PROGRESS AT MIRAMAR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 956, 25 October 1910, Page 8

PROGRESS AT MIRAMAR.

THE CUTTING AND THE WHARF. "Going on very well, - all things considered," is how the contractor in charge of the Miramar' cutting and. reclamation works described their progress to a reporter who visited the scene of' operations yesterday. At a rough estimate, about two-fifths of the work to bo done in the cutting has been ■ accomplished. One hundred men are busy on the works, and next month their numbers will be. doubled, for it is proposed to then institute, double shifts. • ' The. cutting is - still narrow in most places, and presents on- either hand a series of rough, uneven slopes.' Chutes have been erected . at . various points, which _ discharge , a constant stream of spoil .into, trucks that>' convey it:along tram-lines to-the foreshore. In all, some 300,000 tons of material will have, to be,, shifted ere the work is completed, and already .120,000 tons" have- been cut down and transported, to the reclamation area. ; Operations, have - been; greatly hindered for some time owing to the prevalence'of heavy winds; On occasions tlie men have had to cease work in the cutting ; entirely, finding it impossible' to stand against the clouds of stinging-du.'t raised by the. wind. • ■ ■ At the the foundation or "gravity" wall, standing on the seaward boundary of - the reclamation areai, has been completed, savo for a few sections of concrete. The outward-curving ferroconcrete wall, which rises from the "gravity" wall, has bsen carried, to'about two-thirds of its completed length. The extent' of reclamation accomplished corresponds with the progress of tlfe excavation work in the cutting,. arid thesfc undertakings will terminate simultaneously. The time allowed for.'the completion of the work expires in March , next, and the contractors, Messrs.: Sanders .Bros., are hopeful of concluding their task on the appointed, date. 'The ."gravity" wall is.being constructed, under a .separate contract, by. Mr.-C. T. Pulley. ' 'The' extension of .the ;wharf, which stands opposite the cutting, an undertaking. that' is'being 'carried out .by .Mr. Maurice O'Connor, 'has lately ' ously hindered by heayjj' weather! "'ln a: gale that/arose aboui; five weeks' ago .a punt' i carrying „a|. pile-driyei?' and : ' fl engine' ; was rammed ' by "a- floating ;• beam'" and 1 sunk. .So unfavourable 'has : thfl v weather been ever since . that only • yesterday was it found-possible to send'down'. , a 'diver' with a view'to recovering the submerged plant. Its temporary loss has, of course, added to the difficulties against which tho 1 contractor has' to cottehd.' In spite of disabilities, considerable progress has been made.. All' the ' pile's have been driven, save 28 long ones at the extremity I'of the wharf. In addition,'about onethird of the heavy beams, upon which the decking will be supported, ' have been laid, and ' numerous' timbers - have' been prepared; although they have 1 ' not. yet: been placed,in position. ■'' -'•