneath the Rule of Men entirely just, the PEN is mightier than the sword.

The mins which have lately visited this Province with such unprecedented'seventy, have produced mi en l im ous amount of injury to almost every branch of industry. The agiiculturists in particular, are heavy suCcrers, many of them being absolutely ruined by the ravages of the floods. We had hoped at one time that the goldfields had escaped the worst of the aqueous visitation, hut the rain which fell on Monday and Tuesday week last, was almost universally destructive in low lying situations, and especially rn the largo flats bordering the Manuherikia River, wh re, after the cultivators toiling for months, patiently overcoming difficulties, and when ’almost their reward was within their grasp, suddenly found themselves bereft of every thing, and in a far worse position than when they first began, the re lentlcES ai d uii] hying flood havi; g

swept the whole of their- worldly •wealth away. In a mountainous country like the Southern Island of New Zealand, violent Hoods must necessarily be expected, and experience has shown that it is positively unsafe to form a dwelling or cultivate the land on the low lying country, especially when intersected with large rivers. The floods which we have so recently experienced although said by the older settlers to be unparalleled for violence, may not however be anything like s 1 bad as what in all probability might have occurred before the settlement of the Province, in fact, appearances would indicate that floods of far more violent proportions than that of Tuesday week last, must at no distant date have ravaged the country, now what has once happened, as the old saying has it, " might occur again " we would advise for the future, that people abstai i from selecting such situations as heretofore described, prefering the gullies and flits under tho ranges instead, where such selections have been made, the damage done lias been but trifling, the floods have passed harmlessly by, and beyond the inconveniences consequent upon a heavy and continuous fall of rai >, no harm has resulted. It is sincerely to be hoped that tho effects of the floods will not be so disastrous as anticipated, or the price cf the necessaries of life will be very se~ riously enhanced Asa rule things generally appear worse at fiist sight,and we must not despair that tho present case is a departure from that rule. T he steppage to traffic by the washing away of roads and bridges is another very serious matter, and many thousands of pounds of public money will need to be expended before things can be set right again. In this matter however, much of the injury complained of, might have been obviated, and many places which are now impassable for vehicle traffic, are only so because, of the faulty construction of the works in connexion therewith : culverts have been washed away it is ; true, but, it was only those, whose ca- \ parity for carrying water, was absurdjly insufficient; properly constructed ! channels being comparatively uninj jured. The principle of open and j strongly paved culverts appears to I have answered admirably, the raging torrents had plenty of room to expend their fury harmlessly, because uncon. fined, but, where the reverse was the case, much injury has occurred. The Roads and Works Department, like the agriculturists, would do well to profit by past experiences, and we are sure that if this precept is followed, another similar visitatian will not be productive of so many disasters, but will leave comparatively unscathed the .great highways through the ProvinceIn the making and keeping in re pair of roads, there is much to improve upon ; in the one case the work re--quires to be more substantially per" formed, while at the same time better adapted to meet the exigences of sudden and violent rains ; the second case annual contracts for keeping certain short portions of the roads in repair, might with advantage be let. The system of Government day labor i s ruinously expensive, and there is not the slightest room for doubt, but that if the principle of contracts were sub stitufced, we should have much better roads, and at far less expense than is now the case. Nothing so retards the progress of a country, the want of internal communication, but in Gtago notwithstanding that it possesses rich goldfields that have been profitably worked for the last seven years, without showing the slightest signs of ex. haustion, we are actually without so much as one main line of road connecting all these goldfields with th e metropolis of tbo country. There has been no lack of tinkering here, and tinkering there, but, nothing approaching a comprehensive svstcm has been dopted ; give us one main line of road from Dtinedin, through the goldfields, available at all seasons of the year, and there will not be much difficulty about cross roads, one thing at a ; time and ih .t well eh nc, is far preferable to a multitude cf thij'gs begun,

and half finished. It seems to lave always been the misfortune of the 1 Provincial Government to start wi hout a basis of operations; now, as this is one of the grand elements of success in any undertaking, let its proportions be ever so great, or in significant; neglect of this principle,, is' StiftC to . produce confusion. There'! being no exception in favor of the evils of which we aott Complain, . and the unsatisfactory state of our public works arise solely &om thi 8 cause.