THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1891 THE SHINGLE QUESTION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2279, 14 November 1891, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1891 THE SHINGLE QUESTION.

The Timaru Harbor Board is at present testing the experiment of shifting the shingle practically, in the manner suggested by the engineers. Immediately after Messrs O’Connor and Goodall reported on the shingle question, the board decided to get a Wellman dredge, or some expensive machine of- some kind or another, to carry out the ideas of the engineers. Public opinion Avas aroused by the madness of taking so illconsidered a step all at once; some members of the board violently opposed it, letters appeared in the public press condemning it, and so the members backed down stairs, and contented themselves witu experimenting on the matter. We have no hesitation in pronouncing the experiment a terrible and Avanton Avaste of public money. There Avas no necessity for the experiment at all. Any fool could see without going to any trouble or expense that the shingle could be shifted in the manner in which it is being shifted hoav, and the experiment looks very much like a cloak to cover the back-down-stairs retreat of those Avho originally wanted to order the expensive plant suggested by the engineers. They wanted an excuse to back out of the proposal Avhen they saAV public opinion so violently opposed to them, and fell back on the experiment. But this is not the Avorst. The experiment could have been tried with equal effect at comparatively very little expense. At prggeqt the Priestman crane is placed stationary on the breakwater, and a grab is attached to it, Avhich is dropped down to the shingle, where it fills itself with' something like a yard of stuff. This is lifted up into a huge hopper, where it is stored until the TaniAvha is ready to cany it out to sea. Prom the hopper a shoot runs underneath the wharf, and Avhen the trap door is opened the shingle shoots into the Taniwha. We do not know Avhat the hopper and shoot cost, but, judging by their appearances, we should say that it must be a good round sum. All that is simply monstrous wasws w . . nm, n experiment could have been carried out as successfully without them. They have nothing to do with the practicability of the experiment. All the board required to knoAV was : Could the Priestjnan crane lift the shingle I not Gould it be shot into the TaniAvha from the hopper ? Anyone of ordinary intelligence could see that the Priestman dredge could lift the shingle, as it lifts ail kinds of stuff from the bottom of the sea, but it required no intelligence at alf to see that shingle Avould run along an inclined shoot. The experiment could have been carried out without the expense pf the hopper or shoot by filling the shingle into trucks and carting it into the depression, out of Avhich shingle has been taken for making the concrete blocks. This depression is very unsightly, and the land reclaimed by the accumulation of shingle on the south side of the breakAvater will never be of any practical value until the place is filled up and levelled.

Now, if we mistake n6t, the board ha s trucks, and the rails are already.laid, so that practically the experiment of shifting the shingle in this way could have been carried out without much expense. Not only that, but more than one object woidd have been served at the same time. The experiment would have been tested, the shingle would have been removed, the unsightly depression filled in, and the reclaimed land rendered saleable. Instead of taking this sensible course the immense hopper and shoot have been built at a large expense, and the Taniwha, Avhich ought to be fulfilling her ordinary functions, is employed in carrying the shingle out to sea. . Now we ask the members to go down and look at what is being done, and honestly think the matter out. If they do so we really do believe they will see their mistake. But the majority of the board are mere puppets in the hands of the engineers. So far as we can see they are no use whatever; they have no opinions of their own; they are mere echoes of the engineers. Edison, the great electrician, the other day swore in a court that he knew nothing of scientific principles, and did not want to know, because if he had allowed himself to be bound down by scientific rules he would never have succeeded as he had. Edison showed his common sense in this respect. What were considered exact scientific facts and principles a few ye&’rs ago have been proved huge delugfipis by more recent discoveries. Many a terrible blunder has been committed through adhering too severely to scientific principles, and amongst them will yet be classed the mistake of denuding the Timaru breakwater of the shingle. A few days ago three vessels were loading at the Timaru wharf. One of them was berthed under the shelter of the shingle, and the other two farther out. A great sea rose, and the waves broke over the breakwater, damaging goods in the two. outer vessels, while the inside one carried on her work in perfect safety. Now ought not this one fact show those troubled with the shingle-shifting mania that it is desirable at any cost to allow the shingle to remain as a shelter to the breakwater. An extension of one hundred feet of Avail placed at right angle Avith the extreme end of the present mole would be sufficient protection for the harbor for the next twenty years. If, when the shingle had sheltered the Avhole breakAvater out to this, it Avas found necessary to shift it, then it could be done in the way suggested by the engineers. It is all nonsense to say it would be risky to let the shingle go out so far. There is no risk Avhatever in it. The engineers tell us that machinery can be obtained which will remove the shingle as fast as it accumulates at the point it has at present reached. If so, surely it could be re- | moved as fast as it accumulated in a trap l at the end of the present mole. To say that it could not is illogical. Any engineer Avho holds it can be coped with where it is hoav could not consistently say it could not be coped Avith at the point we suggest. But it is useless to reason with the board as at present constituted. We suggested some time ago that public meetings should be called to discuss the subject, and let the board see they are acting contrary to the Avishes of the people. This ought to be done, and Ave believe it Avould succeed if only someone took the lead in it.