The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1926. PARTY STRENGTH.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 16 March 1926, Page 6

The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1926. PARTY STRENGTH.

“Will Labour become tbe Opposition?” is the question exercising' the minds of supporters of tbe National and Labour Parties. The chief Labour Whip, however, claims that the Labour Party is entitled to be the official Opposition because the Member for Nelson and Sir Joseph Waul cannot be regarded as Nationalists. If both decide to follow Mr Forbes, tbe La,hour leaders point out, and the slate of Parties is not further' changed by the Eden by-election, the position will be: Reform , 55 Nationalists 12 Labour 12 Independent .1 The most significant feature of the State of the Parties in the House is the rapid decline of the Liberal Parly. But this is inevitable. From the moment Labour made up its mind to extend ilnactivities to the political field, the fate of the Liberal- Party was sealed. In 1905, when the bite Mr Seddon. returned from the general election with a triumphant following of sixty members, Labour, could not claim a single Parliamentary representative But In hour cherished vision s, and its leaders dreamed dreams of political power. Then came the change in the fortunes of the Liberals. As Labour increased in strength the gradual redrawing of the political frontier was inevitable— tons of thousands of supporters going over to the Labour camp (where they really belong-), and other tens of thousands of electors associating themselves with the Reform Party under the late Mr Massey’s leadership . The decline and fall of the Liberal Party, ' now attempting to escape the inevitable elimination by masquerading under 1 the misfitting name of National Party, is emphasised by the changes in the state of parties since the death of Mr Seddon. In 1905 the Liberals held 60 seats and Mr Massey bad a. following of 15. Labour was without direct representation. Today the Liberals, or Nationalists ns they prefer to call themselves, have ten thick pud thin •supporters, while one Liberal and one Independent make up a. total parliamentary representation, of 12. The Refoim Parly on the other band bolds 55 seats, while Labour musters a dozen representatives rvitlr an unusually powerful banking 1 in the cities. The overwhelming majority <d Liberal members relumed in 1905 to follow the late Mr Seddon never met under the leadership of their 1 distinguished chief, but it remained for Sir Joseph Will’d lo reduce that big- following so disastrously that the general election of 191,1 gave the late Mi Massey and lus Party the leadership of the House and possession of the Treasury benches which they ba.ve since l retained. Since the death of Mr Seddon, however, the Liberals have shown no sign of recovery and in the six general elections since 1905, the Parliamentary representation of the once powerful party has shrunk to 12; indeed, the Labour Party is putting forward strong claims for recognition as tbe official Opposition. Moreover, it seems safe to conjecture that Labour’s advance to the front Opposition benches in inevitable. The remuant of the Liberal electors face tbe alternative of associating them selves with the Parly led l>v Mr (.-nates, or join’io- the Labour Party with Air Holland at its bead. All over the world the political frontiers are being redrawn, and the Liberals are receding io third place. It will nevertheless be interesting to watch tbe manoeuvres dining the next few weeks in Opposition circles in New /calami. Labour is intensely anxious ho increase the prestige of its pailiamentary party by securing recognition as the official Opposition. Hence it may be assumed that frantic efforts will be made to capture the. Kdi'n seat, and place all doubts at, rest as to v.-hieh section of the Opposition shall occupy the front, benches facing the stronglyentrenched Government Party.

THE HARBOUR PROBLEM. Comment, on the latest scheme for improvement of the harbour, the. report (the longest ever submitted to the Harbour Board) of Messrs Holmes, and .Son, explanatory of their plan for new works, scorns hardly necessary, because the scheme was so drastically and properly dealt with by the, Board’s engineer and the Board itself. He ace it. did not, seem worth while saying anything more about, it. That is from a practical point of view. From another point, however, the report, is useful, in the manner in which its details emphasise the value of the advice given to the Board by the recent Royal Commission : that further engineering investigations should be made before any other .schemes are called for. Perusal of the report referred to shews that its assertions regarding local conditions are merely guess work, founded mainly on a. few casual observalions, on previous reports similarly founded, and on deductions from, unproved premises. It is admitted that the, conditions at Timaru are unique; therefore little use can lie made of exjwiden co elsewhere. Messrs Holmes mentioned only Madras harbour which was a failure, and attempts to mend it are yet, incomplete. There lias never been a. complete engineering investigation of tbe

conditions at Timaru since Mr Eliot spent some months here in the seventies, to gain information to enable Sir John Goode, the most eminent marine engineer of flis day, to devise a. harbour for Timaru. Mr Eliot took soundings in the hay and roadstead, observed and experimented on the travel of the shingle along- the beach, observed the effect cf storms from various quarters on the sea and on the beach, and made inquiries of seafaring men .mil beach workers. His investigation was probably ns complete as it was possible to make it at the time. After all, the information sent to his employer' was not sufficient to_ enable Sir John Goode to devise a. harbour suitable, for Timaru. It inevitably lacked, and European experience could not supply, information as to the effect of stopping the travel of shingle along- the coast, and as to various ways of stopping it. The scheme for the harbour was promptly _ condemned by the Engiueer-in-Chief of the Colony, who was guided by his New Zealand experience. The local problems were made more complicated by the construction of the concrete breakwater and north mole. A special problem, popularly known as “the shingle question,” cropped up in the nineties. The Board’s engineer, Mr Marchant, held that the time was fast approaching . when the shingle accumulation behind the, breakwater could be held no longer', but would go into and close up the entrance to tlid Port. The Board called in Mr Maxwell as consulting engineer, and he assured the Board there was rip danger, that the shingle would go past the entail nee, that in fact it was already doing- so. No proper investigation was made. Casual observations were relied upon. A thorough investigation into the question whether the shingle was going past the entrance would have saved the controversy and a great, deal of expense to South Canterbury, but the Board allowed itself to be influenced l y ' the party which after events proved to have been velying on misleading- casual observations. The want of a real investigation was dearly paid for. That problem, “the shingle question,” was solved by the construction of the eastern mole. Non- the Board Iras two problems before it: a range in the port, and a growing sedimentation in the Bay, and the ships’ fairway. The causes of these troubles have only been described in generalities. Vagueness and ambiguities characterise practically every sentence of the details of description and explanation of them. Of measurements or. even estimates of the movements of the sea, which are believed to be the causes, there are none whatever. Wo would suggest that the Harbour Board act upon the advice of the late Itoyal Commission, and have a, careful engineering- investigation made of the local conditions, adding- well-considered forecasts of the probable effects of any additional works that may be proposed or suggested. The Boai-d lias decided to postpone for a year or two any attempt to obtain fresh schemes. This time could not be better spent than i n obtaining a careful engineering investigation. It seems to be a task for a young man, free from presuppositions, eager for work, and fitted by education and training- for the work. A proper investigation would probably occupy a man for some months, ancl t cost the Board a thousand pounds or more. It might, he money well spent, as it might be the means of saving tens of thousands from being spent wastefully in pursuit of a haphazard “must do something-” policy. The schemes recently offered to the, lla.rbmjr Board were to kill, not two but three birds with one stone—enlargement of the, harbour, getting rid of or reducing- the soend in the harbour, and preventing or reducing the shoaling of the sheltered area. An engineering investig-ation of the- local condition si might indicate that it would he wise to consider each problem separately. Several terms used in the reports, have needed definitions and explanations which have not bewi given them; ad facts have been mentioned as data which were, to say flu: least, doubtful. MiMaxwell introduced the term “literal drift,” and his references to it, if not showing confusion cf mind, at all events caused mental confusion in his readers’. Messrs Holmes and Son made use pf this term, apparently following- Mr Maxwell. They also introduced a new idea,, “litoral current,” and declined that this current was the most important of the, local yet. their- descriptions of it and its origin appear to he absolutely illogical. These engineers found three causes! for the soend in the harbour: Splash over the eastern mole, direct wave, wave bending round the end if the eastern mole, and wave io-fleclc-tl from Hashing Itocks,; but they do not attempt to,estima te the, relative effect of these causes. All the recent reports’ teach that the silt which is deposited in the sheltered area, comes from the south m some current round the, end of the eastern mole,. Not one has made, any reference to the tael, tnnt every day when heavy seas are rivalling, about twelve •feel, m depth of silt-laden wafer is brought, into the sheltered area, anu that, the, heavier poi-tions of the silt, are likely to be deposited, .these' are some of the matters mto which an engineering- investigation would make inquiry.