BUILDING THE DOCK.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 592, 21 August 1909, Page 7

BUILDING THE DOCK.

■ : .; PROGRESS OF THE WORK. , ' There is a saying that:"Bairne arid Fules"; should never see half-finished work, a saying v?hich is built upon tho philosophy that things in the making often give no indication of ljdw they will appear.when finished,'that premature description or criticism very frequently is in danger of stultifying itself. This aphor-ism-'has'.'a special application to, the big dock contract.on tte' water-front nearTo.Aro Railway:' Station,' for the average layman, filled with tho desire to see how.'things were getting along, would in all-likelihood return from his f inspeorion'of- the'"dock in the-making" very little the wiser. '■' One 1 understands that there are', somewhere among-that .bewildering, forest of" piles and ; their tangled; undergrowth of scaffolding .and- staging,, two docks,,a .big. quo and a small oiic, but,of visiblo evidence of their' actual presence there, is. none—to. the. lay eye. .. . ': . '..'" .... .- :.. . . ..'■ 'From the Taranald Street.Wharf there runs ,i| high conorete sea-wall,! curving- outwards— : the dock face,'practically complete.. 'Walking along thq broad top of this wall,'one first passes, without knowing it, tho "silL" of the smaller dock,-which will, somo : time after,tho opening of its big brother, probably be put tp active-use. That tho existence of-the smaller.dock is difficult to perceive is due to the fact that the "sill," OT gateway, has been built up. to the level of the dock face, which will require to be blasted when tlie dock is • eventually required. ■ : , . Continuing along the "face," ono arrives at 1 a' point in lino with the centre of tho mass of staging which' fills tho span between the 1 "face" and tho shore. This -point is the centre of the'frill of tho big dock. At present [ the'whole energies, of the contractors .(Messrs. ! M'Lcau) are conserved upon tho floor of tho : doc'.s, which must-be completed before tho side- ' walls • can bo proceeded with, and this work i oan .only bo carried out by the diving BtafL A further section—BOO square yards—was com- ; pleted on Thursday. . ..'... '...'.' ■ ■■•• Everything considered, (he progress of tho ! contract is very' and once the floor,.ie completed, the dock.will rapidly spring' • into view, and sonio ! -clearer' idea of ite size ' ni)d description niU b« oSordod ■ tba oaeual oMerVe):«