The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, MAY 16, 1879.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 161, 16 May 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, MAY 16, 1879.

We are glad to notice that Crs Gapper, Vile, and McCardle have declared in favor of the appointment oi an engineer for Borough contracts, and have even gone so far as to resign their seats on the Public Works Committee because the members of that Committee are personally expected to lay off roads and supervise the construction of them. The Public Works Committee now con-

sists of Crs Eenall, Woodroofe, and Russell. The latter Councillor will probably content himself with supervising buildings and keeping architects up to the mark, and the burthen of roads will fall on the two former ones, We need hardly say that Crs. Woodroofe and Renall are both amateur engineers, and rank therefore above civil engineers, But there is one point on which we feel somewhat uneasy when we contemplate Crs Eenall and Woodroofe as the Public Works Committee of the Borough, and that point we candidly admit is " culverts." It may seem strange that wo should manifest any anxiety about " culverts. Our gentle readers and still gentler subscribers may well ask, why should you be anxious and uneasy about "culverts," and we would answer frankly and freely because it is well known that "culverts" are the rock on which

these two Councillors split, It is generally admitted that Cr Eenall's knowledge of culverts is vast and comprehensive, so vast that it can only

be approached by Cr Woodroofe's immense experience on the same subject. It is also admitted that while Cr Renall's knowledge leads him to favor one class, or one particular kind of culverts, Cr Woodroofe's experience brings him to a different conclusion—in fact to an altogether different kind of culvert. It will be seen therefore that there are two classes of culverts.

We are not, however, prepared to go a step further and describe the characteristics of either class, Sufficient it is

;o say that there are '■ culverts" an

"adverts"— that the Eerall culverts are not the Woodroofe culverts, and that the Woodroofe culverts are no more like the Eenall culverts than chalk is

like cheese. It is, we may say, generally understood by the initiated that no one can understand thoroughly the merits of the Renall culverts, excepting the Councillor whose name they bear—and that nobody can appreciate the Woodroofe culverts,save he who has given them their title. We may add that that we have had the privilege of hearing Cr Eenall describe the Eenall culverts, and Cr Woodroofe the Woodroofe culverts, and that the longer we listened the less we comprehended. If we were put face to face with a culvert to-morrow we could not swear to it being a la Woodroofe or a la Renall, and we do not think any one else would he more successful. The moral of all

this is, that our anxiety is as nothing so long as the work to be laid off by Councillors Renall and Woodroofe does not mclucle a culvert, We believe they are in harmony on earthworks, that they are brothers as far as metal is concerned, and at bridging may be regarded as twins, But the moment a culvert

is required, and such a thing may sv!

any moment become necessary, we feel certain that the' progress of public works will be arrested, and that there will be a dead-lock, The instant these two great minds approach the culvert question harmonious action will be

at once at an end. We can back either Councillor not to yield his convictions, The Borough will be divided into culvert factions, and the contest beweon our rival amateur engineers will be h'ot and long, What will be the result we know not, but we are inclined to think'that public works in the Borough will be brought to a standstill, and if, in anticipation of such a contingency, we display some slight uneasiness we trust we may be pardoned,