SHINGLE-SHIFTING PROPOSALS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2343, 14 April 1892, Page 3

SHINGLE-SHIFTING PROPOSALS.

r MEETING OF RATEPAYERS AT PLEASANT POINT. A public meeting was held in Pleasant Point to discuss the above question. Mr Halstead was voted to the chair, and Mr Wreathall, convener, briefly explained the object of the meeting. Mr Stumbles said there was a great deal of talk about the harbor, and he maintained that the board was condemning the harbor by what they were saying. People who came from foreign parts said the harbor was perfectly safe, but there was too much talk about it; and they also said the shingle was the salvation of the work. People said he wanted money spent so that he might get another contract, but that was not true. What he (Mr Stumbles) said was that no money should be spent. He produced a plan showing what little progress the shingle had made in thirteen years. The shingle was now going into deep water; there •was a different current, and the shingle was not increasing, although they said it was growng at the rate of 120 ft. a year. They were going to spend £BOOO now, but he opposed it. They were spending money at a fearful rate. They spent ,L. nearly £IOOO on the experiment, and'the machinery used was thrown on the beach not worth a halfpenny. It would be the same with the machinery they proposed buying. It would lie idle. The board was going on ruinously with experiments, while the wharf was decaying and the piles rotting. They were not looking at that—they wanted toys: something fresh, some experiments. They were coming round now —they only want a dredge, but this was only recently. The engineers were led away by a few people, and they decided on sheltering the beach for Mr Balfour. (Laughter.) They were not asked to report on the beach, but on the shingle. It was no use to make the inside deep unless the outside was deep. They could get a dredge to do the work for a short time, but if they were to buy a new plant they would have to keep engineers and staff. All they wanted, was to do nothing until after the next .election. (Applause.) jto-Mr Morris said the shingle-shifting would not cost £2200, as that sum would include dredging. Mr Stumbles said he did not want a contract, but offered to do the work for £55 a foot. The speaker then gave a history of the engineers' reports. Mr O'Conner, Mr Goodall, Mr Napier Bell, and Mr Wilson all united in the opinion of shifting the shingle, yet Dick, Tom, and Harry said they were all wrong. Now, he could not understand how people could put their opinions against ' the engineers' opinions. He understood his responsibility as well as anybody. He -was a ratepayer, he recognised the utility of the board, and he meant to do his duty I as he thought right. Mr Stumbles explained that in offering to do the work for £55 a foot he meant that in the event of the work being required. As regards the engineers, when he started to construct the breakwater Mr O'Connor told him that he (Mr Stumbles) was a fool in attempting it, that it was impossible to construct anything in the surf, and that he would only throw away his money. But he went on with the work, and succeeded, in

spite of Mr O'Connor's opinion. What was the yalue of his opinion then 'I Who Hfcad the most responsibility ? Who ought to know most about it '( He (Mr Stumbles) had to watch the action of the seas, for he had £BOOO at stake, but the engineer, who was getting £IOOO a year, only came round a couple of days a week, and never caiue if the weather was rough. He certainly claimed that he knew something about it. Mr Hole, Timaril; aigued in a very clever speech that the swingle should not be shifted at present, and suggested that the members should resign/ Mr Acton complained of thd discourtesy of tho people of Geraldine in not inviting him to their meeting and went on to say that although Mr Stumbes told them he did not want any money spent, in April 1891 Messrs Evans, Hill, and Stumbles, three members of the Board, strongly fltrged the Board to consent to a scheme for borrowing £OO,OOO, and Mr Stumbles calculated that they could carry out 700 feet of breakwater with the money. It (was then perfectly evident that these three men were anxious to obtain this money. Mr Stumbles had said, with respect to the rate the shingle was

travelling, that in 8 months it had not gone out 20 feet. The survey had been made eight or ten days ago by the harbourmaster, the engineer and a boat's crew, and though it was shown that the top of the bank had receded, the survey showed that the toe had actually drawn out in 2 months 72 feet. This was correct. Mr Stumbles had forgotten to tell them that the Board had set aside £450 a year for the maintenance of the wharf.—(Applause.) As to dredging Mr Stumbles was in favour of hiring a dredge. It was a most abominable piece of business enormously expensive and most unsatisfactory; not one that the Board would go in for again. He maintained that it was not a correct view of the case when Mr Stumbles said he would do such work for £55 per foot. The work would have to be done so that commissioners would approve of it, for they were the masters of the situation, and Mr Stumbles never offered to do it in that way. He was very sorry for the disgraceful use which had been made of this offer, and if any man on earth had cause to say " save me from my friends," Mr Stumbles was the man. Such work meant that money obtained on mortgage of their farms, and for which they would have to pay the interest, would all be spent in Timaru. Influential and respectable men had come to him (Mr Acton) and said " Stumbles is an ex-

perienced contractor let him have the job ; he wants to employ his money and lime." It was a shameful thing to approach members of the board entrusted with public money, in that kind of way. The board had not the slightest idea of shifting the existing shingle ; they knew that it was a shelter to the port, but they wanted to be in such a position that when the shingle reaches tho point to which it can safely go they could say " thus far shalt thou go, but no further." As to silting up, the dredge they had got was a very good one, but was not found equal to the work. She kept the berths clear, but could not keep the depths at the moorings. Mr Acton then went into the history of the question, after which he again attacked the Geraldine meeting, i and spoke of the sale of the Titan and the | purchase of the Mana. Mr Acion next said that the story that they were going to send Mr Marchant to Holland was most ridiculous; that they were not going to ask ratepayers for the money to pay |for the plant they had got the money already' in the bank; and that the assertion made at Geraldine that the board's rating powers were Id in the £ was wrong. He explained that under the Harbors Act the board could not rate, but the,, ratepayers having in 1883 sanctioned a loan of £IOO,OOO, made themselves liable for it, and under the Loan Act the board could levy the rate for interest. As they owed £200,000, they had to find £IO,OOO yearly for interest; lharbor earnings provided £7OOO, and rates £3OOO. In conclusion Mr Acton made a strong appeal to them. He asked them how they expected them to be faithful to a public trust if they made them dishonest to their own convictions. (Applanse). How could a man be faithful to them if dishonest

to himself? Wheat, was the use of a man if his convictions were to be set aside; He would not take such a position for a single moment. If they put men on the Board of a different opinion and gave them the chance, they would impose a further burden on the ratepayers, and he most sincerely hoped they would not submit to any such proposal. Seven members of the Board had been all along fighting hard to avert this, and he, as one of them, claimed that they were in the right. Mr Twomey said he came to the meeting without the slightest intention of speaking, but certain things had been said to which he wished to reply. The charge made against Mr Stumbles was most disingenuous. It was suggested that he wanted to get the contract for £55 per foot. Of course they all knew how Mr Stumbles came to make that offer. The engineers said it would cost £BO, and Mr Stumbles, as a practical man, said he would do it for £55, and this was twisted into a corrupt offer made by Mr Stumbles. He could not characterise such a mean insinuation in language strong enough to express his contempt for it. As regards the quibble raised by Mr Acton, Mr Stumbles knew all about it. He had gone through the same routine several times before, and he knew the conditions of the contracts better than Mr Acton could tell him, and his offer to do the work at £55 per foot might be accepted as bona fide. Mr Acton made a great deal of not being invited \o the Geraldine meeting, but he (the speaker) thought it would have been an impertinence to invite him, as such an invitation would imply that he was to be placed on his trial. How could the Geraldine people say in effect" Mr Acton, come and defend yourself?" They had more intelligent ideas concerning the fitness of things. The Geraldine meet- , ing appeared to have hurt the feelings of the board very much. One speaker there said the board valued the Titan at £2OOO and sold it at £2OO or theroabouts, and he was told he ought to have, been ashamed of himself; but the fact was that the Titan was valued in the board's

annual reports ;>t £3OOO two years before; twelve months before she was valued at £2500, and in the annual report before she was sold she was valued at £2OO0 — yet, because Mr Flatman said so, he was told he ought to be ashamed of himself. Very likely the board thought he ought to have been ashamed of telling the truth. About the silting up of the harbor Mr Acton wanted to saddle those opposed to tho shingle shifting with having spread the report, and then injured th§ reputation of the harbor. The accusation was dishonest, considering that he knew full well that it was Mr John Gibson who originated the report, and others merely ridiculed it ; but of course Mr Acton thought that his party had the right to say and do what he liked, but others had no right to say anything. With regard to what tho ratepayers' wanted it was merely that nothing should bo done until a'fter next election ; or they would give the board an alternative—let them resign (applause), and let tho ratepayers have a say in the mattei', There was not the slightest doubt but public opinion was against them, and they ought to yield to it. Representative institutions in all democratic countries yield to public opinion. Even tho House of Jjords in England, the must autocratic, aristocratic body of all, yield to public opinion, but tho majority in tho Harbor Board placed

themselves above public opinion, and acted as autocratically as the Shah of Persia or tho Czar of Russia. The result would be they would buy expensive machinery now, and next year a now set of men would be elected who would not carry out the present proposals. That new plant would bo useless. He asked thorn not to do this, but to submit to public opinion, and let the matter rest until after the next election. Mr Wreathall moved —"That this meeting of Timaru Harbor Board ratepayers strenuously oppose the proposed expenditure on plant for the removal of shinglo from the south end of the breakwater, and oppose any expenditure for such purpose until after the election of a new board." He said that they were not meeting to destroy the fidelity of their members, not to make them dishonest to their own convictions. He was a bit of an agitator and had convened both this and the Geraldine meeting. He criticised some of the remarks which had been made, and said that when their doctors (Acton and Stumbles) differed, it was time for them (the patients) to take the case into their own hands. He was not Collis, tho diver, nor a member of the board, so could not say who was right. All ho wished to see was the matter put off till after tho election. Then they would see whether the proposal was approved or condemned. Ho desired to make no assertions or insinuations. All ha wished was expressed in his motion. (Applause.) Mr James Burford, of Timaru, briefly seconded the motion. He referred to the shingle travel, and denied that it had gone 80 feet in two months. At that rate they would have no harbor in 18 months; nothing but a flat where they could play cricket or football. (Laughter). He ako referred to the silting up, and, speaking of the proposed new dredge which was also to be asked for towage purposes, said that from his experience of Timaru, the whole lot would go on the beach at the first tow. (Laughter and applause). All Mr Acton had said was meant to throw dust in their eyes. They had come face to face with this—they should turn out the whole lot and lock the door. (Applause.) For could they trust them? (A voice, "No.") He would not trust them to spend a single sixpence. (Laughter.) He trusted they would carry the motion unanimously. As an amendment Mr Howell, Pleasant Point, moved—" That this meeting has full confidence in the Harbor Board as at present constituted." He said that they had allowed their members to spend about £300,000 on works in the harbour, and now that a balance of £BOOO or £9OOO was to be spent they were cavilling over it. He referred to the integrity of the members, and as to their chairman he never knew him tell an untruth. The fact was that they could not get out of this question of shingle shifting; that the single was travelling at the rate of 125 feet a year, and that there was only 420 feet more for the shingle to go out. In speak 1 ing of the proposals to check it Mr Howell condemned the solid work—for this meant carrying out a wall for .an indefinite time. He must say that in giving themselves a limit of a year and a half in which to get ready, the Board were cutting it fine enough. Mr W. McKibbm briefly seconded the amendment, saying that he was quite satisfied with what Mr Acton had said. On the voting being called for five persons voted for the amendment, and a large number, estimated at from 30 to 50, for the motion, the chairman declaring the motion carried amidst applause. The meeting was fairly orderly, but plainly hostile to tho supporters of the amendment. On the motion of Mr Howell a vote of thanks was passed to Mr Halstead, and at 20 minutes to 11 o'clock the meeting closed, having lasted nearly three hours.

TIMARU BOROUGH COUNCIL. At the couclusion of the ordinary business at the last meeting of the Timaru Borough Council Councillor Hole moved, and Councillor Burford seconded—" That the Borough Council, as representatives of the ratepayers _of Timaru, regret the action of the majority of the members of the Harbor Board at its last meeting re shifting shingle, and would respectfully ask our town member, Mr Gibson, to refrain from going into any expense in the way of plant for that work until after the next election of the board. The motion was carried. Councillors Hole, Bush, and Burford spoke strongly against the proposals, the former challenging Councillor Gibson to resign his membership of the Timaru Harbor Board, and offering to pay his election expenses if he was re-elected. Councillor Hall-Jones, M.H.R., defended the purchase of the proposed new plant for dredging purposes, as he did not think the present dredge capable of doing the work required in the harbor, and Councillor Gibson (a member of the Harbor Board) defended the board's action and his own position. Councillors expressed the opinion that fully four out of every five ratepayers were against ; shifting the shingle. I =■