The Globe. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1878.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1201, 9 January 1878, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1878.

The report of the Royal Commission on the Timaru Harbour Works has been made public, and wo shall be curious to note the reception it meets with at the hands of the people of South Canterbury. It cannot be said that the report places the question upon a much more satisfactory footing than it was before. Under the 28th section of the Timaru Harbour Board Act. Ifi7fi. the primary functions of the Commission wen 1 1o approve or otherwise of the plans and estimates of work previously adopted and determined on by the Harbour Board. But the Board lias not dually determined on any plan, so the Commissioners are unable to exercise the approval which the Act requires to be given before any work can be commenced. Instead of any adopted scheme the Board laid before the Commissioners eleven plans, of two of which they had expressed an approval by awarding to them first and second premiums and a qualified acceptance. At the request of the Board the Commissioners examined the whole of tin 1 plans, as to the suitability of any of them or parts of them. The result, of course, is that Messrs Heale and Henderson are virtually led to submit a plan of their own as against any of the schemes submitted for their, examination. The first point they discuss is whether nr not the travelling shingle avIII have any effect upon the work, and they come to the conclusion that it has a general movement towards the north: but they found nothing to convince them that the quantity so travelling was so large as seriously to endanger harbour works on a considerable scale within such a period as it was necessary to look forward to in a colony. The plan proposed by Sir John Coode is dismissed as involving a cost far beyond the means likely to bo available. It is, they say, liable to the further objection that it would afford no facilities to the convenience of Timaru during the long period which would he required for its construction. Having thus satisfactorily dismissed the scheme of tin* great engineer, the Commissioners proceed to lay down their own. They would build a solid mole, carried only from the shore to a distance of about 900 feet, and terminating in' a breakwater similar in character and direction to that proposed by Sir John Coode, but of smaller dimensions. It would, they say, be the least expensive to construct, ••and would not be exposed to greater risk of failure from shingle or any other causes than necessarily attaches to any harbour works on our exposed coast. But their plan after all is an experimental one. At least a year, they say, would be consumed in carrying out the mole a distance of 300 feet, and if, during that period an accumulation of shingle should take place in the southern angle such as would threaten injurious consequences, an opening then might bo left, which the Commissioners believe would be as efficacious as one commencing from the beach, while the portion already executed would shelter the present landing place. Turning to the plans, the Commissioners state that they are unable to approve absolutely of either of those selected by the Harbour Board; and tbe plan marked " Panagathos” meeting with more approval. It appears to be somewhat similar to that proposed by tbe Commissioners themselves. This plan, which is the smallest that would give the required accommodation, could not, they say, be completed under £250,000. But it' is difficult to form any accurate estimate of the cost, owing to the absence of information as to the nature of the substratum a short distance from the shore. Ou the whole, then, our Timaru friends have not made any great advance towards the commencement of their breakwater. Of all the plans submitted, including Sir John Goode’s, only one receives a qualified approval at the hands of the Commissioners, and in any ease it would not be prudent, they think, to uudertako any work of the kind, unless the sum of £250,000 could be definitely counted ou.