"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"

In his after-dinner speech the Earl told the imbibing audience "This pier, if I may so use the phrase, appears to me to be a peerless pier - a pier without a peer - except, perhaps, the unfortunate peer who is now addressing you.".

Granville was followed by engineer Eugenius Birch, who tried to explain the long delay by Laidlaw, the contractors, in building the pier. He said that construction had been delayed for over a year because of "the extraordinary nature of the foundation, and the state of the elements". Their work had been "fraught with difficulties - in the highest terms. ... As the piles were inserted, almost every column was met by the trunk of some huge oak.  To such an extent and so great were the difficulties that it had almost baffled the contractors to complete the structure. ... During the 30 years in which he had been engaged in the profession, and during his experience in the erection of 14 piers, he had not had one in which greater difficulties had to be overcome."  He thought that if the contract were taken out at the time he was speaking, it would cost £50-60,000 rather £23,000.