THE BAR. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6685, 19 July 1883, Page 4

THE BAR. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,—Mr Every w right in what'he states as the object to bo aimed at as a means of improving the bar —viz., a deeper and stronger scour. Such was the foundation of-Mr Simpson's harbour improvement scheme,.so far successful, and ; would have been "more so lons ere thistmt for meddling.by persons who thought they knew everything, and themselves heaven-born engineers, but were only, inspired by their own conceit and vanity. His plan was, as I under-' stood it to be, straightening the course of tho tide—in other words, giving it less distance to travel to reach the head of the. harbour, and removing all obstructions down to the' 4 level of low water, so that immediately on the turn of the tide the whole tidal-basin of the harbour would be simultaneously affected; the result ■certain to accrue being higher and lower tides— or again, an increase in the.volume of water coming in and going out, giving a greater depth of scour and a more powerful resistant to wave action. Briefly, this is a summary of Mr Simpson's plan, which, in my opinion, is the' only comprehensive scientific grasp of the subject that nas yet been taken of it. Of course' Mr Simpson was prepared, provided Nature aided as above proved insufficient, to go into what are called permanent works, but which may prove too permanent for the good of the port (like dredge 222, forced upon the Board); but these, as has often provedfthe case where constructed to control Nature, might prove disastrous, and ivisely.l think, he said : " Lot us try first to aid and guide. Nature, studying the results, and if found necessary to do battle with Nature, we will be none the worse able after reconnaissance." However, " fools rush in," &c. —I am, &c, ' .. : • . ■ . • Diogenes. .Tuly IS. ■ ' • .-.___

—The Empress of Germany has given a gold brooch, valued at fifty guineas, to Miss Jossie Ace, tho daughter of the Mumbles lighthousakeeper, who assisted in saving the crew of a German barque which waa wrecked on o rock near the lighthouse on the 27th January.

—Dundee has recently been presented with gifts amounting to about a quarter of a million of money, providing the community with a college, a completely equipped high school, a Bailors' home, &c. On April 30th at a meeting of the directors of the Blind Asylum, it was . announced that Mrs Mollison, sister of the lady who supplied the greater portion of the funds for the college, and aunt of Mr Baxter, M.P., had offered to provide a hew institution, at a cost of about £10,000. —A French observer recently based predictions of the weather upon the twinkling of the stars, and now M. Montegny, a Belgian astronomer, announces that stars scintillate more during auroras than at othey times. He also discovered that the scintillations increase simultaneously with the magnetic perturbations of the magnetograph v This would seem that during magnetic storms, and also preceding an atmospheric storm, air is in a state of unusual agitation. —The principal cemetery at Utica, Oneida (U.S.), is provided with two chapels—one of stone, where funeral services are held in the summer; the other of iron andglaßs, where they are held all the rest of the year. Into this "conservatory chapel," full of tropical verdure, the funeral train passes through a covered carriage-way, and the services ore held in light and warmth among trailing vines, and blooming shrubs. At their conclusion the corpso is surrendered to keepers, who, after the mourners have departed, remove it to a cold vault, to await interment in ft graye,