A TRIP ABROAD.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 20, 15 May 1914, Page 4

A TRIP ABROAD.

The other day Mr F. W. Furkert. well-known to many people in Stratford, where for some years he was stationed as .Resident Engineer to the Public Works Department, delivered a lecture under the auspices of the Wellington Philosophical Society, dealing with some of the sights he had seen while abroad. He mentioned different dam constructions. The first that he had seen was the Burrinjuck Dam, in Australia. Work had been progressing on this dam for six years, and it was not expected to finish the construction for four years more. Special attention was naturally being devoted to the most important part of the dam, the base, which was constructed on the day-labor system. The speaker then detailed the method of construction. M hen completed, the dam would hold more water than Sydney Harbor. The lecturer then passed on to refer to dams which he had seen, particularly in Egypt and in Western America on the Spokane River, and next touched on various bridges which he had seen. Among the most interesting were one which Napoleon had built when crossing the Alps, the boat-bridges spanning the Rhine, and a bridge at the outlet to Lake Lucerne. The last-mentioned bridge, which was 150 years old, was interesting on account of the fact that the builders had sacrificed the convenience of the users of the bridge to the ease of construction. Although it was so old the bridge was still in very good condition, and this was accounted for by the fact that it was (like other bridges in Switzerland) roofed in, and thus protected from weather. A bridge that had caused the lecturer some amusement was one spanning the Tiber. It was inscribed with a guarantee by the builder that it would last forty years'. It had, however, now been in existence for centuries.