Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 359, 27 May 1874, Page 2

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Thb Provincial Council hap carried the, resolutions proposed by Mi.- Stout for the appointment of a Trust for the effective management aud, improvement of the Otago Harbor-. The resolutions provide that such Truant shall have, all the powers that may be granted by any Ordinance of the Provincial Council, under the authority . of , the , IJarbor Boards Act, 1870 — borrowing powers' to the extent of £250,000. Authority to reclaim lands, raise embankments* authority to .raise debentures, Ac. In questioning this role o£ the Provincial Oouncdf, we do not wish to be understood as pronouncing lg«n«t ft§ work, Jt tn*y or (nay not be

both a useful and reproductive work ; but what we assert is, that the resolutions have been passed with an indecency of haste that is anything but creditable to the representatives who joined in passing it. The advice of the Provincial Engineer ought, at least, to have been followed; and the; amendment of Mr. Fish pointed out the wiser and safer policy. As it is, the Council have plunged recklessly into the enterprise ; and we know not whether £50,000 according to some, £250,000 according to the resolution, or £l,ooo,ooomay be required to complete the work. Whereas, if, as the Provincial Engineer recommended, and Mr. Fish's amendment bore, a sum had been placed on the estimates to employ a competent engiueer to, make one effective survey and thoroughly extensive borings, we would have been in a proper position to judge of the feasibility of the work and the expense of the undertaking. Longer time would have been given to consider whether it would be better to improve the Harbor, or increase the powers of the Port Chalmers railway, It is positively indecent to construct a great public work like the Dunedin and Port Chalmers railway, and before it is properly tested, throw it away like a toy for some nqw plan, the difficulties of which have not been tested in anything like v rational way And who are the parties who have dune this. Why the very men who cashiered the late Secretary of Works, because they could not hold him in. We venture to say that if the trifling sum for all the Secretary of Works bad out run the vote of the Provincial Council had been spent on Dunedin and the Taieri, it would not have been complained of, and we hold that this vote is confirmatory of our surmise. After the resolutions had been passed, the faith of the parties in their scheme was put to the test by Mr. J. C. Brow-i, viz. , that rating powers be expended, to said Trust ; but this was resisted. This we pronounce as adding wrong to wrong. If the work were so much needed — if, as alleged, it would pay itself-^there need bt> no fear of these rating powers ever being called into requisition ; if, on the contrary, they were not sure of their own-scheme, it was little short of iniquity •to pass it without the precautions indicated in Mr. Fish's amendment.