BIG EXCAVATING WORK.

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 56, 20 November 1924, Page 2

BIG EXCAVATING WORK.

DAM, POWERHOUSE AND TUNNEL. Now in Hand. The big engineering works involved in the Arapuni scheme are now started ia that the excavation for the giant dam is now in hand on either side of the Waikato river, as is also the excavation for the powerhouse and for thvT river-diversion tunnel, in the case of the tunnel work being in progress at the outfall end. Small gangs of men are at present employed in these excavations, preparatory to the use of drilling machines, which have now arrived and are being installed. The survey plans for the aerial ropeway to the Mako quarry have been completed and sent forward for ihe designing and manufacture of the ropeway. At the quarry, the new site for which has been approved, there is to be a village to accommodate 60 workmen, to be known as “No. 3 ” village. The material for the quarry village and plant is to be taken across the low-level bridge at Arapuni and five miles beyond by road to Mangere landing, where a wharf is to be built and where the launch Zita will be available, having been put into the water last week. A barge is to be built for carrying the material, the launch towing it for the ten miles by river between Mangere landing and the quarry. At Arapuni, eleven of the fourteen houses in the permanent village are now under construction, most being fairly well forward towards completion. The variation in design of the ' houses, the artistic layout of the village, its commanding- position, modern benefits, such as electricity, water supply and drainage systems, and ornamental features such as shrubs, shelter belts, etc., will indeed make it a model village. The Arapuni school is completed and divine service is to be held in it next Sunday.

In the contractors’ No. 1 and No. 2 villages provision for 300 single men is being made, while in each village, too, 30 cottages for married men are being erected. The contractors find that the proportion of married men offering- is greater than was originally expected.