HEAVY LIFTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 138, 13 June 1932, Page 8

HEAVY LIFTS.

SLUICE GATE FOR ARAPUNI.

UNLOADED FROM KARAMEA

The 200 tons of machinery which comprise the sluice gate for the Arapuni tunnel were unloaded to-day from the Karamea. There were many big lifts iu the task, the heaviest piece of machinery, a cylinder over 20 feet long and weighing just on ten tons, being tho biggest. The other pieces of the gate, 50 in number, averaged about 5 tons each. The unloading was all undertaken by the ehip's derrick "Jumbo," which has a lifting capacity of 40 tons. The machinery was loaded direct into the Railway Department's, stoutest vehicles, wagons with a capacity of 16 and 25 tons. The ten-ton cylinder is one of the heaviest articles yet carried in the ship's hold.

The sluice gate is to be installed in the diversion tunnel at Arapuni to supplement the one which at present retains tie water there. Its installation was recommended by the Swedish expert, Professor P. G. Hornell, when he investigated the trouble there last year. He emphasised the necessity of being able to drain the water in the head race readily in the case of emergency and the addition-al gate was ordered from Scotland.