Page 4 Advertisements Column 5

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2636, 29 July 1871, Page 4

Public Notices. New naval dry dock at MALTA, One of the most important works of its kind executed for the British Government has recently been completed and opened with great success at Malta. During many years past great inconvenience has been felt because of there being no dry-dock accommodation in the Mediterranean, where the largest class of meu-of-war might be docked and rep ired. The application of the screwpropellor to meu-of-war of every description renders such accommodation most necessary. The new dock at Malta will be called the Somerset Dock. It is the largest naval drydock in the world, being 7ft. deeper than the largest at Portsmouth, Its principal dimensions are as follow :—Depth of entrance and on floor, 34 ft, ; width between the copings, 104 ft. : length on the floor, 430 feet; width of entrance, 80 ft. This dock has been about four years in course of construction, but that is amply accounted for by the peculiarity of the ground. It required much time to be spent in clearing the site. The nature of the rock in which the doek is excavated also caused great difficulty in the work. The ground was full of faults and fissures, through which the sea-warter rushed in torrents. Indeed, the ‘ ‘grumblers ” began to think it would be necessary to pump the Mediterranean dry before the work could be finished; but eight powerful|pumping-engines, working day and night, at last brought the water down. The unsound stone was removed, the joints and cracks were filled up, and the dock is now one of the driest ever constructed. The oost appears large (about £180,000); but it is not really so, considering the very large outlay that was necessary to clear the ground. In fact, the site had to be created by the removal of immense masses of overburden. At the entrance of the dock a crane is fixed, calculated to lift forty tons, The engine-house contains two engines, of 60-horse power, each workitg three of GWynne’s centrifugal pumps. These discharge three jets, each of which is 36 inches in diameter. It also contains a drainageengine, of about 30-horse power, to keep the dock dry by means of a powerful hydraulic pump, which also lifts the penstocks and sluices. The well (about 50 ft deep below the sea level) is 16 ft. in diameter, dug in the solid rock, as well as the tunnel, 6 ft- in diameter, connecting the well with the dock. The chamber to receive the caisson had to be built precisely under the salient angle of a bastion '6O ft. high. The new dock was opened with great ceremony and rejoicing ; by the Vice-Admiral Commander-in-Chief, in the presence of his Excellency the Governor, and all the civil, naval, and military authorities, and principal residents in the islandThe finishing stone was laid by the Hon. Barbara Yelverton, daughter of Vice-Ad-miral Sir Hastings Yelverton. To commemorate the completion of a work of such magnitude and importance to the naval interests of Great Britain, it is intended to fix, near the entrance, a brass plate, with an inscription recording that the dock was designed by Colonel Glarke, R. E., in 1864, under the Administration of the Duke of Somerset: that the whole of the works were executed by Mr Charles Andrews, member of the Institute of Civil Engineers, and , finished under the Adminstration of the Right Hon. Hugh Childers. Veterinary Surgeons. EXTRAORDINARY NEWS. MR SLESINGER, Veterinary Surgeon, Hope street, Dunedin, announces to his Friends and the Public, his intention, from this date, of reducing his charges for ADVICE and MEDICINE to ONE-HALF of the former rate, so as to enable owners of the lowest-priced Animals to have them properly attended to. Mr S, takes this opportunity of thanking the public for their liberal support during the past eight years, and trusts by very moderate charges to secure a still further increase of their patronage. . The purest Horse and Cattle Medicine supplied at lower prices than any chemist and druggist’s home in Dunedin. Slesinger’s Blister Ointment, superior to James’s, Is 6d a pot only ! Slesinger’s superior Embrocation for Spr* m, Rheumatics, and Saddle Galls* from 2s 6d a bottle. Also, Slesinger’s superior Condition Powers, reduced to half-price government Notices. V. R. NEW ZEALAND RAILWAYS. TENDER 3 are invited by the Colonial Government for the Construction of about ten miles of the OTAGO SOUTHERN TRUNK RAILWAY, being the Clutha Contract, and extending northwards from the River Clutha. Drawings and specifications may be seen on and after Monday, 10th July, ot the office of W. N. Blair, Esq., Resident Engineer, Dunedin, where Tenders will be received until noon of Monday, the 7th August. The lowest or any tender not necessarily accepted. By command, JOHN BLACKETT, Acting Engineer in Chief. Public Works Office, Wellington, May 19, 1871. 2 ManufacturersCOCKER BROTHERS, (Successors to Samuel Cocker and Son) Sheffield, England, Established 1762. Manufacturers of Steel, Files, Wire, Tools, Reaping-Knives, Saws, Scythes and Sickles, Steel Wire Ropes, Crinoline Steel, and Springs, &c.. Also GENERAL MERCHANTS. Awarded for the Superior Quality of their Steel, Files, Wijre, Tools, ke. OAKEY'S SILVERSMITH’S SOAP (Non-Mercurial,) For Cleansing and Polishing Silver, ElectroPlate, Plate Glass, Marble, &c. Tablets 6d To be had everywhere. OAKEY k SON’S Emery and Black Lead. Mills, 2, Blackfriars rood, London, England. Agents in all the Colonies. OAKEY’S Cabinet Glass paper, Black Lead, &c. To be bad everywhere.