ASPHASIA OF GISBORNE HARBOR BOARD.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LI, Issue 16674, 2 March 1925, Page 2

ASPHASIA OF GISBORNE HARBOR BOARD.

(To Ahe Editor of the Herald.) Sir, —'The Gisborne Harbor Board is suffering very acutely from Hie above complaint, which, in non medical terms, means loss of memorv. When the camJaign for the £750,010 loan for our new harbor wan being conducted by the chairmen.in and the supporters of the scJieme. "Mr Smith, in replying to a statement made by an opposition member about throwing the ratepayers’ money away. .ni’d he wasn’t going to throw any money Tiwav,' etc. Well, what is the Board oi the engineer doing in their present dunging operations. Who is responsible? Is the engineer carrying out the Board’s policy in this matter or is the Board sanctioning it on the engineer’s recommendation? Have the members forgotten that there is a dredge called the Maui, lying tip in the Auckland harbor belonging to the Gisborne Harbor Board' and another “very efficient tool,’’ per the engineer's report, moored in our fish pmul. and have the members forgotten that they all have admitted publicly that the immense sums of money spent in maintaining and working these different units were wasted while the .Waimnta runs in its present course, either pumped over the breakwater or Towed out to sea? Why waste more? Do they think that because they have spent +175.000 in purchasing another dredging plant a beneficent Providence is going to cause a year’s drought for their special benefit. There is no other construction to lie placed on their action, what a gamble! .1 would suggest, that they all take a, ticket in “Tatts”—they have a bigger chance of winning. Also, does Mr Smith, when conducting buildihg operations, commence on the roof first, and finish the foundations last? If not, can he explain why the Harbor Board are pursuing this idiotic method? Is not the diversion of the Waimnta the practical foundation of the whole scheme --the initial and most important and immediate work to be undertaken? The engineer, at thy last. Board meeting, reported tit at 300 feet had been blasted on the line of diversion. Mr Editor, 1 wish to amplify that reporf by stating that _i:t lias taken over three months to attain that footage, and that there is still twelve hundred feet left'to operate on, making, at the present rate of progress, another twelve or fifteen months before the W'ii,piata' can be altered from its present course. Six or eight men are employed jumping holes, not even machine driven, and a work-which should have the concentrated efforts-of. all the labor the Board can obtain. If the publicity official on the staff could report that Hie work is to get the attention that its necessity demands, it- would he more pleasant reading than the operations of the dredge, or the extent of the other non-essential, at this stage, work. Perchance. sir. I am premature in my criticism on this work. The engineering staff, to expedite it, may possibly be considering resurrecting a boring machine that fell io pieces on its trial, or are enlarging the idea of a driver and scoop.— Yours, etc., - ANOTHER. MAN WITH A PUNCH.