DAYLIGHT THROUGH THE HILL.

Otaki Mail, 14 March 1923, Page 4

DAYLIGHT THROUGH THE HILL.

! NO. 1 TUNNEL PIERCED. ' 3 MANGAHAO MILESTONE PASSED • I '. ON SATURDAY. 1 j I (From the Shannon News.) j I The piercing of the No. 1 tunnel j j was completed at the Mangahao | t Hydro on Saturday afternoon at 2 j ! o'clock. This tunnel, which is slight, j ly over a mile in length, is the intake I s Hum the Mangahao lUver to the . storage dam at Arapeti. ! ' Nearly hall of the distance was ex- | '• cavated from the river end, and this [ portion, under Messrs. Bloomfleld and, I ■ parly, was finished at the end of I | January last. § The Arapeti end, under Messrs. G. I § i Nash and patty, contained a'boui 42 I , chains. The whole tunnel has been j 10l a very hard nature, the uiily tiru- j beririg necessary being at the Arapeti end. ' i Messrs. Taylor and Browne com I pleted their shift at i p.m. on Saturday, their final act being to fire "a round," After making the necessary ] count of the explosions, they came ■ off shift, and their places were taken i by Messrs, Shaw and McGregor. On reaching the fuce these tunneli iers were gladly surprised to notice j that it was possible to see daylight ' at the river end through the fissure : in the exploded rock, The presence of "stale air" from the other end j proved that the hill had been pierc- . eel- A small charge fired by Tunnel- ; lcr Shaw cleared a hole about three i feet square, and in a little while the j clear atmosphere was sufficient to * | sight the levels and report "all in I line" Yesterday (Monday) the shifts have j excavated to the lull bore, and the I rock is being trucked out. j Mr Nash pays the highest tribute i lo Ids party of lunnellers throughout j the contract, ami i, hopeful lo have j everything cleared up this week. The tunnel is concreted some 23 chains from the Arapeti end. Naturally a good deal ol inleresl was in evidence in the local camp, I and by half-past six a pai ty of four linen walked right through the tunI nel and repot ted - ihc new.-, to the i River Camp. The journey from mouth io mouth occupied twenty I minutes. On Sunday quite a number I traversed the tunnel. ' Happily the excavation oi the whole lof Phis tunnel has been c pleted without loss ol life.