DAMAGE TO BRIDGES.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 May 1923, Page 4

DAMAGE TO BRIDGES.

1) EST R UCTI ON UN PR EC EDEN TED. STATEMENT BY ENGTNEKIMNCTTIEF. WE1.1.1 NOTON, May 11. Mr F. tV. Furkctt, Engineer-in-chief fo the Public Wonts Department gave some partiulars of the damage done by Hoods in the Smith Island, especially to road and railway bridges over the rivers. Roughly it is estimated that it will cost anything up to £30.000 to repair the damage in the instances below mentioned. Mr Furkctt states that the nature of the destruction is unprecedented, and cl a character such as he lias never heard of or seen before, except- in India, where rivers silt up to a depth of 70ft or more.

The Clarence bridge, between Kaikourn and Blenheim appears to have experienced the full fury of storm and flood. It was a substantial construction of wot;! end steel on cylinder Inundations. except for piers on land. These cylinder.-; were filled with cone: etc, l:::l the northern one .as been completcly washed out of the river hod. This caused a span to full into the river, leaving such a large area exposed to the force of the Hood that the next s],\>.n disappear.. l :!. The bridge was built forty-one years ago. and although no railway line ran nc:o.-s it. provision was made for it, and the construction strengthened for the purpose. Some of the cylinders, full of concrete, wore 3311 in the ground.

A withstanding ail weathers for over forty years, two have been v.:

id clean out. The river bank also has been subjected to so much erosion that it is 130 ft. wider at this point than it was before the llecl. The amount of damage is estimated' ni from fcOOCO to £B.OOO. The bridge was the main artery between Kaikourn and Blenheim. Kaikoura at present is isolated. The Conway bridge between Cheviot and Kaikoura is also reported to have

■‘gone west." The piers of this bridge comprised iroinVul; piles in double

rows, bra; cd together and eriveii twenty-eight feet into the river hod. These have been washed right out of the ground. Mr Furkcrt stated that lifteen leet was usually considered to I,a a pretty sale depth for piles, l-ut these piers were driven through the gravel till they rested on solid rod; below. Three spans, each eighty leet in length, disappeared. For cylinders' like these in th. 1 Clarence river to be washed uni is unprecedented.

The rmiuuui bridge, between Cheviot, and Waipara has gone by the Card. This was built oil a single row of sj x ii'onbark piles sunk twenty-live leet deep in shingle, hut the Hood pulled them all out. Three spans, liitvtv.o feet each, are lying somewhere in the belt: in of the river. The bridge will cost at least L'2030 to leplaeo. Tim |ir-: great bridge on the Main South Head between Cheviot and Waipara has gone altogether. I hive spans of the recoiui. ihe Greta bridge, have sulfaied likewise. "These are

not gimrerk bridges,'’ said Mr I'i'rkert.* "They are on eoiierele piers .-et

Six sjans each b rty leet in length, of the railway bridge over the \\ aiau river, near Parnassus, have been wash ed away. None of these piles were less than tweniv-two leet in theground and in a solid bed of shingle It v, a- a e: in billed road and railv.ay luidge. and the people of I’arnassiis are getting their provisions across the liver by means of a wire rope. Mr Furkcrt l says lie «ill not he surprised if it costs L'oO.OHO to repair the damage done to bridges..

sistontly have the car thieves prosecuted their calling of late that motorear owners are forced to.the conclusion that the "business” .is being organised. .Most of the cars arc recovered,

but ihe remainder, and they are considerable in - numbers, remain on the "missing” list. It is believed that the thieves are adopting the practice of the “specialists” in the United States, who, after stealing a ear, speedily tako it to pieces, make a thorough search for special identification marks, and then reassemble it with a liberal mixture of parts of other stolen cars of the same make. The police are fully alive to the seriousness of the position, and are now experimenting with measures which will minimise the menace. Two motor experts have been specially commissioned by the police, and they arc doing good work. The police of all ranks are also keenly interested in the problem of checking the car thieves, but it is essential that thev should have the co-operation of the public.