LYTTELTON TUNNEL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 675, 27 November 1909, Page 13

LYTTELTON TUNNEL.

TO ABOLISH SMOKE. ;: AIR INJECTOR T0 BE TKIED- ■ _ Rather an''important statom'ont was.' mado by ..the Minister;for Railways yesterday, in reply'l ;to deputation tlidt waited on him' on the subject of tho smoke nuisanco in tho i.yttelton tunnel. • • .. .". -j.'Mr.'Jlillhrstated! that sis or .'Seven months ago the Department -had an engine altered to .burii oil fuel in the ■ tunnel, hut '■ the . experi:mentprovedi too...costly; : :ip his .'Opinion th'd' :electrification; of. ;the.\:tunnel- : was", tho' ulti-: mate solution o£ ; tho : problem., = (Hear,- hear.) i"l®k however,';WasV a ,big. Hihdertakirig,': 'ana ;woula;co3t a. : lofc of money.. Meantime, with iv jview. to; improTihg 'matters ;tho'' larger[scheme could .be 'carried .out the" Department. ; had -been, making'•inquiries 'regarding, tho. injVentiou of an Italian engineer which was in use; in _a mile long tunnel in New South /Wales, ; and also tho Continent. of 'Europe. -In the New.:; South Wales: tunnel, which tad a grade of 1 in 40, tho men'could scarcely live; and tho Department had to bo content with taking half loads through it. The trouble had been overcome by ;moaus : 6f thip invention, whioli.was in .the nature of an air. injector. .By means of this a current'of 'air was .forced-against the .trains .going either way. , The Department.:' v proposed v installing one '■ of these .injectors,' and it was ;''; suggested ' that thoy the' power, tit "drive -it-".from l :tho Christohurch City. Council. ■■' ' The 'only, .questions was that; the tunnel was double the length of . the New-South- Wales tunnel,'..and ;inigbt' require- a moro . powerful injector,:-,lhe. experiment, howover, would not bo.-a very, costly one,/and, oven i£ it 'did; uot succeed. the loss could' not "be great. : Tho in-lector-would send' 300,000 cubic', feet 'of air:.per : ramuto through the), tunnel.- Efts own'opinion; however,, was: that'' eventually - electric '< power would have, to'bo used. ; w M S''''ft* l ?. l ' for"'Christchnrch. North, thought-that .the Department's' estimate, for .electrifying ftho .tunnel was too'' hieli by one-half. ; ■ ~ - Mr. .Millar; said • they' had- got estimates for: electrifying r certain machinery at' Addington, and they, afterwards "found, that if thoy could get power from the City Council the estimates could be reduced by ; one-third. 1 . '„s*• „.Witty . tßiccarton):; Why not ' get - the: ■R i?u?°"' to harness the Waimakariri. '.-.Mr. Millar: Well, they havo an object:lesson m the.Waipori scheme at ; Duncdin. One firmwas using a hundred tons-of coal per w'eek and now thoy arc paying only .£750 a year for electricity.., . Another firm -is doing away with its steam engines,.. and is going in for: elec-' tricity. ... • • Taylor:;. The ..Waimakariri scheme :is blocked by existing legislation. If tho Goveminent took, that in hand and used it to supply; Chnstchurch ■ with power as well as railway, thoy would make a lot of money. Mr. .Millar: It: would be very: costly;; The nni? ■'..tho - Huttscheme' alone ■: was , -had secured estimates for .tho Waimakanri; scheme, and .£230,000 was the limit.. tw r, fi Da r y (Christohurch East) 'suggested that- the .Government might .do something : to make matters easier for the employees in • tho meantime by limiting'the loads to be carricd through ;the , • .