South Canterbury Times, FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2209, 16 April 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1880.

Dunedin’ is down on its luck, and not without cause. Otago has missed her golden opportunity. Her Harbor Board, an institution that should have ministered to her prosperity, has cast a wet blanket over her hopes. While its members have been squabbling with Port Chalmers and the Government, and wasttheir efforts and their borrowed capital on the construction of a new city out of the sewage of the old—for this is really what the reclamation at Dunedin means —the representatives of Lyttelton and Wellington have been diligently at work assisting nature’s operations by extending their natural harbors. Only a few months ago when Dunedin was brilliantly illuminated over the opening of a trunk railway to Christchurch, and a grand banquet (for which the caterer was never fully paid) was prepared for the Ministerial celebrants, one of the most conspicuous works of art was a bust of Mr Macandrcw supported between a railway locomotive and a powerful steamship, while beneath was the legend “ Direct steam communication.” For many years this direct communication with Great Britain had been the darling project of Gtago’s superintendent, and the theme was as dear to him as ever. Despite the cold water dashed against his scheme by the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, and the opposition which his proposal encountered in Parliament, he resolved to give it a trial. But the Otago Harbor Board barred effectually his scheme, and the humiliating result of the Stadt Haarlem experiment will bo fresh in the memory of many of our readers.

But the Stad Haarlem failure is a small affair compared to the cup of bitterness that Messrs Money Wigram and Sons have filled to overflowing by resolving to despatch one of their fine steamers, the Norfolk, direct to Lyttelton and Wellington, leaving Otago and its harbor entirely out in the cold. This is, indeed, the unkindcst cut of all. The Dunedin press bewails the fate of a harbor in ruins, and a port which has ceased to charm the shipowners of Great Britain. To have to rely on lighters and coasting craft, and play second {fiddle to the Port of Lyttelton, is indeed a sad humiliation. Correspondents, we presume of the mercantile order, have sprung up like mushrooms, and Nemo, Lex, Givis, and the rest in deep tribulation are snarling at one another through the columns of the Dunedin journalistic trinity. One talks of converting Wakouaiti Bay into a harbor, another of cutting a canal across the Dunedin Peninsula, hut all join in the sorrowful refrain — There’s nae luck aboot the house. There’s nae luck ava, There’s little pleasure in the house, Since oor guidman’s awa, meaning by “ guidman” Mr Macandrew of course. For it is well known that when Dunedin returned Mr Downie Stewart and Mr John Dick as its city representatives, Mr Macandrew washed his hands clean of the city and its Harbor Board, and betook himself to the seclusion of his home in the Peninsula to meditate on the folly and perversity of human nature.

The fate of Otago harbor and the effectual demolition of Mr Macandrew’s long-cherished scheme of direct

steam communication between Otago and Great Britain through the suicidal tinkering of an ill-assorted Harbor Board, should bo a caution and a warning to Harbor Boards generally. The lesion taught, and it is a severe one, will not, wc trust, be lost on our local institution. The Timaru Harbor Board has expended a large amount of money in concrete, and much has yet to be done before its chief operations will be concluded. Even now its difficulties are only commencing. The breakwater is a work on the successful issue of which the future of Timaru as a commercial centre almost depends. It is no temporary undertaking, but a structure that, if properly and successfully contrived, will live through succeeding generations —a monument to the enterprise and ingenuity of its founders. As the Timaru Harbor Board arc only beginning to get properly' into deep water it would be premature to criticise their operations minutely'. What they have achieved so far, the public can sec and judge for themselves, and wc regret to observe that the ricketty jumbled-up condition of the superstructure is beginning to occasion a good deal of uneasiness respecting the foundations. In some recent observations, wc said that the foundation of a solid work like a breakwater was by far the most important portion of all. The Timaru Breakwater is onlyin its infancy, yet its foundation has given way in a manner that must excite alarm. The explanations of the Board’s engineer about the effects of “ the scour,” and other disturbing causes, arc anything but assuring. The disjointed, disintegrated state of the concrete blocks, and the y-awning crevices in the southern wall favor the presumption that the experiment of building a mountain of concrete on shifting sand and shingle is not a Aviso one. Of course the Board is gaining Avisdom by experience, but the expenditure on this bought Avit is someAvhat serious. It is to be feared they have only so far been experimenting, Avbcn a little technical skill summoned to their aid Avould have saved their reputation.