Bulge in Sea-Wall on the Right Side

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 180, 20 October 1927, Page 18

Bulge in Sea-Wall on the Right Side

PERCOLATION OF SAND

DEVONPORT DISCUSSION ACCORDING to a statement made to the Devonport Borough Council last evening, the bulge in the new sea wall is “on the right side,” but the council did not consider it safe to contradict the statement in THE SUN about the bulge. “It is' unfortunate that the place in which the. suction dredge is working provides only the finest sand and not mud; it is a condition that no one could have foreseen.” This comment was made by the de-puty-Mayor, Mr. J. Hislop, when a letter from the Auckland Harbour Board intimated that, owing to the fineness of the sand being pumped behind the Queen's Parade retaining wall, more than 20 per cent, of it was percolating through the wall. The leakage would add to the cost of the job. The Mayor, Mr. E. Aldridge, said that he had read in the papers that there was “an ominous bulge” in the wall. He had immediately telephoned the harbour engineer, who .replied that “the bulge was on the right side.” Mr. Hislop, who is also North Shore representative on the Harbour Board, informed the council that on Tuesday, when he heard of the trouble with the filling leaking through the wall, he had arranged for the harbour engineer to meet himself and the board engineer on the job. LINING THE WALL A plan to line the inside of the wall with tarred sacking, to retain the sand, was worked out, and the dredging had proceeded on Wednesday quite satisfactorily. The Harbour Board engineer had stated that very likely the wash of the tides would, until the wall was sealed by stone facing, carry away some of the sand; possibly back for a couple of feet from the wall, but the damage could be repaired with materials carted for the purpose. The sand, being quick setting, would allow of finishing out the roadway with a concrete road quicker than if mud had been pumped up. - The harbour engineer also proposed to design a special type of delivery pipe, with sand traps, so that the sand would be deposited at points along the pipe-line, instead of being sluiced right to the pipe-end. Mr. Ellisdon: Can’t we officially contradict the statement about the wall bulging. Mr. Aldridge: Well, if we do, and anything should happen to

the wall later on, the papers would have the laugh on us. “We can say that everything is going ahead all right now, though the fine sand difficulty has to be got over. Mr. W. S. Campbell; A lot of people passing along the wharf saw the waste of sand and they want to know if the borough will have to pay. The Mayor: It is a possibility.