MANAGEMENT BY INSPECTION.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 412, 15 February 1877, Page 3

MANAGEMENT BY INSPECTION.

The Government works in this district do not appear to have suffered any very great damage from the -recent floods. The damage on tho Head Kace is of a disheartening kind to those working at it, and striving to bring thewaterinas quickly as possible. However, even slips of ugly banks are not all loss. With dry weather it is quite possible Lory's race might have been safely passed, and the work pronounced a great success. At the same time it might be a matter of certainty that the first rough weather would produce breaks in every direction. The Channel proved much safer than had been feared. It was very severely tested, under circumstances that need not have occurred if a management were installed. The loss, such as it is, of £3OO or £4OO, is to be attributed not half so much to the floods as to the neglect of the Government to appoint a management, with full powers to -deal with all difficulties as they arise. In works of such a nature as these prompt decision in emergencies is especially needed. The present system of management by inspeotion is most extravagant and foolish. Independently of the supervising Engineer, Mr. M. H. Browne—who has no authority, but has on every occasion to run to the Chief Surveyor, who has no authority, but has on every occasion to run to the Minister for Public Works, who has no authority, but has on every occasion to run to the ! Executive Officer for the Provincial District of Otago, the Hon. G. M'Lean, who knows nothing whatever what the bother is all about, but supposes it will all come right if well let alone —there are three inspectors in connection with the works, one only of whom, on the Head Race, has any real work to do, and does it. The inspection of the Channel and of tho Flushing Eace is really little other than an expensive sham. The Channel Inspector is, no doubt, Argus-eyed, to rush at a rat-hole in the bank and stop it, in caso it should prove tho key to destruction; but, for aught that is practical, the money he receives might as well be thrown away. Tho best place for Government inspectors is generally in the blankets. Allowing that our inspectors are all that can bo desired, such an allowance must be taken to bo a miracle against human nature. As it is, wo fear, from the pecuniary and uncertain natm*o of their offices, tho object most likely to bo in view is the obtaiuing of employment when the present certainty can be counted on no longer. In this the inspcctorshavenotgotitall to themselves. The law of inspection is well understood—to do as little as possible, and do that little long. Management by inspection is then utterly unsuited to do any good. It is, on the other hand, eminently adapted to prolong the works, to create damages, and, by its undercurrent of intrigue, to greatly embarrass any management of a more stable kind. When the Government intends to shake itself up sufficiently to understand that it has responsible duties, and has to decide what course to take, can only be known to tho members thereof. As economic ideas are now prevalent in the City of the Winds, we have every day been expecting to receive instructions to call for tenders for the crop of green hay at the bottom of the Channel. The Government have been fairly told what pecuniary losses accompany its inaction. They have been warned that absence of management meant constant danger to the works. Nothing more can bo done. A mule can be led to the water, but for all that he won't drink. Probably the intention is, at every cost to force the County Council, at its March meeting, to take upon itself the management of works the bulk of its members know nothing about, and care less.

The evil of the delay, as has been so often repeated, is more than the loss of money in unavoidable disasters and fruitless and costly inspection. Within a fortnight, as our Maerewhenua correspondent informs us, we shall have mon flocking up from the harvest, with no prospect of work, except upon the Goldfields. The very work they require is at their hand, but there is no management, therefore no Channel can be open, and the silly and costly absurdity of the Dead Level race, running parallel to the Channel, and causing constant danger, must be kept up, if only to carry off surface water from the Gully, while affording no one any outlet to open claims. It is absolutely certain that a large number of men will be out of employment during the autumn and winter months. Under such circumstances, to neglect the speedy utilisation of productive works such as the Head Race and Sludge Channel, as is being done, is an act for which unfortunately no punishment can be meted out to the offenders sufficiently severo. The same offence in private life would bo met by'the Bankruptcy Court and ita consequences.