TWO DREDGES DISABLED

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4435, 3 July 1922, Page 2

TWO DREDGES DISABLED

SINK IN SOFT SOIL. ONE BLOCKS ROAD AT NGARUA; Misfortune (has befallen two of the Lands Drainage Department’s dredges which were working in the Kerepeehi and Ngarua areas. The soil evidently proved too soft for the weighty pionsters, each of which has sunk at one end up to thte floor ofj the engine-house. The Rood machine, themost recent addition engaged in drain digging and road formation near Kerepeehi, is one of the victims, while the Bucyrus dredge at Ngatea is the other. THE ROOD MACHINE. The Rood machine was first to sink. It was operating in a soft, peaty section about a mile from the Kerepeehi wharf in the direction of Ngarua. The peat proved too soft and yielding for the skids which bore the wiegjht of the monster, forty-five tons. The end which carries the boom settled down, and before long the turntable, which is on a. level with the floor of) the engine-house, was resting on the mud. The other end was tilted into the air, and while one end of the skids was embedded in tlh-e sticky mud and soft peat the other end was several feet in the air. The dredge was on an angle of about 30 degrees. Work to put the dredge on its usual level was commenced immediately, but owing to the Bucyrus machine sinking in the road at Ngarua the efforts of the Lands Department’s engineers had to be concentrated on the Bucyrus to clear the road for traffic. The Ropd machine wire cables have been connected with thte dredge and a firm object in the ground; The engines are kept working and a strata maintained op the cable, so as tj keep the monster from sliding back further into the morass. When this machine was first trie! out in the soft swampy ground difficulty was found in moving it forward, but this was ingeniously overcome by a simple device which made it possible for the dredge to move over much softer country than wtlfat it. was really built for. Good work was be-ng done, however, and its task was being carried out rapidly until it had the misfortune to strike a particularly soft spot. It was Recognised by the Department that the country was really too soft for suqjhi a monster, and the following statement was made by the foreman of works to a “Gazette” reporter a little over a month ago, just after the dredge had commenced work : “For the class of country it is working on the dredge has been found to be a bit unwieldy, being difficult to turn, but apart from that it is a fine machine, and is doing splendid work.” It was certainly doing splendid work, and it is a pity that that work is being delayed. Though for several days efforts (have been made to extricate th? dredge, it was still, when seen on Friday, lying at a ridiculous looking angle, like a sinking ship with a dangerous list.

THE BUCYRUS DREDGE. The work of widening and improving the Ngarua canal had just been completed, and t|hte Bucyrus dredge engaged on the work had started on its jenrney northwards ip the Puhunga canal, which was to be the next scene of its operations. It was working’ two shifts, and the night sjhift was moving the monster along the road, skids being put on the soli surface for the “caterpillars” to run on. Working in the dark is a difficult matter, and the dredge had riot gone fa’ —in fact it was only a few yards from the Kaihere Landing—when misfortune overtook it. The “caterpillars” ran off tihte skids, and, becoming embedded in the muddy road, soon sank. At one end the top of the road is level with the floor of tfhie en-gine-house, while the otfrer end is in a slightly better position. A small army of- workmen have, during the last few days, been clustered round it, making frantic endeavours to extricate it from its unfortunate position, but so far without success. Piles of mud caused by excavations to clear the “caterpillars” encircle the dredge, whiqi is in the middle of the .road and blocking vehicular traffic, of which, fortunately, there is very little in th,at part at this time of the yea.-. The recent heavy rains will not by any means be a help to the “rescuers,” and the muddy conditions can only retard operations, so that it will probably be a few mope days before the dredges are again able to proceed with their work.