Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1909. THE HARBOR ENTRANCE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11863, 29 May 1909, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1909. THE HARBOR ENTRANCE

Once again we. raise tlie question of the state of the harbor entrance in the hope that the Harbor Board at its meeting on Monday next may be induced to take some definite step to give greater security to vessels navigating the river in southerly weather. We are not overstating the case when we assert that shipmasters, and indeed all connected with tho shipping interests of the port., are subject occasionally td the 'gravest anxiety for the safety of .the vessels under their charge, and that so long aspresent harbor conditions continue there will ever rema'in the dread in the public mind, and particularly in the mind of shipping people, that Gisborne riiay some day suffer a. serious maritime casualty at tlie entrance to the port. The Harbor Board has long since been, plainly told of the danger, and if it remains inactive members render themselves liable to the severest censure for culpability should any serious accident occur. Delay has, of course, been due ito the Board's difficulty in making lip its mind as to what is the right course to - pursue. The first proposal was .to blow holes through the western groyne or. else to remove tlie top of' that structure to low water level so as to allow the imprisoned waves to escape, but this would iny tho, opinion of~ all' shipmasters whom wo have heard express an opinion mean replacing ono danger, that of the cross seas, with a greater menace, namely the existence of a tow level pier in the form of a half -tide rock, iipon which if any vessel should have the misfortune to be carried towards it sl-e would crash to piccos. Simlar objection is raised , by shipmasters to Mr Marchant's proposal for the attachment of wave .traps to the groyne. The channel, they, point out, is nt present narrow enough, in all conscience, and to restrict the navigable avca even by a few feet means increasing the difficulty of navigation, whilst iri the event of a. mishap if a, vessel was carried by the eea into the angle of the Wave trap she would probably suffer severe damage. Mr Marchant. himself admits that the wave traps are but a temporary expedient and that the true remedy is tp extend the breakwater, and shipping people, so fas as wc.can gather, are imanimous that this is the proper and only safe course to be pursued. At the same time .what is wanted- is 'not a solid structure such as was evidently contemplated in a report recently presented to the Board, . but. a few rows of piling, embedded possibly in a rubble foundation, just sufficient to break the force of the incoming seas -and to prevent the dangerous scend which sweeps up and rebounds across the channel. Iri a matter of this sort the Board would do Ayell to consult the ? shipmasters pf the port, and especially to consider the advice of its harbormaster, who is able to. speak with authority from experience under precisely "similar coriditions at Swansea, in Wales,' where a dangerous sweep of the sea, seriously impeding navigation of that vjreat seaport, was remedied in .just such a manner as has been suggested. Tlie fact has to be borne in mind that tlie. trade of Gisborne is growing rapidly. It is not merely a ! case pf providing for safe navigation for the tendering of vessels once or twice a' week. Tlie swelling volume of traffic brings steamers to. our port with much greater frequency than was the case a few .years ago, and it is imperative that there should be safe and easv irivrress and Regress, to the , port, so that shipping operationsV.moy .7 be conducted With a maximum of securitv and minimum of delay and •incoveniencel' TIiC Board has taken a forward step in ordering a dredge , to improve the despth of water "iii tliis" river channel. 'This ' por** tends trreat changes iri the character' of the Shipping -that will come up to the. wharf, given safe conditions of entrance. Tt' seems to us desirable, therefore, that whatever work is undertaken with- -the object of stooping 1 the -.range in the river, it should not be » mere temporary nxpedk».nt. narrowing tho channel' oven in the slightest degree, but ' should be permanent and of a character- that evervonc agrees would be likely to give' 1 the best results. WHAT OTHER PAPERS SAY.y So far as can be judged at this stage, ' ' '.■ > , .■ ,Mr Dbakin's action seems Mr Doakiji's to b,c a sham^fuT one, ' Action: arid to \^c\\ deserve' the '■;'.> cry of ? rage it has draw frorit Sir William Lyne. While Mi' Deukiri was in office he was helped in all his greatest policy by Mr Eislicr. Wrtjlipnt that gentleman's help ho could not. have withstood the Opposition .for an- 'hour. Since Mr Fisher ha« formed a Ministry he has. , walked', wariryy and pointed to the pathway of process, r Mr D^akin responds with an uhhojy alliance withj his eneriiies to kill tho 'faction which in his hour of need ho had to reJy,.upon. for political life. , This is the .sefcopd. ; blow; struck at the integrity bf thi&. liibend party in AufetyaU'a,,' v and'will. ini a .likelihood cause its- annjhilaton at next election. s In 1904 Mr Deikin made an alliance with Mr ( Reid to kill Mr -Watson,* iand. almost .^t'bckedi his party. On. this occasion lie wnlfptobably have succeoded, for hois a pusillanimous leader who hover thoroughly- i-eppgnises his duty to his followers. — New Zealand Times. '-'AA ';'';!<"',''• 'Half a century ugp. ho . Mother Power was iahxbittoiis of' a world- , The National *rapire." y- To-day RusDanger. siu, '. ;'■. ; and : vli';.' 1 . Franaei -'.-are ra^ridty./devejopingv^Higo dblonies, abroad.' • i'J'he policy \ of' /expansion has' been adopted deliberately and. prosecuted , with fcejtl,. At Icasi 1 - one Asiatic Power, is seeking new outlets , for its s;tfrplus, population]. Thisj general expn nsion constitutes *•> a' soiirce^of danger to the British E'mpiiM?;' Pibblqm.^ tliat were non : eiistent llalfj.u century, igq' 'are now. before- us dem^fe ing solution. y It is. clear that fpi* tfapir own protection the. peoples pf the'Empirle must^^liraw;. cjpsei- .together. Theycartnot leave'^ thia whofe-vtmi-den ' of de-, fence to the MoHjhei'land.ri.'WTtlr the division of the burden of defence there must be ft readjustment of .control. The situation is big with possibilities, "and the younger (feneration may live to see' a true Imperial Parliament' '^directing tlie common interests of the British self--governing doririnionfl.— Lytteltori Times. The harmony, of the Railwi^v^Leagiies' ;/ ,-■'.''. Conference, . t|i^B* • .enthu- , Patriotism. - ; f;siasm of the Afificulturhl . > y : .■:,^^ iAsJsdciation^'.. (^nfereribb,. the. earnestness'; of ; the' d^ir^meri ] determined;^) win tJjie h\vie ribbon bfthe butter • marke^ ;J fi;on> a riyul we all adnftre yanii esteerri'^are ' alike' oniinV entry pati'iqlict : ' j, V.pt,\ they all, make for honestit industry juad;" profitable .production, far^tfee progress of the Dominion and the gYeate-r happiness- of.; every citizen./ Every Jsew. Zealarider'wortliy the name -.desires' the country tp ! .be\"*great: and strong, its people to, be prosperous, its -'workmen to be well paid and cbnv Btantly' employed, its finances to ;. be sound, its taxation to-be light,. its population to be multiplied,; its wealth sufficient! to bear •wi th ' ease the ■ma ni fol d costs of civilised government, and the facilities and conveniences of 'civilisation to be carried to it* furthermost corners: s This is patriotism. — Auckland 1 Herald. If the Attorney-General proceeds "by tlie way ho threatenedThe Gaming La\y. once to traveV. and. ( ;i'efuse.s totalisatbi' ' permits, we<would» not care ,to insure ' liis political;. life j for n large sum. The .1 general p^uhlic ate not :too fond', of the j bookie, cannot understand : why he wjus r ! ever brought back to the coita'se, froiri '! which he had been safely banished,' and | find hiiri no end of a. nviisairice" when he < is > therd. . There is plenty of .evidiencc 'jj that. the aim pos'^essed bv tho. meii who 1 brought down. the amending ]aw-^nam_- : lv, to purify, betting arid to^confine it to ; the raoecoui'ses-^luis' imt beeri> attained j' ■' and not by 'any. fault of the racing clubs 1 with regard Vo the .lii'onsing - of "'"-t|rp; I bookies. Thp.fact'lhat the bookie.s li.-vve i \v.u\ a great opportunity to do well on the course, and the course alone, can- l not be gainsaid, any more than the fact

that the .street betting and all the othei evils which the opening of the opportunity aforesaid was to have' dispelled are in .greater force than ever. The amending Act, then, has broken down. Let it be repealed. — 'Southland News. The time is ripe for the formulation o' a co-operative scheim The Call to of Imperial defence.. Arms. and the challenge foi y naval supremacy made by Germany is the call to proceed. When all are anxious to act in co-opera-tion, success is assured, and its attainment the most impressive demonstration of the solidity of the British ' people that could possibly be offered. — Toronto World. One of the most satisfactory things in the cabled news which Undesirable we published yesterday Aliens. .. was the intimation that the Broken Hill Unionists had given; the notorious Tom Mann "a week's notice." The great pity it that they ever engaged an agitator oi his stamp. The Tom Manns and Ben Tilletts are in the fullest sense of the term "undesirable : aliens." They are mischief-maTJers y pure and "siriiple^ arid destroyers of the men who work. They, live' arid live wellj on the game; aricl from beginning to end have brought nothing- ' but' -trdiiblp- v ori' 'the ; -Workers, whom they , ridiculously talk of as serfs and ,slnv<^.- arid' any other cnoice epithet that -they have, fpund >^suited to. the in-, tellect of Whitechapel'. 1 -Our Unions' ate much better able to attend to their own •business than aijy of these outsidcrts.— - Manawatu Times. ■'"'..■''•'■■ New Zealand has. played the game. N Lieutenant Enox, .late A Glowing .R.N., must be apyoudman Tribute., to-day,|;.Thisy«cy'. modest ; and efficient' advocate- of a kstrong navy has been spending some months in sowing the seed. of the gospel according to the Nayy League. Lieutenant Knox is no ordinary lecture^ He has soul, and his sbul 1 he tias : liberated in New Zealand. ; And what of the* NeW Zealandefs^? '^-What a fine piece of ;sportismanship. to 'spring to the aid of thb bid Mother, when. 35 German Dreadnoughts, nwfliti hef in North-. Sea! New Zealand played up in the Boer war as no other nation, of her size ever, has played l , aiid now 'she has taken a Jiarid in the -great gome that. is., about tpybegih; New Zealand has slapped her sister' colonies on the back; «aid to tnerii, in fact, what theVold M^tlief will riot sity. And the world, now sees a British yteam of natioris. stripping for the, fray where yesterday was* sbliirtry England, We are not a. spiritual people; but we know, the great r(enunciatipnyw'heri i we see it, and from .-this time J Mabrilariders will occupy a riiclie of their own in our heart*.-— Londort . Referee. .. ,