PUBLIC WORKS.

New Zealander, Volume XX, Issue 2139, 13 June 1864, Page 3

PUBLIC WORKS.

To the Editor of the New Zkalandkr. fj an vqu tell me how many Engineenfh'ef otner en g' neer9 ' ant * architects, the * n * jjj G yaw" which has been vouchsafed to of this Province as their guiding star, -the per ssoll oi tbeir present intellectual Super- •" l dent, employs to carry out his sublime conj' n the matter of public works ? and can * C P "any other man/'tell me where th» * T °biic works are upon which such intense thought P" mUC h professional talent must be brought t0 There is, >* I «fl"take not, one architect for the atic Asylum, not a 3m o^ e ston e or brick of !'■ j ;< vet laid, notwithstanding that the money w lllC«l is j* » ° , ■> \ «aa roteil * wo ' y eaT!> a S 0 ' and has been l 7 in S l 1,. ' no t how long in the hands of the Bank of V * Zealand. I see that there is another archi- * t for tue "l oc k-npi" which is about to be . ju an d which will probably be commenced as on as his Honor can spare a little time from his irate affairs to attend to his public duties. There is also a Provincial Engineer, who is onosed to command several votes at "Winfiirei, and he has an "assistant;" then l an Engineer for the Queen-street wharf, and for the City water supply ; lastly, there is lar"e " Consulting Engineer," the triton of the ianovrs, in respect of whom an independent local journal proposed, not long since, that Ins Honor the Superintendent should abdicate all his active functions, and confine himself, and his active mind, to "thinking." There is besides a City Engineer, and there are clouds of scientific persons who are eiU pl„jed chiefly in breaking down the fences of the settlers in this neighbourhood, in order to discover a line for the Auckland and Drury Railway; and lastly, there is an eminent engineer, ; n VV'aikato, who, with an army of navvies, is in tunnelling "Point Tom," in order to construct A railway along the banks of thb navigable river Waikato. The beauty of this last named work must be that it presents great difficulties in an engineering sense, the least of which appears to have been found at -'Point Russell;" that a great deal of money must iiuuewarily be squandered upon it; that the road leads to no place in particular ; that it ha 3 not been even on papsr, an I never can be in practice, competed with any railway line running from Auckland to Waikato, and that it must stand isolated; as a monument of misdirected " energy," and reckless waste of money, for which the peopU of this Province will be infallibly compelled to pay, and of which no doubt they will feel proud. Now, sir, what I want to know is, What do the public "et out of this agglomeration of engineeriur talent, under the high pressure of the * thinking mind ?" Let us look at the Harbour accommodation. Not only is there no attempt hein" made to provide those larger facilities for shipping which the enormously increased trade of the port now requires, but the Queen-street . Wli irt itself is being allowed rapidly to go to decay; and it is not impossible that with a little raorj perseverance in his present salutary neglect, -the predictions which his Honor's partizans uttere 1 ye.irs ago respecting it may be fulfilled, anl fragments of tlie Wharf be at the 1 North Head some fine morning ; that would be a great triumph. The City has been.scourged by disease during the past summer, and many a home made desolite. because there was no water to be had.,up-. •t tinned by the drainings of cesspools. I say nothing of the streets in the City, or oi •the roads in the country.. Let any one who cares t> kuow how the money goes, take the trouble to look at them. No public building is in progress. A heap of rubbish, I am told, facetiously called M bncka," marks the future site of the projected Luatic Asylum, and there are incipient signs of ■the foundation of th; building ; in fine there is a greit deal of money spent, but the chief work •which appears to be at present in hand is the miking of places and appointments for his Honor's friends and supporters. No money has 'bee a voted by the Provincial Council for the. p ly.nent of these new officers, and I think no money is likely to be voted. The problem, Sir, which puzzles myself and others, and which you may, perhaps, be able to solve, is—Who pays all these officers, scientific and others, who hare been lately appointed ; does the Executive Council of the Province concur in the appointment of them; where does the money come fro.ii; and what do these new officers give us, the people, in the way of service for the money which they receive ? There will be a Superintendency election in little more than a year from this time. " "Votes," as you no doubt have heard, "is votes ;" it may be, therefore, that his Honor is patriotically anxious to endow the Province with his " think-. iu<; mind" for a renewed term of office; and, being modestly diffident as to the recognized value of his past services, is carrying out the "potatoe-planting" policy on a grand scale at the public expense. That, however, I believe, is only what ill-natured people say ; possibly the new Provincial Secretary will be able to persuade the Council that -all is serene, and that we i are upou the eve of a revival in " progress," as in *" honesty and common sense." I am, &c, An Enquirer. Auckland; June 6.