CORRESPONDENCE.
We do not hold ourselvos responsible for opinions expressed by our correspondents. THE SHANNON - MOUTOA BRIDGE.
(to the editor.)
Sir, —In your issue of the nth inst., there appeared some remarks by Cr Dalton, of the Manawatu County Council, on the slow progress of the Shannon bridge, and stating that there are only four men engaged at the work. The facts are these: The progress has doubtless been slow, but the contractor could not help it. In spite of constant floods during early spring, the piles were driven three months ago. The timber for the top cord has been ready for months in Australia, but owing to the coal strike and other causes, he cbuld not get the timber shipped to New Zealand. The seven men engaged on the work had to be reduced for want of material, but the timber is in Foxton to-day, and seven men are on the job in view of the expected arrival of the timber to-morrow. Now. regarding the foundation, Cr Dalton is in error. In November, 1901, Mr E. B. Stephenson, under the direction of Mr Fulton, C.E., drove pipes on the bridge site on both sides of the river, and the result as to foundation was reported as satisfactory, and piles were obtained according to requirements. Mr Duncan Sinclair, overseer and clerk of works, a man of undoubted ability and experience, said to-day that “there is a really good foundation right through, and every pile is satisfactorily put in.” Continuing, he said that “several of the piles were driven till they would go no further, and the two-ton monkey, at a drop of from 10 to 15ft, rebounded eight or ten inches, dll piles began to split.” “The piles went easily through the top mud,” but before they were in full depth, they only obtained J(in to 24 in at a blow.” I trust Cr Dalton will not, in future, make rash statements from heresay, but go to the overseer —who, by the .way, is there in the interests of the governing bodies interested —from whom he can get a record of every detail concerning each pile and its foundation. —Yours etc., A. Saunders. Moutoa, January 15.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19080116.2.9
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3782, 16 January 1908, Page 3
Word count
Tapeke kupu
366CORRESPONDENCE. Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3782, 16 January 1908, Page 3
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Manawatu Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.