THE Grey River Argus. SATURDAY,NOVEMBER 9,1867.

Grey River Argus, Volume IV, Issue 285, 9 November 1867, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. SATURDAY,NOVEMBER 9,1867.

The late Rood has undoubtedly proved the npcespify of jnucL greater means of : protection against such visitations than the town has hitherto possessed. The \dled emhankmenb recently completed, , although it has unquestionably been th.c means of staying the encroachment of the river at a most critical period, has nevertheless ghown itself to have beejj j quito inadequate for the purpose for which it was intended, Had the flood continued a few hours longer at the rate it ran w.heu the embankment works first gave way, it is more than probable that the greater part of the Lower Township, and even the buildings on the upper side of Boundary street, would have been swej:)t away. The utter unexpectedness of the flood shows how insecurely the town, is situated, and urges fche absolute necessity of embanking the south side of the river at any cost to make it secure, . The quantity of yainthatfell, although voluminous enough, did not exceed, td all appearances, previous downpours which had only occasioned an ordinary fresh in the river, Tie flood came down suddenly and without warning, jind bad the proximate cause — whether vain or melted snow — continued, Heaven only knows what the result would have been. Although it may be fairly admitted that the embankment, frail as it has proved to be, did an amount of service that is probably worth, its whole cost, it cannot be doubted that it was altogether unfitted for ite purpose, and that the calculations of, the engineer had been utterly at fault, This ia the more blameable, seeing that the la.st flood was uob .«? unyrecedevted #$ wo apd others had imagined, Jt seems that no longtr than five years ago a flood even higher than the fesi occurred during the time that fcba brother (£ ti>e pmen^ DisirJDt Engineer was here, and this circumstance must therefore have been known to ibe ofßcfcj 1 wk planned the present embankment, At that time we understand the only patch of dry ground on the present »ite of the town was a knoll at the back ofAvhere the Masonic Hotel now stands, so that the flood- must haye 1 been several feet higher than it was tie other day. Although there is always an amount of uncertainty in relating the movements of erratic stivinis like the Grey River, still it is possible to reduce -the 2-isk of failure I» tbo case of the late flood, there Vas nothing unusual but the sirnpfc overflow of the river. There wa?»Q aid to the power of the river, eLuh ap landslips, or a rush of water froti the land side. It was merely an^Vei-flow, and yet the first time thfnntended protection has been testedy« gave way, No doubt floods of theV^iai-acter of the one just passed are >^c, and another like it may not occur yi'or years, Put it" is impossible to. calculate upon events of this kind, and there is absolutely no cei'tainty that a similar visitation may not occur any day, for there are sea reefy any premonitoryjLyjgßtoms to be -guided by._ It is xe wi *^^k£* ie Bpfeby of the i/ A s: "*■ yneans of L^L^^jL&J^^^^HJß^ttkd—or else

to select another site. The latter alternativie is the most difiicult of ado])tion f and the Government must see tbat it is a duty more than ordinarily incumbent upon them to put down a strong embankment that will, really protect the town, It is no use disguising the fact that the Hwkjnat destroyed was altogether of the most slovenly character, and tbat even simple and obvious means of ensuring its stability had been omitted, Imperfect ag the main work has proved to have been, it is evident that had the framework been sustained by occasional ties to piles 4 iveu further in the street, the bank would have stood. We have no .wish to impuie bkme bat rather to show the necessity of making any future work more perfect and substantial,