Kawhia Wharf Improvements

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 408, 2 April 1909, Page 2

Kawhia Wharf Improvements

FERRO-CONCRETE DISCARDED At the last meeting of the Kawhia Oouul.l the engineer (Mr A. Armstrong) reported on the propc Jed improvements to the wharf as fo’’owB : “ [ hav® been u iabla to obf’.iu any very satisfactory infos-mation re i’erro-con Crete piles, I wrote to the Ferro-Concrete Co, in Auckland but got. no reply; in another quarter, ho* -ever, I wai more successi.J.l* Comparing the cost. (appro.v.imateiy) cf a 85ft ferro-conorete pile with a pile of the same length in tenant ready foe driving, the cost of the former would be about ±,’lo 10a and the latter £.7, whilst tho I:errr^' ; .ncrete would weigh 3 tons and the totaraTl cwt. The greater weight of the i'erro-concrete piles deu" ind'j much heav ; er and strong-? gear to deal with it in driving, which wov d farther increase the cost. Ag? i, it takes about three months to manufjwtan —that is from the time it is put into tL.e uioold till it is fit co drive. If she Board deemed it desirable to have feno-conorete piles it c ;uld ask intending cont ac ors to supply their own specifications, etc., for tb*s class of work. B iferring to tle question of ironbark and totara piles I have got sever ’ questions, For ironbark I could only gat quotalions up ti 35ft., whil’ tha longest p 'es we will want will be 40ft. The pric • quo' J foff ir&nbark’is : hewn, 4s 3d I ,r cu-j. foot; round, 3s 6d ; another firm quoted 2s 6d for 12in. round. Taking the number of piles required up to 35ft, at 900 oub. ft at, the cost wor d stand as follows: —Ironbark, hewn, 000 cub. feet st 4s 3d, £ 191 5s ; Ironbark, 12in. round, 900 lin. feet at 2s 6d, 12 10s, For totara the prices vary from 26ft. to 30ft; for sawn totsra, 900 cub. *e:t the cost would be £l5O, showing a balance in favour of the ror id pres of £3B. Both firms quote only for piles Bslh. .long—the longer lengths are evidently not ia the mar ket or difficult to get. In any fiXse I could not recommend the round piles, so that i? coeb is to be considered totara is the cheaper; b -sides, there will be no difficulty ; i getting rxwn. totara piles up to 40ft. in length.

Fr’iing ferro-concrete 1 would recommend the I oard co use totara pile J. Another point in thsir favour is that they are not so subject to the ravage j of tho toiado as ironbark, I have gone into the question of cost as carefully as I < raid before the p'ans and specifications are completed, and do not think the extension wi’l exceed £1250, pre.viued totara for the pik-j and rima for the superstructure is used,” la reply to enqr'ries the Engineer B«id that the estimate did not provide for the widening of the present track; that tbo sand and gravel for fferro-con orete was very hard to £et; that it would bd well to provide for fender piles; and that be thought locallygr< wn rimu would last well as docking.. Ur Bsbhsge : The locally-grown rimu will take a lot of beatingOr Noonan : Mr Burd fays that the dimu cut at Te Rau-a-moa wa« the beet timber he had ever used. It was decided to use totara piles and build thosuperstructure of rimu-