The Evening Star SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2196, 21 May 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1870.

t)AMAGE by floods cannot be avoided, so long as rains fall and rivers roll their waters to the ocean. As some of the best soil and most convenient spots for certain manufacturing processes are Found on the banks of rivers, the risk must be taken of occupying dangerous ground, and if we are to have communication with the interior, those livers must be bridged. But the risks to be encountered point to the necessity for the exercise of skill and care in order that every work may be avoided calculated to intensify the inevitable evil, or so earned out as to secure the desired good. In his financial statement the Treasurer pointed to the effects of the floods of two years ago, and told how the finances of the Province had been expended in repairing damages. He mentioned that every bridge in the Province had been either washed away ■or injured. He pointed with pride to the successful accomjdishment of their restoration. Perhaps he really thought some great thing had been achieved, -although we pointed out at the time that instead of avoiding errors by improving the style of bridge-building, they had been re-constructed with all their faults, and only waited another flood to perish like their predecessors. We grieve to say the prognostication

lias too soon been verified. Another flood has swept away the ill-contrived, ill-situated structures. A few hours’ rain has destroyed the work of months ; the thousands of pounds spent are wasted, and now we have to begin afresh. It is time that we learnt wisdom from experience, for apparently nothing else will teach us—and hardly that. It is difficult to imagine how persistence in error can be defended. The most ordinary prudence would lead to a thorough investigation into the causes of failure, when once a bridge had been swept away ; and those ascertained, what to avoid would have been learned. We are speaking now of the process by which knowledge is "ained. 15ut surely such envpiiical means ought not to be necessary in these days. So well known is the action of water upon a river’s banks, and so well ascertained are the means of partially directing its course, that the failure to build a secure bridge^through placing it in a faulty or thi’ough malconstruction, is sufficient to condemn an engineer as incapable. “ By their works ye shall know them.” Only a. few days ago we recommended that His Honor should appoint a commission to enquire into the road and bridge engineering of the Province. That necessity is again forced upon us. At present it is impossible to say who is responsible for these constant and repeated failures. Within the precincts of the City rickety and- ill-placed structures have disappeared, or are causing immense damage to private property. Who for instance is responsible for the contrivance and position of the stone bridge over the Wtvter of Leith 1 If malevolence itself had tried to introduce a cause of ruin and obstruction, scarcely a more potent one could have been invented. Even a schoolboy could have foretold that it was impossible to prevent damage to private property with such a narrowing of the Ever there, and the veriest tyro In civil engineering would have thrown a bridge across the stream that would have allowed the water to flow freely. The existence of the bridge itself is only a matter of time. During the flood of yesterday it was necessary to employ men to watch the wreck brought down by the current to prevent its destruction. It has weathered this danger, and may stand a few years, but unless some preventive measure is adopted, its fate is as certain as that of the West Taieri and Waikouaiti bridges. It has been built in defiance of physical laws, and the penalty will ultimately be paid in its ruin. This is not a matter for party contest. It affects the whole Province. The road and bridge engineering is simply a disgrace to us. They entail constant and heavy expense in repairs and renewal. The money wasted directly already, would have constructed efficient means of communication ten times over, but the direct cost is nothing compared with the indirect. When a sum appears on the Estimates for repairing damage that might have been avoided, it points to expenses incurred on the transport of goods, in waste and damage to private property, that can never be known, because paid in fractional amounts by individuals. As an instance ; because of the faulty structure of the stone bridge over the Leith, the time of several men was employed in clearing the timber and wreck brought down by the current, lest the arches should be blocked, and the bridge give way. Through j its faulty structure and position, some fourteen feet of Messrs Marshall and Copeland’s property were washed away, besides a number of empty iron tanks', many of which were irretreviably damaged, and some lost. In addition to this was the expense of recovery of those saved, W© instance this as passing under our eyes, hup who shall say how much continuous extra j labor is required to overcome a steep gradient of a road 1 Take the Port Chalmers road for instance. It was possible to have taken a lino nearly on a level, and in that case one horse would have done the work of three. We repeat, the civil epgriiperiug of the Province imperatively requires Jo.olfing , into. It is quite possible that the i Executive of the day may have been in fault, and that if left to himself, the professional head of the department might have done differently, but if so, the Province ought to know it.