HUGE EXPLOSIONS

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 25, 30 January 1926, Page 18

HUGE EXPLOSIONS

DEMOLISHING A CLIFF. FOR BREAKWATER. fßy Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") GISBORNE, this day. A very important stage in the progress of Gisborne Harbour was reached yesterday when three shots were fired in the cliff at Whareongaonga from which the stone required for the work is being obtained. The locality is some miles away from Gisborne, on the coast, and there "is an excellent supply of stone available. Owing to the openness of the sea at? that point making it necessary to construct some form of breakwatei in order to allow lighters to load stone, it was decided to blo\v the end of the cliff into the sea and thus form a protection. The first shot was fired off in the morning from the northern point of the cliff, one and a half tons of explosive being used. It is estiniated that between forty and fifty thousand tons of rock were blown into the sea, the whole of the point being removed for a distance of. a hundred feet. Second, and third shots were fired in order to supply better quality stone for transport to Gisborne for use in the breakwater, but, although abbisg s amount of explosive was used the second shot only lifted the top of the cliff, and it dropped back into place, only a few hundred tons of rock falling to the beach below. The most encouraging thing about the operations was that a big quantity of good quality stone was exposed after the shots, this being much greater than had been anticipated. A huge quantity of blocks will therefore be available for the breakwater at Gisborne.