MANGAHAO.

Otaki Mail, 6 August 1923, Page 3

MANGAHAO.

WORK AT THE BiG GAMS. C POWEII IN TWELVE MONTHS. I (From "Shannon News.") j. Good progress lias, been made dur- B ing the past few weeks with the . hydro-electric works at Maiigahao and ' Arapeti. At Maiigahao the by-pass c tunnel lias uow been completed and c the water is passing through from the v diversion dam which has been built. The by-pass is for the purpose ot di- * verting the river while- the ground < work ot excavating the dam is in pro- ~ grtiss. A start has now- been made whilf the driving of the steel sheet piling to enable the foundation of the I main dam to be excavated and eon- j crer.ed. During the construction ol the , by-pass a lot of trouble was cuusad mi by the rivsr breaking through the •' fluniing which protected it, tliereby < I causing considerable delay with the •* | work. The by-pass is a tunnel eight i I feet in diameter and a chain long. The I nun at the Mangahao clam are nowworking day and night and the work t is reported to be well up to schedule h I time-. ( » At ArapeH darn the work of excavating is now completed and prepara- ' tioHs are being made to start con- > ccling. when the staff will be work- . ii:g three shifts per day. Although . the Maiigahao dam has given the J most trouble, it will not be the larg- • est, Arapetf being 100 leet deep from , the bed of the river and three chains ; wido in the centre and it is estimated jit will take rough!v between lour and 'five, thousand ton,s of cement for the concrete work. Since the bottom has been found the work has been straight going. Then.' is much speculation as to which dam will be completed first, the general impression to be gathered al the camp* is that the "juice'' will be ready for turning on within 12 months from now. A tunnel about three chains in length has been constructed just below the Arapeti dam for the purpose ol getting stone-. It had been difficult previouslv to procure suitable stone for the crusher, but it is now possible to get a plentiful supply. The No. 1 tunnel is almost complete- ■ ly concreted, while No. 3 is well on . the wav. It is now possible for one ■ to walk dunveniently through tho > tunnels fnni the surge chamber to the r top-camp. A conciste culvert has been con- - stt'ucted tiider the road at th'e head of the Arape-j Valley to fake the place - of the old wooden brirjge. 1 in the vinter months the general - living conlilions for those who work 3 : at the tovcamp are 7 not too bright, as -the catip wfhich is situated ni a t vnliev- is erv cold and sunless. I'ui i- thanks to Mi- Johnson, the engineeri, in-chorse, much has been done to e ' make the nen as comfortable as cir- ;- enmstahee; will permit-. ! ! Owing i) the heavy traffic ovp 1 * + '" ,--1 road to tfe camp?, clif'" 1 "- ' Ui6 1.1 mne speU of ""' xl ,, the recent , c t weather, the stirI- face of the road is in a very bad e state. The roads are all being raeial- " >ed, several gangs being engaged on & t-his ■work. The Public Works sawmill is nowr- woikmg 'at -high pressure, me works taking the timber as fast as n can le- turned out. , ■ ,„. e- There has been a lot of sickness in n the camps lately, mostly mud influeni- za. the result being tnat Nurse \\ right, 3 g has had a busy time. ,ii Two concert parties have been id formed at Arapeti. The. populai P-oi--d rot Troune has been reorganised and f. Mr Hinton's party. The latter has ah d ready given a concert at the top camp of and at an early date intends visiting w Shannon. .. «,,—„, threc t,-, pictures are now oemg shown ia.«t riio-his « week in the Y.M.C.A. social ee hut at Arapeti. -nncert m\ Last Thursday evening / concert n partv from Otaki. in charge of ,Ii I> 15 \icholls visited Arapeti camp a. 'm Jave an .enjoyable entertainment. eaJ 3s- item being Hvell received and en oh cored. A supper and dance folawjec vc- the concert, the Otaki panj proMainj 'ds, the. music. , , . „. .„, , lT he' Mrs G. Diamond is at present ai I inmate of the Pahnerston North nos er- pital, where she is lo undergo ai he ; operation. ice'i "Mt Fintavscn. offlcr-T-ln-cnarge c in the canteen'at Arapeti, has les-' snmed dutv ofte-r his annual hcuaaA ac-i Mr Bog-ers, a new foreman on th l Vrapeti d,-un. has arrived from th fOT Soutih Island, and taken up his ou : ole The attentbar.c* at .tie A-. ?, f'\ in school i= now Ml, which i f the hgl ioH ! est M has been. Pomfe si t-ne childre 'the lomV "iynr jhe top-camp, o, goc 1 tjir«.« mils*