CONDITION OF NELSON HARBOR.

Colonist, Volume XV, Issue 1531, 28 May 1872, Page 2

CONDITION OF NELSON HARBOR.

To the Editor of the Colonist. , ~ SiE,—ln your. lasb'Eriday's issue, I: see "E; Orr" calling tho attention of the Government,, the Proving ciol Council, and the public of Nelson to the conditipu: : of the harbor of Nelson. The gentleman, deserves the thanks of posterity • for troubling himself about' what is to nffeot the c mntry two hundred years hence;1 but I can assura him and all he wishes to disturb: that he is quite in error, in tho first place,;by;fijling-; lip the gaps in the Boulder Bank". Now, I think'.■ those selfsame gaps are most useful in easing thW tide at the entrance, at the time when largei vessels go in and.out. As to making a break-water between the rock and the shore, in my opinion it would.b» betters to clear the rock away. As to the sand drifting; into the harbor from the Waimea, that is impossible, for ' it could only come in the harbor at flood tide, arid the Waimea Sands are to leeward of Nelson at the time of flood tide, and I cannot see how the harbor can fill"up with sil* from the outside; but Ido know that a great deal of mud has settled about the Government Wharf' from the filling in of the road and approaches to the Commercial Wharf. By the same cause that made the Waimea Plains, the flats and banks in Nelson harbor will rise higher, namely, by the dirt being brought down by the rivers from the hills, which will be rather an advantage in time ito come. The main channel which the tides acour will always keep deep. As to taking ballast or gavel. from the bank, why not: have, thought of stopping it years ago when there was a large quantity taken away ? 'At the prespnt time there is little required^ and I do not doubt that in a few years veesela will have to leave ballast hero instead of tailing it away. All that is taken from the bank can have no effect in, filling up the harbor or weakening the bank.

I am, &C,

JET. C. Builaed.