The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, MAY 17, 1877.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 115, 17 May 1877, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, MAY 17, 1877.

There must be something in the air of Greymouth that affects the brains of engineers to whom is entrusted the designing or construction of public works in that part, for in no other way can their systematic disregard of the dictates of common sense be accounted for. The story of the railway is well known, how it was constructed on the south side of the river at a cost of four times as much as would have sufficed to make it on the northern bank. Then came the collapse of the bridge over the river just as it was approaching completion. Of course nobody knew why it '.tumbled into the river; " because it did" being considered a perfectly satisfactory reason. The bridge was reerected in the course of a few months with the magnificen. result, which was triumphantly telegraphed through the colony, that an engine and two trucks were able to cross it in perfect safety, though three trucks proved one -too many for it. Not satisfied, howerer, witb wasting money In this shameful manuer on land, the authorities are now amusing themselves by throwing it into the sea, as will be seen by the following extract from a leading article which appeared ia the Gre,R t ver Argus of Tuesday last:— "Tht stability of the harbor works was tested practically for the first time during the heavy rainfall and partial flood in the river on Sunday, with a result that has quite confirmed tbe opinion held by nine out of ten sensible people that the system of construction is radically bad; tbat the work is unsubstantial; and that to proceed with it according to the present design would be & shameful waste of money. There waa only a moderate f resb in tbe river, the completed part of tbe work was sheltered by the adjacent wharf, the wind was off the land, and and yet in twenty-four hours some six or seven hundred tons of the gravel, which the ingenuity of the engineer suggested as the best material for building a breakwater, disappeared, besides also a quantity of the rock apron. Had there been a flood approaching in height and rapidity some of those with which Greymouth has been visited, we venture to say not a vestige of the work would have been left. Now we ask, in the interest of the public, how long is the work of constructing a port here to be entrusted to the hands of those whose only specialty appears to be that of making costly experiments, having only failure for their result? It is high time that those interested in the welfare of Greymouth entered a protest in the most formal manner against tha wasteful expenditure now going on to satisfy the vagaries and whims of an engineer, and to ask why the original desigh, based upon Mr Moriarty's report, has been departed from; and instead of constructing a permanent stone embankment, the present wretched abortion of a thing is being erected. The whole history of this work from its commencement is indicative of inefficiency and want of practical knowledge. Here Nature has abundantly provided stone close to the port, and yet, as if out of sheer recklessness, the engineering authorities must needs lay a mile of rails and build a bridge costing several hundred pounds to enable them to fetch sand and gravel for the purpose of filling in the bank of a river which had already swept away a great part of the front of the town. A stone embankment would have cost no more, could have been proceeded with more rapidly, and, once erected, would have been a permanent job." Now is not this an exact repetition of the railway transaction? Nature had provided a route on which a railway might have been constructed cheaply, and with due regard for its permarence, and yet, as if out of sheer recklessness, the engineering authorities must needs lay ont the line where the cost of construction must necessarily be enormous, with the probabilities largely in favor of the works being destroyed by landslips. With regard to the present muddle our contemporary says: — " The changes of plan, the delays, and tha manner in which the contract has been carried out are all indicative of bungling, and make the whole concern the subject of public ridicule and contempt. But it is time this sort of thing should be put a stop to effectually by such a public expression of opinion as must compel tbe Minister of Public Works to take action upon the matter. The subject is n serious one, affecting aa it does the prospect of our having any harbor works at all. In the certainty of the Government pursuing a policy of economy, in which Parliament will no doubt support them, it is not likely that they will be too ready to vote a further large sum of money for a work which is liable to be swept away at any time. We have on former occasions suggested that a public meeting should be held and resolutions formally passed protesting iv the most emphatic manner against the waste of money involved in the pursuance -of the present plan of constructing the harbor works. It is quite evident that nothing else will drive common sense into the heads of the engineering deparement." We cannot fail to ob erve the contrast between the action of the Public Works Department at Greymouth and in Nelson. There mo •/ is expended with reprehensible extrayagance. Here we cannot even get our poor little mile of railway to complete the connection between the country and the port.

A few days since we published a short extract from a sermon delivered by the Rev R. L. Stanford, of Dunedin, on the "crime " of keeping bank clerks at work night after night. Since then we have met with a fuller report in the Otugo Daily Times, which we re-publish in the fourth page of to-day's issue. Mr Stanford is a courageous man to step forward and bollly attack institutions so powerful as the banks, but we believe that his remarks, severe as they are, will meet with the full approval of the public, even of many shareholders who, perhaps, until it is so forcibly pointed ont to them, have never considered how their large dividends are obtained. In some of the larger towns of the colony this is perhaps more general than in Nelson, but who has not often seen the banks lighted up here until midnight and frequently later, and thought of the cruelty that is being perpetrated by keeping the young clerks at work up to that hour? As Mr Stanford says, "we have nothing of course to say about occasional, pressure on mail .nights," but regularly every Monday night, and for weeks together as the time approaches for making up the halfyearly balance sheet which is to gladden the hearts of the shareholders, are the lights to be seen up to the hour mentioned. We sincerely trust that Mr Stanford's condemnation of this "miserly management" will have the desired effect, and that it may be the means of obtaining justice for the bank slaves, even though the consequence should be the reduction of the dividend by one per cent.

The Harmonic Society's quarterly concert will be given this evening iv the Provincial Hall when the charming opera of " Maritana," to the practice of which a considerable amount of time and^study has been devoted, will be performed.

A nasty accident occurred this morning to , a man' named James Nicholl, who was engaged in cleaning the upper windows of the Nelson Hotel, when the rung ofthe ladder on which he was standing broke, and he fell from a height of twelve or fourteen feet, alighting on his head. A rather severe scalp wound and a considerable shaking were the consequences. At a meeting of the Institute Committee held last night Mr G. Ashcroft was elected a member in the place of Dr Boor who had resigned. In the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning legal arguments were heard in the adjourned case of White v. Wallace, the evidence in which was taken at Spring Grove on the 7th inst. Judgment was reserved until Monday next. At the inquest held on the body of James Shore yesterday afternoon, medical evidence was given showing that death had been caused by disease of the heart. A verdict was returned accordingly. A hbeting of those interested in getting up races on the Queen's Birthday was held last night, when the amount of prizes, which are advertised elsewhere, was decided upon. The various privileges will be sold at auction on Saturday. There was a rare crowd of youngsters of both sexes at Mr Severn's lecture on Magnetism at the Provincial Hall this afternoon, the College, Bishop's School, Government and private schools being all well represented. The next lecture on electricity will be delivered to-morrow evening. A gentleman who is in a position to know informs us that tbe average earnings of the miners at the Tadmor since gold was first discovered there in February last have amounted to quite £4 per week per man. At present most of the parties are in a state of compulsory idleness owing to a superabundance of water in their claims.