The Daily News. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1901. THE SAND PUMP AGAIN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 274, 22 November 1901, Page 2

The Daily News. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1901. THE SAND PUMP AGAIN.

The Opunake Times, an excellently conducted and generally raliable paper, has an article in its last issue which is evidently inspired, and if allowed o pass unnoticed may seriously mislead the people oE that pait of Taranaki. The subject is the last meeting of the Harbour Board, and our contemporary expresses its surprise that the Board should decide to lay up the sand pump in the face of the report of the engineer, Mr Marchant. It then published Mr Marchant'a report, after which it goes on to say :—" Mr Oonnett had made up his mind from its initiation that ha was not going to have the sand pump and has worked continuously to balk and discredit it on every possibly occasion. Mr Newton King also expressed a desire that the motion to dismantle the pump should include a reference to the extraordinary cost of working the pump, notwithstanding that the engineer reported that it; probably worked cheaper! than the dredge if all the lighter sand washed away from the discharge could ba accounted for. The town party are now in the majority and intends to run the harbour their own way, and it is only right that the majority should rule. When the same party had charge before they succeeded in converting the harbour into a sand heap with every probability that if they had been left to themselves for the last seven years, the space inside the mole would now be ready for conv«rsion into a recreation ground. The mole itself had holes knocked through it, and there was every probability of its being swept away. Then a country board was returned, and Mr Maxwell appointed chairman. Fortunately for the harbour, and New Plymouth, he had no brother or other relations hanging on the Board for a living, and he at once set to work to knock the old wrecker system of works on the head, and introduced the oontract system for doing protective works, by which the whole mole was protected at about one-third the cost per yard of previous works. By converting the dredge iato a useful mechanical contrivance, instead of it being used as a pleasure yacht by a few old men of the sea, the sand difficulty was overcome until the harbour has been made a useful one, quite equal to the requirements of the place. Now that the main part of the district which Mr Maxwell, as a member, represents, is included in the new Eguioni County, and that the Council, when elected, will have the power to have itself constituted a Harbour Board, and declare as much as the ratepayers wish of the new County a separate harbour district, we think he would act wisely if he resigned from the Board and left :t to its own devices." This is nothing more or less than an attempt to again raise tho old town versus country cry. It was this cry ihat put the present chairman on the Board and is one he has worked for all it was worth ever since. Fortunately, however, the country settlers are beginning t > get their eyes operjed to the true state of affairs and are not easily led away by tkis cry unless it is backed up by solid figures. The position now is qui*e different to what it used to be, and while willing to give Mr. Maxwell every credit for the good work he has done in the past, he must not expect to live on his reputation for ever. Unless he mends his ways and that very quickly he had better take the advice of our Opunake contemporary and resign his seat to someone who is prepared to advance with the times. Ever since he took up with the sand pump idea his usefulness as a member has been largely lost, as he would only look at things from one standpoint. Because other members of the Board foresaw the failure of the sand-pump they should not be blamed, but rather commended for their efforts to save the ratepayers money. Jn any case tho sand pump has had a fair trial under the charge ol a man specially selected in the South Island by the chairman and Mr. Marchant, with the result that it has proved a woree failure than even its strongest opponents anticipated. Not only that, but at the lowest computation it has placed. 1740 cubi« yards of

sind in the barbour which will cost a large sum to get rid of. Why did not our contemporary publish the report of Mr. Parr, the engineer brought up from Timaru by Mr. Marchant to work the pump ? As regards the town verms country party, if our contemporary will look at the discussion on the stnd pump and study the division list, he will see that the country members were as anxious as the so-called town members to get rid of the enormous vms'e of money that was going oq. The chairman himself defended the soundings taken by the harbourmaster which' showed that a continuation of the work would soon result in the harbour being blocked with sand. When the division was taken, although the motion was strongly opposed by the chairman, who was determined to continue the pump at any ccst, be could only obtain ihe support of Messrs. Hignett and Sor ten. Yet in- spite of the action of Messrs. McLean and King, both representing country ridings, and Mr. Price who, although a Government nominee, is to all intents and purposes a country member, our Opunake contemporary would try to make it appear that the abolition of the Fand pump is in the interest of the town and opposed to the interest of the country. In our opinion the eand pump has proved very useful to block progress, and its removal is the first step, we hope, towards the permanent improvement of the harbour.