TRIBUTES PAID TO VIADUCT

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 141, 1 July 1937, Page 6

TRIBUTES PAID TO VIADUCT

F WORKMEN

job done below schedule Big Saving in Time and Money MR. SEMPLE'S PRAISE A trlbute to" tbe engineer and men employed on the construction of tha Mohaka viadnct w.as made at tha offlcial opening ceremony yesterday by tha Minister of Public Works, 'ihe Hon. R. Semple. Mr. Semple ptated that in the construction of the hridge, the men had hroken all known New Zealand i* records for this type of work, and had completed the stmctnre well.--nnder the scheduled time at a cost that was some thonsands of ponnds helow Ihe estimate. After a statement regarding the history of the line had heen read for him "by Mr E. P. Meachen, M.P. for Wairau, Mr. Semple made a short speech, devoted almost entirely to praige for the men and theix work. The main reason he had eome np for the ceremony before his departure for Australia was to his thahks in person to the encharge, Mr. D. O. Haskell, and ^^^^^Rgrseers and workmen bcneath Haskell7! work will compare ^^^^^Bavonrably with that of older enin any part of the world,7' said ^^^^KMinister. "He is only a young and a, New Zealander, and has ^^^Bver been out of the country.7' Mr. Haskell was called forward, ^Bid applause came from the crowd as^^Knbled for the ceremony. •- Wf Fabrication of Steel. H Mr Semple also spoke highly of the * .work in the department's workshops of K Mr F. Lindow, who was in Charge of i the fabric&tion of the steel spans and !«■ girders for the bridge. In this respeet, ewing to the good work done, the ehgiaeer had had little trouble. Credit A, was also due to the overseers on,-the E viadnct, Messrs T. S. Eobinson ajid H. 1 A. Highat, and to the snpervisia^of the ■ Chief Engineer of the Public, Works ■ Department, Mr John Wood. | ■ "The men on this 30b were paid 23/-B.-a day, and they earned every sixpence B «f it," continued Mr Semple. "The R. work started from zero, and alj^the proK^gress in the last 12 months hss been due R to their efforts. During that' period they Bf broke every known Australasian record Btfor this type of work. In spite of the Bjtfact that they were Teceiving high Bhw&ges and were on a 40-hour week. they KSjbroke. all records. HK' ""The estimate for the work was ^■gS3,40O, and up "w now'it has cost ^Hb3.205. There a fe some thousands of ^Bands yet to beiepOnt, but the total ^^Efrnre will fall. f aar below the / was thought twat it would tfeke mne ■igsto comwete after thajpwork of but it has brtfen doue in ^^Bpeu months..^. The.."hesfa#otal, on a HBsily average v^WwTnonth, was 376 ■Rvets in a day, the previous best being Hjgpp. The greaj4st weight of steel ptaeed WWm position in a single day was 297 tons, previdus best being 250 tons. They Py ^oke et ery New Zealand record, and I ■ J^KjMrosfied that they broke all Austral■HBian records. "That explodes the stupid theory if you pay men well it is a bad ^Hgdng for the country. The viaduct be a monument to their credit. have not only built their own ^Mjsdaument, but they have wri^ten their ^^Bitaph in steel. the ni^n.) **1 can assure you ■^K|i ps long as I am Minister of Public ever be out of a job as Hp^%yon .want one in that organisaRMjjlp- *Wou rSghtly deserve it, and you' iJB *a 4°-® standard for others to |^^bB*0W -.gF ter you havp gone." ' '"Mr Epnple's Statement Xwfecr. Mefchen then read a statement Slpple which stated that thc M^WructioA of the Napier-Gisborne ^gppy hadween carried on intermitIvSwt; since k91f. The 38 miles to Puto.''M'f6'16 completed by 1930. The '^^^^^a.uake in ^931 damaged the line to t . Matopp and nof- traffic was carried after B October, 1931, as the result of ^M^^^tdverse repprt by the Bailways -,constructi6n of the Pu'tprinosection was suspended. V' ^^H^^:;l:93 3 Mr. Wl D. Ly^snar, forinerly Gisbowie, undertook to . carry the formati^n of a English / generat the almost cnds and the the Bo |

- * Wairpa-Waikokopu 32,500 WaBpopu-Gisborne •••• 1,400,000 mtal .'..£1,632,500 Since these estimates were made out, wagesfand costs had increased somewhatjiso the estimates to complete niightf be slightly above the amounts stateja. The total expenditure since the (resumption of work about the middle of last year had been expended on piant. # Other Speakers. The deputy-chairman of the Hawke's Bay County Council, Mr C, C. Sinith, spoke briefly of the worth to the settlers of the district of the new line. As a farmer he knew the value of the cheap and efficint transport that a railway could give, and felt that the quick completion of this part of the work reflected great credit on all concerned. The Hon. W. E. Barnard, M.P., commented tha^New Zealand has a population of one and a half millions only, and that it was a question whether that number had the right to say to the rest of the world "Keep out!" Everyone welcomes the completion of the railway, but such Public Works were only 3*ustified on the assumption that tho people of New Zealand would in the future have an expanding population, and not if the population remained stationary at the present maTk. To questions of immigration and population increases generally the answer of unemployment was usually made, the speaker continued, but unemployment would be present in a population of flve millions as much as at present if it were treated in the same old way. The Mayors of Wairoa and Napier also spoke briefly. v