If all it took was a meeting, as has been reported, to sort out "in principle" the impasse that has resulted in rubbish from the old Hampden dump littering the pristine North Otago coastline, then the obvious question is: why was such a meeting not held a good long while ago?
And the fact that it was not will inevitably lead some observers - not without good reason - to suspect the worst about the role of a constipated bureaucracy in the affair.
At issue is the 60m-long face of the Hampden dump, a 70-year-old landfill the seaward edges of which are now being eroded by the encroaching tides and in the process liberating all manner of rubbish - car parts, plastic shopping bags, wire, broken glass - to spoil the nearby beaches.
At particular risk from such despoliation is the Moeraki Boulders beach, a short distance to the south, which attracts many tourists.
The Waitaki District Council has been trying to find a solution to the situation since 2005.
It has been held up in this quest by the requirement for resource consent from the Otago Regional Council - which also requires input from the Department of Conservation.
Its mooted solution in 2005 was the construction of a clay bund as protection for the dump face.
That solution was disqualified and it appears the council went back to the drawing board, and last year - a mere three years later - reapplied for consent to construct a rock bund.
That, however, did not appear to coincide precisely with Doc's preferred solution which included protecting a "cone-in-cone" geological feature of the dump.
On Friday, the parties met to discuss the issue and appear to have come up with a compromise involving a rock bund constructed under a consent which would allow for it to retreat with the coast if significant erosion took place.
Geological features notwithstanding, why such a solution could not have been arrived at four years ago when the council first made its approach - and before significant rubbish was released to clutter the coast - is at best puzzling.
Environmentally conscious people will doubtless be pleased that a resolution is on the table, but there will be those who see in the delay the unhelpful procrastination of petty bureaucracies - and a good four years of unnecessary costs.
It is to be hoped that there will be no further deferment of the necessary works and that tourists, visitors and residents alike can look forward to strolling the proximate beaches without tripping over plastic detritus, or cutting their feet on broken glass
• The mindless terrorising of an elderly couple in a camper van at the Warrington domain at the weekend by what appears to be a gang of youths once again raises questions as to the nature of the society in which we live.
The couple from Mosgiel, believed to be in their 70s, were asleep in their camper van when the incident occurred about 1.15am on Saturday.
Eyewitness reports indicate that six car-loads of young people were involved in the assault on the camper van in which several windows were broken, panels dented, doors buckled and twisted and which left the couple in a state of "terrible shock".
There are indications that the youths began their harassment by rocking the van in which the couple were sleeping.
In the ensuing panic, one of the attendant group's cars may have been slightly damaged - which, it is suggested, set the mob upon its rampage.
There is no excuse for this sort of bullying behaviour.
How it enters people's heads that this is in any way acceptable, or brave, or just a bit of good clean fun, is a mystery - but it is not such a mystery that the perpetrators should be given anything but the strongest legally sanctioned equivalent of a good clip around the ears when they are apprehended.
But for the courageous intervention of another couple camping at the domain, things may have been worse for the elderly couple; and thanks to their prompt actions in alerting the police and also in recovering and providing evidence, the authorities have been left with good leads to pursue.
Equally disturbing is the vandalism that occurred in the grounds of Lanarch Castle, also at the weekend.
Certain malcontent members of society may choose to follow self-destructive and nihilistic codes of behaviour, but when they choose to inflict those same values on society at large, they should expect little sympathy, or leniency, when they are brought before the courts.
