[TO THE EDITOR.]

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXVI, Issue 6230, 6 September 1888, Page 2

[TO THE EDITOR.]

Sir, — Mr Kennedy's telegram to head quarters on the above subject has evoked some hostile criticism, as appears by some of your correspondents' letters. Without presuming to offer any opinion on the subject myself, it strikes n>e there is sufficient in what has been advanced to warrant the people of Greymouth taking some concerted action to induce Government to instruct the Engineer-in-Chief of the colony to examine the question on the pot, co that by personal inspection not merely when the bar is smooth, but also when In a condition when the harbormaster would be doubtful if it is safe to allow steamers to enter. An attempt has been made to ridicule Mr Kennedy for presuming to offer an opinion on a question that is purely an engineering question. Now, confining my remarks to the question of the safe navigation of this harbor, I hope that I will be pardoned for declining to subscribe to the doctrine that it is a purely engineering question. Any ob-; servant person giving careful attention to the conditions under which our harbor has been safely (comparatively speaking) worked, and also when it is rendered unsafe to work, their opinion, iiijmy estimation, is entitled to more weight on that , point than the opinion of a professional engineer who rarely sees the bar under its varied conditions ; and while holding a very high opinion of the engineering abilities of our district engineer, who is li\ charge of this work, I submit that his ,ex perience on the above aspect of the sub- 1 ' ject is of : the most limited Hand' again, assuming that he was 'cOnvihced' that the extension of the north walla to be a mistake,"^ he likely to Bay so to his departmental chief ? I doubt it. He probably would be snubbed for his presumption, v • ' ■ •■•"■- •■;••■•>''.:•' : And finally,' as regards; Mr Kennedy's actiou. I fail to read in his telegram any opinion of his own, except' that T upon examination the apprehensions of the harbor master and master mariners would be well founded ; and in this opinion it is my conviction that nine-tenths (or perhaps even 99 in the 100) of the people of Greymouth concur. Sir, the public, I contend, have nothing to do with the personalities introduced. Into this discussion'; butwe are ooncerned ' as to whether the fun dp (which are now a vanishing quantity) ' available for this work are being judiciously expended ; for on that depends the future' of Greymouth. In a year or so all the funds of the harbor board and its credit may be exhausted ; and if it is then found that our harbor^ traffic is interrupted for two or three dt?s3 ] of a stretch" by a Blight S or S W Bea, j when our neighbors at Westport are in! full swing, the effect will be very serious on the trade of this port. It will mean a handicap of Is to 2s per ton on the freight,; and consequently the (exclusion of our coal from the markets. Whereas, by more careful attention at this juncture by increasing the distance between, the north and south tipheads, the sea that -"w breaks on the north tip would i /c spent Itself before reaching half way, and thus give a steamer a chance to recover herself before being wrecked. This is the version put forward by Captain . Erichsan, of the ill-fated s s Gerda, "an able and experibneet' seaman, who declared that; had the distance been, only 20 feet more than it was at the date of the wreck his vessel would have been safe, as she was coming' round splendidly when she struck on tt j inner apron. • v Apologising for thus troubling you, arid pleading the importance of the BUbject as my excuse. — I am, &c, : Watohfdx. Greymouch, September s>h.