TOLAGA BAY HARBOR

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10320, 1 February 1927, Page 2

TOLAGA BAY HARBOR

WORK PROCEEDING APACE, SIMPLE AND INGENIOUS CONTRIVANCE. KAIAIA FIRST”VESSEL TO •vU BERTH. (Specially written for the Gisborne Times by D. M. Ross.) Some of the greatest triumphs and failures of engineering have oeen associated with marine works,—the building of moles, breakwaters and canals, in the construction of which unforeseen complications arise as man matches his genius against the might and majesty of oceanic powers. ' Great difficulties were encountered at Tolaga Bay at the beginning ol operations, when the original scheme had to be 'abandoned after a futile attempt to traverse the sheer rock precipice that overshadows the proposed harbor site. After the first check, however, the work is proceeding to a certain satisfactory conclusion, for already one third of the whole span has been decked with concrete and practically completed, while piles for the permanent structure have been driven for seven hundred feet of the specified length of the wharf. Holes for the supporting piles have to be driven to a depth ol ten feet in the papa rock and the combined drilling and driving plant which runs ahead on a temporary structure is working splendidly. This wonderlully simple and ingenious contrivance was planned and put together on the spot, and is the invention of the contractor, Mr. Fred. H. Goodman. Work was commenced with a floating plant, but the slowness of its operations, hampered by the ever-prevailing “range,” caused it to be abandoned in favour of the perfected machiue which drills and drives as it goes, while the carpenters and ferro concrete workers follow, boxing, mixing and laying the concrete decking, so that the yhole structure, self-contained, creeps solidly out to sea. One cannot but admire the simplicity, efficiency and originality of the scheme. It is evident that Mr. Goodman’s capacity for invention is greatly to his advantage in dealing with adverse conditions that, arise, and his ability to oppose natural forces by ingenious mechanical devices has made him what he is, one of the most successful engineering contractors operating in the Dominion on sea or on land. As his men become familiar with their work, progress becomes more rapid and economical, and it is not expected that any further difficulties of consequence will be encountered. The piles at the ocean end of the wharf will be forty six feet in length and there will be a depth of seventeen feet six inches of water at low tide. On a reef which runs seaward for two miles, one may see the rollers breaking, and it is this long reef that guarantees shelter from the north east, while from the worst winds, those from the east and south east, comparatively good shelter is afforded by the physical features of the country. All round, the bay is really well sheltered, and its seems safe, even at this early date, to congratulate the people of the district upon their daring enterprise. Some few days ago an event ol considerable importance most unobtrusively occurred, when Mr. Goodman’s own auxiliary scow the Kaiaia. Captain Robert Scott, with a load of shingle for concrete work, arrived from Napier, and was quickly tied up, discharging her cargo and putting out to sea again with the utmost despatch. Up till then the scow had to be taken into the river and unload'd there, the shingle then being carted from the township to the site of the works. Probably no more significent marine incident than the tying up of the “Ivaiaia” has occurred at Tolaga Bay since the Endeavour entered Cook’s Cove in the immediate vicinity of Mr. Goodman s construction, and yet only himself and the writer, beside the workmen engaged on the job, were present on the historic occasion. With no adequate outlet by land or sea, Tolaga Bay lias long remained deplorably isolated, even more so than otlier East Coastal towns, but. now that a safe outlet and approach may be guaranteed at comparatively small cost, it is probable the reproach of isolation will soon be removed from the fertile country running northward from Gisborne to Cape Runaway, and a smart coastal service will be inaugurated, fostering production, and facilitating transport to Auckland city and the south.