HARBOUR IMPROVEMENTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 16 March 1907, Page 2

HARBOUR IMPROVEMENTS

Speaking at the llaibor Hoard meeting on Friday, Mr. «). H. Council said there were several matters that would have to be discussed with the consulting engineer, Mr. F. W. Marchant, C.F., ( on his return from Auckland. There ( was the matter, for instance, of the in- , creasing amount, of stone required in ! the breakwater extension. There was J the tact, too. that the present quarrv would l)e exhausted in about twelve months, and it would be neeessarv to make arrangements for procuring more stone. This was urgent. A start must be made now with the preliminaries lor working Paritutu or some other easily accessible rock. It would never do to go on and run out of stone before locking around for the future supplies. The widening of the wharf was a big matter, made more formidable by the astounding increase in the cosl. of material. The work recently done was 170 feet, costing .CS."»H2, and -JOO feet remained. This heavy cost was due to the rise in the price of nmuU mclal for sheathing. .Members, he said, would be surprised to know tint 'the extension of the wharf was nearly as expensive as the breakwater extension, 2ou feet of which had cost tj 10,01)8. Now, in tho face of the liuther increased price of ; metal, the Cost of the wharf widening would be positively outrageous. The engineer had told the works committee that he hud a long conversation with the exhibitor, of West Australian Jar* rah timber at the Fxhibition. It appeared that there was jarrah, and jarrah. The timber from the low-lying lands was greatly inferior to that grown at greater altitudes, and it was this latter that had such a reputation in marine and railway construction works. Some of the samples at the Exhibition were taken fiw jetties which had been built in the Swan Kiver • over sixty years ago. This timber could be bought cheaper than totara or ironbark. and it was impervious to th.i toredo, which played such havoc with the ironbark in these waters, finis the Board, it seemed, would be able; to do away with this expulsive sheathing of the timber. Referring again to the necessity of opening another quarry, Mr. ConnHt said the engineer should be asked to test Paritutu and report, and that no time should be lost. Mr. Maxwell moved that the chairman obtain a report from Mr. Muiehant to be laid before next meeting as to the future supplies of material, and as to the suitability of jarrah timber for wharf construction, at New Plymouth, tie was glad that Ibis matter had come up, for he had had very valuable information concerning th;i lasting qualities of jarrah, and had in the past unsuc-

cessfully advocated its use locally. Thy late Mr. C. V. O'Connor, once Under-Sec-retary for Public Works in ibis colony, and afterwards famous IVr carrying out the Coolgardie water supply and many marine works in West Australia, bid informed him that the life of jarrah with out sheathing was greater than that, uf any other limber sheathed with mimtz. Mr. Thomson suggested that Mr. Marchant should also report on th?, n>e of ferro-com-rete. Mr. .Maxwell said that he had already done so. I "Mr. King said it was as well to point I out that the Wcstralian Covernnieet j was very anxious that none but the j best jarrah should be exported, and J their inspector would be instructed to examine and pas* any shipments, if dcI sired. j Answering Mr. Thomson's quen. the | chairman said Mr. Maivh:;nt had reported that ferro-concrete was out of the question for widening a wooden structure, and he could not recommend ' its use in the narrow wharf cither, it : was a success in Auckland, but conditions there were very different. The chairman was authorised to inter fev Mr. Marchant and obtain r report. * Mr. Comiett invited the members to meet the engineer, but they thought this was unnecessary. The quantity of stone tipped over the end of the mole for breakwater extension in the past month was 1710 tons, aud one new section of twelve feet wn* completed, making the total length of the new work 270 feet. The foreman reports that the depth at the end has increased to eleven feet at low water (spring tide), and a larger quantity of stone is now required fo build up the mound, hj) each of the last three sections 1700 tons of rubble have been used, whilst in the previous five sections the average quantity was 1550 tons per section. For the next two months the output of stone at the quarry is likely to be somewhat slower, owing to the increasing distance between the crane and the working face.