CANTERBURY RAILWAYS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 14, 29 April 1871, Page 6

CANTERBURY RAILWAYS.

GREAT NORTHERN LINE. Specification fob the Supply of Sleepebs. Timbee. —The timber for the sleepers shall consist of black pine, totara, or gowai. The timber shall be free from bark, and from any such loose dead knots or shakes as would, in the opinion of the Railway Engineer, or other person appointed by the Government for the inspection of same, render them in any degree unfit for railway sleepers of the best class, free from all weakness or unsoundness.

Dimensions. —The sleepers shall be sawn or squared on faces, sides, and ends, and shall measure 9 feet in length, 10 inches in breadth, and 5 inches in depth, and shall bold these dimensions out of wave or winding on delivery. Explanation. —The words “ heart of ” shall mean that the sleepers consisting of the woods specified shall show heart of such timber on all the four sides, so that there shall 'not he more than 2 inches of sapwood on the outer arris of one side only, or 1| inches on both outer arrises of two sides only of each sleeper, but this explanation will not admit of any decayed or worm-eaten arrises being supplied. Delivery and Payment. —The contractor shall state in his tender what number of sleepers he undertakes to deliver at the Government jetty at Lyttelton within 12 calendar months from date of acceptance of contract. The sleepers will be inspected as they are landed on the jetty. All sleepers not complying with the foregoing conditions shall be forthwith removed at the contractor’s expense, and all sleepers so approved shall be free of wharfage to the contractor, and will be paid for within fourteen days after delivery of each cargo under certificate from the Railway Engineer. But no sleepers which are not approved by the Railway Engineer shall be paid for, or be free of wharfage, to the contractor. (Signed) G. Thornton, Railway Engineer. April sth, 1871.