DREDGING IN DUNEDIN HARBOR.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 270, 3 April 1873, Page 7

DREDGING IN DUNEDIN HARBOR.

By P. Tenax. Among the many ingenious modes of uselessly quandering the public funds devised by the Government, dredging the harbor stands pre-eminent. The work itself is useful ; but it is being carried on in a manner which not only involves a shameful waste of money, but absolutely prevents its being any benefit ..whatever. Two dredges are employed— a large one and a small one. The former is a cumbrous, unwieldy agglomeration of planks and^beams, apparently constructed from designs that were antiquated before Noah's ark was dreamt of. It is a leaky, old concern, and very weak in the back. So cranky is it that, in order to prevent it from resolving itself into its component parts of its own accord, it has been found necessary to rig a complicated arrangement of ropes and spars on the deck. This dredge, we believe, sunk once, and it is a pity that it was ever rescued from its submarine repose. It is always threatening to go down again, and^ the most persistent efforts of the men emploj'ed on it are required to keep it on the surface of the water. The amount of stuff brought from the bottom by it in a century would scarcely be appreciable. The other dredge seems outwardly in a fair state of repair, but its machinery does not appear to be of much account. Every five minutes or so there is a hitch or a break down somewhere, and the amount of time spent in repairs equals, if it does not exceed, that employed in dredging. The dirt taken up is discharged into the harbor close alongside the dredge. This is a beautiful provision made by some one in power for giving bhe dredge hands permanent employment, as it renders the work eternal to all intents and purposes. The spoon dredge once used on the Molyneux was a primitive and comparatively useless contrivance ; but we would not hesitate to back it against the dredges at present employed on Dunedin harbor for bringing up stuff.