LYTTELTON SCEEW PILE JETTY.

Press, Volume XI, Issue 1304, 11 January 1867, Page 3

LYTTELTON SCEEW PILE JETTY.

The following is the report of the Select Committee appointed to enquire into the contract for the Lyttelton screw pile jetty : — Tour committee beg to state that they have examined the plans, specifications, and contract connected with this work, also perused numerous documents and correspondence therewith. They have also taken the evidence of Messrs Dobßon, Provincial Engineer ; Cairns, the Contractor ; Lockyear, the Clerk of Works ; Matson and Bochfort, and have now to report as follows : — That the failure of the contractor to carry out his contract in a satisfactory manner was caused by a fault in the design, the screw piles being unsuited to the nature of the foundation, which, so far as the work has proceeded, is proved to consist of soft mud, overlying either an uneven reef of rock, or a stratum of boulder stones. The Engineer states that his reason for advising the Government to cancel the contract was " the manifest incompetency of the contractor, shown by his apparent inability to ascertain the proper lengths of the piles." He further states that " the contractor took no proper steps for ascertaining the exact shape of the bottom on which the piles would have to rest —he merely plumbed down in the centre of the pile with an iron rod." But the committee are satisfied from the evidence of the contractor and the clerk of the works that this was not the case, but that the contractor, on the contrary, took a series of borings on and around the site of each pile, and that the result showed the unfitness of the piles for the nature of the bottom. The evidence of the Clerk of the Works on this subject is as follows:— " Since I have been acting as Clerk of the Works, borings have been taken by the contractor on the site of the jetty. Some of these borings were taken by my direction, and the rest by the contractor for his own information, to ascertain the length of the piles. These borings were taken on the site of each pile j in some cases nine borings were taken for each pile. The general result of these borings or probings showed the bottom was uneven, and of rock or stone. In making the nine borings for each pile we discovered a variation in depth from three to eighteen or twenty inches in a diameter of four feet. All the borings taken that I knew of reached hard rock or stone, and it was not requisite to use an auger for the purpose, as the material above the rock consisted of soft mud." And this evidence coincides with that of the contractor. The committee are further of opinion that the agreements made with Mr Matson (the surety for the contractor) to the effect that the works should be completed under the direction of the Government, and the difference in the cost thereby and the amount of the contract should be either paid by or to Mr Matson, is an injudicious one, as it necessitates the carrying on of the work in accordance with a design which they cannot approve of; but they consider that the Government is bound by the agreement to refer the questions of extra work already done to the arbitration of Mr Balfour, without loss of time. In conclusion the committee are strongly of opinion that before the work is proceeded with a complete set of borings should be taken, in order to ascertain the proper form of pile to be used. E. A. HAKGREAYES, Chairman.