The Globe. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1878.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1495, 30 November 1878, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1878.

The work that is being done by the gentlemen composing the various boards which keep in order the affairs of the many departments our system of local government has resolved itself into, does not always receive the appreciation it deserves. The most careless reader of either of this morning’s papers, however, cannot help but see what has been done in one single day—the Drainage Board, the Board of Health, and the Lyttelton Harbor Board, all held their sittings yesterday, and as most of the members of one were included in the composition of the others, it follows that a number of our most prominent and busiest citizens gave up the whole of one day to serve the public, it may be at great personal sacrifice, and is certainly without any hope or expectation of pecuniary benefit to themselves. A spirit of emulation, a pardonable desire to shine amongst their fellows, no doubt, induces most of us to give away the knowledge that we have acquired by. sometimes, Jaborious and expensive experience, but there is no more valuable or finer trait in the character of the English citizen, than his willingness to accept the responsibility, and often the odium, entailed by his participation in the government of matters outside his own private concerns. From the House of Commons down to the smallest parish board, the same spirit runs through all, and it may bo said, without fear of contradiction that, notwithstanding blunders, jealousies, and failures innumerable, wherever the English race establishes itself, it proceeds without delay to form and successfully carry out systems of self-government that cannot be, and never has been, surpassed on the face of this globe. A little consideration will show that in this respect New Zealand need not be ashamed to travel over the past, It is nothing but the baldest truth to say that we are indebted to the exertions of men, some of whom are gone and cannot be repaid, and to some still amongst us who never expect to be repaid, for the flourishing condition into which our affairs have been brought. Therefore while exercising a healthy criticism, lot not unthinking dilletanti forget that our prosperity is self-created, and while the spirit of our race lives, will be self maintained.

The business of the Lyttelton Harbor Board transacted at its last meeting was of a varied and important nature to the port itself, and to the province at large. The want of a graving dock, amongst many other wants, has often made itself apparent. The steps taken by the Board to meet the difficulty seem of such a comprehensive character as to leave little to be desired so long as only one dock is to be made, but does it not seem rather a waste, to make a dock 400 feet long to take in a ketch of perhaps 50 feet in length p If the graving dock is to be always emptied and filled by the action of the tides, there is not much matter as to its size, but if, as under correction, we imagine, the water must be pumped out except at spring tides, then it becomes a very important consideration. In short two docks would bo far bettor than one, and cheaper to work all round, Certaiuly, the larger one may bo constructed first, but there is not the slightest doubt that if made, it will be found not sufficient for the uses of the port. Also, if we know anything about ships, the length of the proposed dock is not sufficient. It might and would admit one very largo vessel, but, for a not great increase in cost, it could bo made to hold two or three at a time. It is of no use to say that our plan is premature, that the accomodation proposed is greatly in advance of the reqnirementsof the lino. We have heard that sort of talk before, the tunnel, the railway, and to come down to small things, the new Government buildings in Christchurch are all too small or cramqed for the work that will have to bo done on or in them. And so, if graving docks are made at all in Lyttelton, they should consist of at least two basins, one capable of receiving the largest vessel the depth of water will allow to be floated into it, and the other for the use of smaller vessels. The cost, though great, should not we imagine be any obstacle. That kind of property is good all the world over, and if vessels of largo size can be tided in and out of a graving dock at Lyttelton, wo have no hesitation in saying an industry and trade will bo created that will amply repay any outlay that may bo necessary to procure it. It would bo more satisfactory to us or any other judge, if wo wore made acquainted with the site of the proposed dock or docks, the depth of water outside, the range of the tides and other particulars, in the absence of which all that wo have said must be taken, as wo said before, subject to correction.

Poor old Taranaki! and not so old either ; her career and fate baa indeed been chequered. Ten years ago she went to the bottom of the tea, and after lying fathoms deep; for months was, by ingenuity and wonderful perseverance brought to the surface, refitted and in a manner rebuilt. .Since that time she baa taken the place she occupied bef" r °. as one °f the handiest and most comfortable boats trading on the coast. Her owners have been singularly lucky in their selection of her skippers, and tatm/ everything together there is no doubt she deserved tho reputation she acquired as being a very favorite ai.d fast boat. It is impossible of course, at this moment to say what blame, if any at all, should attach to tho re in charge when she wont ashore yesterday morning. The usual enquiry w jn no doubt make clear jbe cause of the mishap, but in the meantime we do hope th.. amore intelligible decision V'iH arr)Ved ft When the occur-

rence comes to judgment, than those which, fungmar to say, we reviewed only yesterday. Captain Andrews and his chief officer have received a peculiar kind of justice ; the adjudication on their rase, as we have sufficiently shown, exhibits features which in the name of common sense we hope not to see repeated. Let the shoemaker stick to his last. The absurdity and injustice of deputing a chemist, say, to judge the work of a civil engineer, could not be greater than the appointing, which we have lately seen, of a Court to deal with nautical matters, the members of which do not hardly know a handspike from a handsaw. * aptains Malcolm and Andrews both are so well known f's their skdl and experience, that it is almost impertinent on our part to refer to reputation, and, under ordinary conditions, it would not become us to do so, but in the face of the eccentric verdicts returned in the City of Auckland and I aupo enquiries, it is quite excusable to speculate upon what will be said and done about this latest misfortune to our coastal fleet. Before the case is heard at all we venture to say,—and there is no gambling spirit to prompt our vaticination — that, Captain Malcolm and his crew will be absolved from all blame, and we, with many others, sincerely wish they may.

Ip there is any one thing more than another for which the Globe is remarkable, it is for its modesty. Scarcely anything on earth, for example, would induce us to pit our little battery against the behemoth which flounders in early day round Gloucester street. Still, there is a limit to the patience we have been taught to exercise, and we are now compelled to assert ourselves. Any one, who with half an eye has watched the admirable manner in which the Globe’s correspondents have supplied it with telegraphic information, at all hours and at all seasons, will understand why we cannot allow misrepresentation to pass unnoticed. The “Lyttelton Times” of this day’s date says that the first information received about the wreck of the Taranaki, was received by that paper at 650 pm. Now, the Globe had received and published the intelligence, and all the material facts connected with it, long before that hour, and it is hard, indeed, to see a contemporary step in and pirate from us news, that has been secured for us, by the use of brains and capital which ho cannot boast. We do not object at all to his making use of our news at second hand, only, let him acknowledge the source from whence it is derived.