THE DREDGE PARITUTU.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 113, 20 August 1910, Page 7

THE DREDGE PARITUTU.

THE 'DESIGNER'S UNQUALIFIED APPROVAL. HAS NEVER SEEN HER SUPERIOR.

As was expected, .the new dredo-e fiir- | i;red largely in the business of the liarjKjard yesterday. Mr. F. W. Marehant, M.1.C.E., consulting engineer, reported:— "Since my arrival here on August Mth I have deVoted my time and attention solely to the [direction of the working of the dredge lan tutu. lam glad to bo able to report that the plant throughout is of 'the highest excellence, and I'have never seen Jier superior . When dredging with the buckets in the boulder and conglomerate formation close inshore she does first-rate work. It is of necessitysomewhat slow, but we can dredio-e and discharge somewhere about (500° tons daily of this very hard ground. We have to skip the very largest boulders, and these must be blasted for removal! In the ordinary formation further off I shore, I estimate her daily duty with the buckets at about 1000 tons dredged and discharged. My particular attention has been given to sand-pumping. At first good results were not obtained, as a large proportion of the sand lifted was washed over again. By making some simple alterations and additions to the hopper arrangements, everything except the finest flour-like sand is saved. The cutter arrangement on the suction pipe works admirably. By lis use, we are able to dredge into the old sea bottom to any required depth. This cutter keeps the ground loose for easy removal by suction, and in addition -breaks up <jU'ifce large stones, which the pump is then able to lift; there are many specimens of these aboard the vessel. On the 17th we commenced pumping soon after 9 o'clock in the morning, got one load of 380 tons in (50 minutes, then spent

; some three hours waiting upon and towj iug the "Viganella" to sea, ■ afterwards I pumping another load of 400 tons of hard spoil, sand, gravel and. stones, in 45 [minutes, discharged that, and moored at the wharf at about 1.30 p.m. Given good management, this plant should do a good deal more than we expected. ■'•lt will be necessary within the next three months to lay out the harbor by survey into dredging sections, so that an exact record can be kept of the amount of work executed in each section, and so that a regular system of working may be adopted. If the Board agrees to this, I can get the survey made within the time stated.

| "Before I leave, I will arrange fully with the foreman concerning the blasting operations necessary in the berthage for the destruction of the boulders met with, as well lis looking into the question ot arrangements nec-essary for lighiiiiio- the end of the 'breakwater, and inspection of the piles which so far have not been accepted by the Board."

The engineer was instructed to carry out the survey as suggested. The chairman said this report was very satisfactory, especially in the face of rumors in circulation t'hat the dredge was not doing good work. He had been aboard himself on the day menioned in Mr. Marchant's report, and he had been very pleased with the operations. Of course, she was a new vessel, in the hands of a crew who were new to the work, and it could not be expected that everything would go quite right from the very start. Mr. McCluggage said that he had heard down the line that the dredge was a rank failure. ■Mr. Connett said that on the way to Wellington the other day he, too, had been told t'hat the dredge was no good. He hadn't known what to make of it.

Mr. Hughes said that the Waimate Witness had approached him on the matter, and he had told them that the dredge was doing very satisfactory work, except that it appeared to him that she was very slow in handling the big boulders. He hadi thought that a vessel constructed for the purpose of dredging in this harbor would have been able to handle these big stones with greater facility. He still thought so. 'He did not know if ile were responsible for the rumor whic.h the chairman had mentioned.

Mr. McCluggage thought it was a pity that Mr. Hughes had made the statement. Mr. Hughes: I don't think so at all. A j member is entitled to his opinions, and I the ratepayers are entitled to know these things. You shouldn't take notice of what the man in the street says, but blame me only for what I did.' say. The chairman thought Mr. Hughes' statement 'hardly indiscreet, only premature. Mr. Hughes said 'he had since learned from the engineer that the dredge could not be expected to handle these big stones automatically, as he had thought. He was satisfied that good work was being don.e Mr. Wilkinson said that at first it 'had certainly seemed, looking from the wharf, that there was undue delay in handling the big rocks. Now that it had been explained to him he was satisfied. Ratepayers need have no doubt of the satisfactory working of the dredge, parI tkularly in view of the engineer's unqualified approval of her.