“A BLESSING IN DISGUISE.”

Gisborne Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 4814, 11 March 1918, Page 6

“A BLESSING IN DISGUISE.”

HOW THE FLOOD IMPROVED THE HARBOR.

REVISED DIAGNOSIS BY THE HARBOR* I ‘DOCTOR.”

“It has now been proved,’’ said Mr Leslie Reynolds (the Harbor engineer to a Times reporter on Saturday) “that the flood has done good, so far as the harbor is concerned. In one act the river has done more good than the Maui could do in many weeks.” Mr Reynolds went on to say that this fortunate state of affairs was solely due to the Big river overflowing into the Taruheru. The Waimata’s instincts —silt-charged as it always was in time of flood —were to close uii the harbor. If it were not for one thing, the Big river, by breaking over into the Taruheru, would do likewise. What turned the over-flowing Big river into a blessing instead of a curse was the fact that in coming over country it deposited all its heavy silt on the paddocks which it invaded. “I am now satisfied 1 on this point, ’ Mr Reynolds added. “The Big river flood waters which entered the Taruheru were not silt-charged. They were simply discolored —and that state of affairs has misguided many people in the past. It is the heavy particles of silt that are th e menace to the harbor. Many people may be astonished to learn that during the past few months the dredging has revealed that much heavy shingle has had to be removed.” “How large?’’ inquired the reporter. . “Approaching to the size of boulders,” was Mr. Reynolds’ reply. Mr. Reynolds also expressed the opinion that there was far more shingle in the inner harbor than most people imagined. Under the pumping system only the “flotsam had been carried out to sea. That system had been just as deceptive as was the appearance of silt in the flood waters of the Taruheru aided by the Big River. 'ln the course of further conversation, the Harbor Engineer remarked that if the shoal near the root of the breakwater had not been dredged out prior to the recent storm the flood must have wrought much mischief instead of proving a blessing m disguise. _____