HARBOUR MODELS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LX, Issue 2263, 8 December 1896, Page 4

HARBOUR MODELS.

TO THE BDITOn OF THE TIMARU HERALD. Sir,— l have been busy lately, and have not had time to reply to your correspondent " Visitor" on this question. Probably I should have taken no notice of his letter only I see he appears to be in a fog in regard to some remarks I made in a former letter. In quoting those remarks he leaves out part of a sentence (as being of no practical benefit to science) and makes it appear that I contradicted myself. I may tell " Visitor'" that when I made those .remarks I knew perfectly well what I was talking about, and if he had been a fair-minded man, he would have thought twice before trying to gull the public with false statements. Ho says' that Mr Thew's letters are calculated to do a lot of mischief if not refated. At the same time he makes no attempt to refute them himself. lie says there i3 reliable evidence of models having been used during the present century up to the present day. In my opinion models were in existence as far back as the reign of Meins, the first king of Egypt, about the year 2782, .8.C., and that they have been revived from time to time up to the present day. " Visitor" says he will not quote extracts as he supposes Mr Thew knows all about them. All I know about them is that I have seen two models at work, one of them very imperfect, the'other one as near perfection as it was possible to make it when ap-' plied to rivers and estuaries, but of no practical benefit as a guide to science when applied to the open sea such as Timaru, and as I said before in a former letter, models of this description (meaning Mr Parr's) were abandoned in England nearly half a century ago as being of no practical benefit to science. In my last letter I said when making those l remarks I was aware that the quest ion had been revived of late years. This is where ! /'Visitor" tries to make it appear that I contradicted myself. I challenge "Visitor" or any of the.: engineering! profession to quote extracts proving that models have been a success in an open roadstead. " Visitor " tries to draw me on harbour matters i general ly. in I have no objection providing you are'' willing, and that he signs his name, or I will be satisfied if he calls himself "Amanuensis," the subject to be ocean currents, the effect they have on the travel of detritus, and how they act on our beaches. He says, perhaps Mr Thew could tell you if there is a single harbour in the world subject to any littoral drift where the shingle or even sand has gone past the entrance wiUiout forming 'a bar at low water, and in the same breath he answers the question himself. He says there is not a single instance of sucli a case, and is Tiraaru likely to be an exception. I must say that I have not seen one-fifth of the harbours in the world ; probably "Visitor," has seeu them all. As the question of harbours is a departure from the subject under discussion, I will say as little as possible on the matter at present. In regard to the question, I don't know a single harbour that is not subject to littoral drift. I know a few harbours where shingle, gravel, and sand, pass the entrance and have not formed a bar, and have never been dredged I also know several harbours at the mouths of sluggish rivers if not dredged would form a bar. Others again where the conditions are more favourable there is very little dredging to do. "Visitor" in his concluding remarks says, is Timaru likely to be an exception seeing that the conditions are less favourable than at other places. I consider that the conditions at Timaru are exceedingly favourable for the getting away of littoral drift, and that we have as safe a little harbour in Timaru under those conditions aB in any part of New Zealand. I am, etc., E. Thew. Peel Forest. sth Dec., 1896. [We believe that the public have had quite enough from Mr Thew on the subject of harbour models; and we must decline the correspondence suggested by him on ocean currents, etc— Editor Timaru Herald.]