ANOTHER GROWL.—MUNICIPAL MUDDLINGS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5510, 23 November 1878, Page 2

ANOTHER GROWL.—MUNICIPAL MUDDLINGS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sxa, —Some months ago you inserted a letter of mire, ! and to the heading you added the words “ A Growl.” Perhaps you were right. If so, I growled about three things :—(1) That footpaths were made unfit for pedestrians, because they were covered with stones instead of gravel; (2) that Lambton-quay was made a dust-supplier on really artistic principles, because costly “metal” had been deeply buried in sand, which wheels must pulverise and winds must raise in clouds ; f 3) that a great deal of good timber was being wasted, because the wharf • extension sheathing was. being screwed and wrenched tightly . together, instead of the planking being put an inch or more apart, whence was sure to follow a surface that must rot more quickly than was natural, and while rotting must be dangerous to horses, because it afforded no foothold. Well, sir, my growl as to No. 1 had effect. Since it was uttered stones have not been put upon footpaths, or they have been raked off before tbe work has been taken as finished. A s to No. 2, my prediction has been fulfilled in tbe most abominable manner. Not before, during the last 10 years at least, has so much and such exasperating dust been sullered from in Wellington as the Wellingtonians have had to grope through during the last two or three mouths. Unhappily there is yet on the roadway a supply which will last through the summer, and it is to be feared the nuisance will become worse. But tbe crowning perfection of municipal muddling is to be seen in connection with my No. 3. The work of sheathing the wharf has been continued upon the defianoe-of-common sense principles on which it was commenced. The condemnation of an anonymous growler was naturally laughed at. And now, on what may be called the new English-ship T and at other points where hardwood was used for the sheathing, one finds that the wharf is being constantly smeared.with tar and strewn with gravel! There is a stock of tar barrels as well as a number of gravel heaps provided. Necessarily, I admit, if horses are to be used on the wharf. So that really a triumph in municipal engineering has been achieved. Timber has been wasted to help the wharf to rot; and now tar must be bought and gravel carted, with which to make a disgusting mess on the new structure, without which mess it would be to a very large degree useless ! There is only one element of consolation—the stupidity which has achieved such results can hardly be surpassed even under the rule of tbe Wellington Corporation.—l am,