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Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 10, 30 November 1863, Page 3

— — '♦ (7b the of the Invercargill Times.) Sic' — 'In common with most "'Britishers," I have a dv- respect "for that impersonation in connection with the "Fourth "Estate," called the Editor. him as a description Of "Medusa," nrtt to 'bo gazed upon or bearded by mortals, without serious consequences ensuing, and : lt 'from knowledge thtit tho^Sou'ihland Neu)s isttt'tho present moment without an- editor, that <I am emboldened to perpetrate the atrocity of questioning a 'leading article. But apart'from "all fear of a future ** roasting/ I cannot allow such fallacifus arguments to pass current to tbe world, without some protest. Thus, finding Miner*?!! without ?ber shield,! presume to attack her. The^ndividua 1 ! who"Wiote'fhe UTticlel allude to (viz, the second in' Saturday's issue of 'the "South- : land Nctcs), which Trecognise as the writing of a commercial man. "confid«ritly asserts " a number of things which 1 '• cimfittently assert" he must have a very slight acquaintance with. 1 have no . doubt he * Oald like to hold 'the "-Settyprivilege," as be terms 'it, and 'the people might : then go on -" taxing themselves " ad libitum for ' his advantage, in tho shape of dredging, which must, of course, be the plan the writer lays down . for himself, from his alluding to the plagiarism of' "how will'it pay'" na an incentive'tGiirbor, as he would never dream of saddling the "Jetty privilege," with the expense of dredging, with the, : "how will it pay," before his eyes; leavhrgthat consideration, it is evident that the 'writer 'has not looked sufficiently into the matter, or he would be aware of the absurdity of dredging in 'the immediate neighborhood of a Jetty, where 'there is already water to allow any vessel alongside which can come that distance np the river, or dn other words, where would bo the 'utility >of 'having more water alongside the Jetty *th&n you have down below. It is pretty well known to every one except the writer of tbeartiolo 'l advert to, that the Jetty has never paid interest on the money expended to construct it. It be is inclined to offer a fair interest on tbe outlay as a royalty, perhaps the Government might listen to him. He seems to enlarge upon rho advisability df such enterprises being- in the hands Of public com- i i panics. Why do not public companies establish such institutions? — then the necessity would not arise for the Government to take the matter in ' band. The want of a good steam-tug has long been felt. No one -is so hardy as to deny its being a good investment, «nd the Government has let the matter pest during ample time for some company sucfe as he advocates to establish one in every way suited to the requirements, but I do not see any move in that direction ■yet. it is not that it would not be'remunerative; "tho fabulous profits realised by the steamer at present plying is sufficient guarantee, fiis accusation •regarding the expenses and delay in discharging •cargo might have had some weight a short time since, but I confidently assert that cargo is at present -discharged tnore rapidly than the merchants 'can remove it from tho Jetty. As much as three hundred tons and upwards, have within a short time since been landed and carted -from tho Jetty in one day, andwaach more coul I 'be "trucked up from the vessels if the consignees would remove it. He talks about not more than one vessel of one hundred tons being able to Ho alongsido the Jetty at tbe tame time, when, had he -jsed 'his eyes and looked out of the printing-office window, ho might while his effusion was going to press, have seen <five over 8 a vessels alongside the Jetty at tho moment. There exists a peculiar feature in the shipping trade of this port, which is that in general vessels are'collected by foul winds in fleets outside the port, and pop in in 'a shoal on tho advent of the first fair wind, thus the amount of import business done is subject to 'excessive fluctuations; the real being about 100 tons per day, or less, bat tbe " rush " requiring the whole imforfs ot a month to be disposed of in 'a few day?. I j pass over the gentleman's insinuations respecting " Government stroke ;" but in justice to the employes will confidently assert, that there aie no harder worked set of officials in the province. I should like the gentleman to take a trial for a week when the next lot of vessels arrive. I am &c, Tab Ceanb ok thb Jbttt. ■ Xi