HARBOR WORKS.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 May 1922, Page 3

HARBOR WORKS.

LABOR-SAVING APPLIANCES. TO EXPEDITE OPERATIONS. The New Plymouth Harbor Board, having recognised the desirability of expediting the improvement works, set on foot enquiries as to what labor-saving machinery was most likely to suit their requirements. Attention was directed to the matter of obtaining a suitable mechanical excavator that would rapidly deal with the removal of stone and other material, and it was a question of whether the kind of machine required should be obtained in Britain or America. Taking advantage of the presence in Wellington of the representative of the well-known British engineers, Messrs. Ruston and Hornsby, of Lincoln, that gentleman came to New Plymouth, and yesterday gave a demonstration of the firm’s latest steam-driven excavators and transporters, as to which it is claimed that, apart from their labor-saving value, they demonstrate the ability of British manufacturers to hold their own against Americans.

In the presence of members of the Harbor Board and others interested in the matter, a moving picture demonstration of the actual working of these excavators was given at the People’s Theatre yesterday afternoon, by Mr. W. Barnes (who is exhibiting these pictures) and Mr. Tucker (representing the New Zealad nagents. After a preliminary explanation of the firm’s operations, the demonstrator made a few trite remarks on each scene as thrown on the screen. No one who sees these pictures can fail to be impressed with the tremendous possibilities of these marvelolus grafters, one of which does the work of 400 men, while another is a caterpillar tractor, all of them being of great service in extensive works where large quantities of material needed to be removed. It would also seem that the raising of boulders from river beds could also cheaply and expeditiously be carried out by one of these machines.