THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1892. TIMARU HARBOR.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2345, 19 April 1892, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1892. TIMARU HARBOR.

The great argument brought forward by tho majority of the Harbor Board in favor of shifting shingle is that the engineers say that it is the proper course and that therefore it ought to be followed. This would imply that the engineers are infallible; that they could not make a mistake. The engineers turned the kant of the breakwater too soon, and now it is generally recognised that this was a mistake. The public at the time disapproved of turning the kant; they wanted to go out further; the public were right, and the engineers wrong. The Moody wharf was built by direction of the engineers, but it is found now that it was a mistake. Engineer Blackett reported to the Government that the breakwater would have to be blown up because it would result in the railway at Caroline Bay being washed away. Time has proved that he was entirely wrong. Engineer O’Connor was always in favor of running out straight, and at one time ridiculed shifting the shingle. This, we are told, can be found in one of his reports. Engineers O’Connor, Napier Bell, and Wilson suggested a scheme which they estimated would cost £4OOO a year; Engineer Goodall estimated it would cost a great deal less, but Engineer Marchant says it will cost only £6OO a year. That at least is one good thing produced by the agitation got up against the shingle shifting; the proposed annual cost has been reduced from £4OOO a year to £6OO a year. If the agitation produced no better result than this, it must be acknowledged as a great gain to the ralepayers. The estimates of the Commission of Engineers was almost seven times as large as that which Mr Marchant has now suggested, and it is something to effect a saving of £6 out of every £7 proposed to be spent. We are told that man coma to the front in times of excitement who ivould not be trusted at any other time. It would appear that the people think they have trusted certain men too much, judging by their disposition now towards them. It is in times of excitement the world’s, great men have come forward. It was in times of excitement George Washington, Oliver Cromwell, and thousands of others came to the front, and rendered enormous services. The people who have come to the front in this matter have, as is plain to be seen, yarned the gratitude of the ratepayers of this district, for only for the agitation the district would have been committed to an enormous expenditure now. Mr Talbot said that one man was as likely to be right as a whole nation. This is hardly in consonance with modern thought. It savors of the despotism of the French King, who said “I am the State.” It is generally said that “ Tho voice of the people is the voice of God,” but Mr Talbot thinks differently. He thinks he is right and the whole community is wrong. We live in an age and country where such ideas are intolerable; we elect to be governed by majorities, and anyone who refuses to submit to this system is not fit to play a prominent part in it. As for the engineers Mr Evans showed they contradicted themselves at every hand’s turn, and putting that together with their palpable blundering in connection with the Timaru breakwater we think it is a sufficient excuse for the people doubting them. They have made the harbor too small, and now they want to destroy its usefulness by taking away its natural shelter. Mr Talbot said there was nothing left for the Board to do except to go on or resign. There is no necessity for doing either. They} can drop the shingle question and go on with their ordinary work, for there is no necessity for such haste as they exhibit. But if it comes to a question of “Go on or resign,” we should say “ Resign, by all means ” as it would be monstrous for them to go on in the face of the practically unanimous condemnation of the ratepayers. We hope they will not do such a thing, as certainly it would be a violation of every principle of democratic institutions.