THE BREAKWATER.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5303, 10 February 1879, Page 3

THE BREAKWATER.

Sir,— Your correspondence column this morning contains a charge, implied if not direct, that I have been an opponent to a breakwater, and I venture to intrude on your space to expose the untruthf ulness of anch a charge. "While a member of the Provincial Council of Hawke's Bay I was the persistent advocate of a breakwater. I pointed put that the harbor, through neglect, was every year deteriorating, and that the channel, through encroaching on the Western Spit, was gradually shallowing. My recommendation was agreed to that Mr M'Gregor, the engineer of the Oamaru breakwater, should visit Napier, and prepare plans for the construction of such a work here. His scheme was adopted by the Council, and so far from opposing, Mr Ormond and Mr Sutton warmly supported ii Mr Ormond introduced a bill into Parliament to make the breakwater" and carried it through the Assembly, but as most of your readers know, the , measure was afterwards re-. jected and the money refused, while the Government Engineer, to whom the plan ' "was referred, reported against, it.. . As Parliament would not sanction a loan for , any plan not approved by the Government yf Engineer, he was requested to make out plans for harbor works. This was done, a vote of £75;000 was voted by the' House, and the Harbor Board was appointed. There was then no likelihood for years of getting the larger scheme, and to have allowed the harbor meanwhile to go to ruin would have been folly and a neglect of trust. The cost of the works has been £50,000, not £70,000 as stated by some of your correspondents, and the investment, I think, has been worth all the money. Steamers are no longer kept ■waiting for days outside, nor obliged to t*et supplier from woolships in the bay, communication with the shore being impossible. The bar no longer presents the spectacle of a dry belt across the mouth of the harbor, as it sometimes did before. In some of the Engliah harbors, where the shipping far exceeds that of any New Zealand port, the entrance had to be dredged at first, and afterwards the scour was found to be sufficient. Whether in our harbor this may be required remains to be seen, as there has been no fresh in rivers for two years. Meantime, the V extension of accomodation inside the >■ harbor is urgently. Wanted, and should be carried out.— lam, Ac, J. Gr. Kinross. Napier, February 8, 1879.