The question of additional cost may, it is true, be raised against the line giving the greater depth, but, if the Council see their way to incur • the outlay, the ground of complaint on that score is taken away. Nor can

one see much force in the objection which may here be alleged, that to ex tend the reclamation so as to give a water depth of 13ft would be pre judicial to the commodiousness of the harbor. In a harbor so capacious as that of Wellington, the difference be tween the two proposed lines of recla mation—chains—is immaterial, and is ;not to be compared with the ad vantage of having a greater depth of water at the quay. Besides, the argu ment, if it is good for anything, must be held as valid against any further extension of the reclamation, and would amount to a prohibition prevent ing the Corporation from utilising to its full extent the land granted them by the Crown. The argument proves too much for its purpose, and so, by the recognised laws of logic, proves nothing at all; But it is not difficult to see that the ostensible ob jections against the Council's proposed reclamation plans are not the real ones. They are founded, not on con siderations concerning the harbor, but on grounds concerning the ex tension of the railway. To extend the railway along the existing quay, past the wharf, and along the quay formed by the sea front of the reclamation, may be very desirable in the interests of both railway and harbor traffic, but, if so, it is much better to say frankly that the reclamation plan must be adapted to suit this idea, than to cast about for reasons which deal with side issues only. Were this course followed, a true issue would be then raised, and both parties would know how and where they stood. The proper alternatives would then be, either to adopt the plan of the Coun cil, and bring the existing quay into line with that of their proposed breast work, or to abandon that plan in favor of the amended one suggested by the Marine Department, which must also' imply a widening of the now existing quay. 