THE Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JULY 21, 1891. THE SHINGLE QUESTION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2230, 21 July 1891, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JULY 21, 1891. THE SHINGLE QUESTION.

To disagree with experts on any subject is a serious undertaking for layinen. In the case of the travelling shingle in Tiraaru, however, laymen have a* very fair excuse if they disagree with the engineers who have recently reported on the matter. In that report the engineers have advised the people of South Canterbury to place on their backs, and on the backs of future generations, a burden from which they may well be pardoned from shrinking, and if they hesitate before undertaking such a load as the engineers would inflict on them no one ought to blame them. The whole position may be put in a few words. The shingle is accumulating on the south side of the breakwater, and it is alleged that in the course of time it will travel round the end of the mole and fill in the harbor, so that ships cannot come in. The engineers discussed several schemes, but recommended only one, that is that machinery should be obtained which would lift the shingle into a barge in which it would be taken out to sea and deposited where it would not return. It is worthy of note that this idea was discussed by certain great men of Timaru long before the engineers decided on it, that also the board's engineer suggested it, and that expert engineers merety came, and saw, and endorsed Mr Marchant’s proposals. Like the orator who made the great speech by only saying ditto to Mr Burke, the other engineers only said ditto to Mr Maschant. The other plan, which is popularly advocated, is that the mole should be extended so as to prevent the shingle travelling. It is argued that this would have the advantage of greatly improving the harbor by stopping the range,and sheltering the mole from the force of the waves. As regards cost there appears to be no great difference between the two schemes so far as the present generation is concerned, but the latter would necessitate the immediate borrowing of some £50,000, and from this it would appear that many are shrinking.

A great deal has been said and written on the subject, some foolish suggestions, some sensible, some OO 7 , ' funny, some sarcastic, but one suggestion thrown out has attracted considerable attention. This was the suggestion made by Mr David Stuart of Timaru, and recently endorsed by the Levels Road Board. It was to the effect that the shingle was not to be touched as it was a protection to the breakwater, but that protective works should be thrown oiit into the sea a little to the south of the mole so as to stop the shingle from coming further. This proposal was laid before the last meeting of the Board, in the shape of a resolution froifi the Levels Road Board, but they decided to reply that they were not going on with the permanent removal of the shingle at the present time. They were merely experimenting in a small way to see whether the suggestions of the engineers would work. Now of all the acts of the Board this appears to us the silliest. We all know the plans of the engineers will work. Of that there is no doubt, and what the country objects to is the burden which it will put on the backs of the people. There was no necessity for experimenting in this way, and if money is to be thrown away at all, it should be on experiments which would decide the question as to whether it is possible to do without involving the district in the unending responsibility'inseparable from adopting the recommendations of the engineers. These recommendations ought only to be adopted as a last resource. It is really terrible that we are to be forever saddled with the cost of shingle shifting, anil everything ought to be tried before accepting such a responsi billy, Moreover, there need bo no, hurry. The engineers themselves say

there is no danger for the next four or five years. Under these circumstances we think that the simplest and the most feasible suggestion which has been thrown out is that made by Mr David Stuart, bat evidently the Board will do nothing except be led by the nose by the engineers. It is our opinion that public meetings ought to be called, and the whole thing properly discussed.