BREAKWATER WHARF

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 57, 23 March 1937, Page 5

BREAKWATER WHARF

Contractors Expect to Finish by End of Year

PILES BEING DRIVEN

Althdugh the contractors engaged in the erection of the fitst UeW Whatf ifa the Napier Breakwater extension scheme haVe been delayed by difficulties in procuring heavy gear, they anticipate no difficulty in catching up scheduled time and completing the Wharf t& enable overseas vesselB to berth at the end of this year. The construction of the wharf in question is now Teaching its mo&t interesting stage. Reinforced doncrete piles are being driven deep down into the seabed to hold the Bolid concrete platform which will comprise the flat upper portion-. The new wharf, which is being erected by Bellam and .Murray^ Lfcd.j contractors, of Auckland, is to be 750 feet long, 81 feet 6 inches wide and 12 feet fl indhes above loW-Water level. It is to be elightly longer than Glasgjow Wharf and will be inore inodern in itg construction. Up till the present time, the driving of concrete piles at the shore end has been a tedious job, bedause the contractors have had to piefce loose shingle and boulders befofe the solid papa foundation has beeii reUched some 22 feet 6 iiiches below Water levfel. As the new .wharf progressee out to sea, however, and the dredged area of seabed is reached, the work will progress apace, and instead of one pile being driven in every two days, as at ptesent, four piles will b© driven each day. In all, 675 concrete piles are to be driven. At present, while the contractors are contending with loose shingle and boulders on the sea-bed, it is necessary, after boriiig a hole, to sink an iron cylinder into the sea-bed so as to prevent the shingle and. loose rdbble from filling up the newly-bored depth, the concrete pile is hammered down, after which the cyEnder is pulled out. To date, 18 piles have been driven. ' ' The work is behind schedule at present because we have not been able to procure all our heavy gear,'* said Mr A. Murray, oue of the contractors, this morning. "But we do not anticipate any difficulty in picking up the contract schedule and finishing the wharf by the end of this year. "Up till th» present we have made 187 concrete piles, which are curing ra readiness for driving into position. When we took over the contract from Mr Goodman last October, there were 141 piles already built, so that the tOtal niiffiber 6n the job is 328 out of a required number of 675.'' Mr Murray added that the general public appeared to be taking a lhtge amount of interest in the work, and over Sun day the vicinity of the works was visited both by Napier people and residents outside the town.