BREDGING IN MELBOURNE.

Press, Volume XLVII, Issue 7518, 7 April 1890, Page 6

BREDGING IN MELBOURNE.

■.A very interesting work, says the Altatralasian, is proceeding on the area .which.has long been known as West Melbourne Swamp, but which has not bejftn a swamp for twelve years. The Railftfaj Commissioners are having a ship .Canal cut from the Yarra, opposite the !Coode Channel, to the locomotive sheds at ; North Melbourne, for use of vessels brlng.kjg Newcastle coal to Melbourne for the .Victorian Railways. At present coal is landed on the Yarra wharves, and hauled ibjf. •rail to North Melbourne. When 'the canal is finished this haulage will cease, and an immense annual saving will 4&U3 be effected. The cost of cutting the ftanal "will be under £41,000. It is to be !one mile long, 200 ft wide at top, 100 ft wide at bottom, and 2lft deep at low Iwater. Already thirty-four chains of •uttlngoutof eightyhave been done,andthe ,contract, begun in December, is to be completed in June. There is nothing £ivei in making a ship canal, but the foresting feature of the experiment t the mode in which the work is ing carried out. The earth or clay dredged up, transported by piping to .ground at North Meioourne, which it will .pay; to reclaim, and spread there, solely by ■ machinery. A machine of Californiau in /rfentipn, made in Melbourne under the direction of the inventor, Colonel Yon .Schmidt, does everything. It operates iby suction; the clay, after being loosened, !j»jdrawn up and sent along ihe piping by tbo; action of a pump. The contrast .between this manner of dredging and and the Harbor Trust pian is :.rary striking. As you go down the Yarra ;.by steamer you observe mud-punts moored :Mi.tbe bank. The spot is as lively as ;an ant-heap. Hundreds of menarefoilow- < jag one another along planks, wheeling , .harrows, and tbe mud in the punts is bjjlng landed In these barrows. The scene ■ commends itself to day laborers. Employiflsent is given to an army of men, and if the Harbor Trust existed chiefly for the Lp-orpose of employing day laborers (if also ;§be funds out of which it pays wages came trjom the clouds) no one would wish for change. But as compared with Colonel ;-|!On Bchmidt's method the Harbor Trust .{tan is gross extravagance and sheer ; waste of both power and money. A public i&ody having millions to spend ought to ;Hdvance a degree or two beyond the engi-.-tteering of the common everyday ant, fffhlch you see carrying loads to and fro : fits heap in Its nippers as you walk through any of the public parks.