MIDLAND RAILWAY TUNNEL.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13097, 23 April 1908, Page 9

MIDLAND RAILWAY TUNNEL.

ST4TEMENT BY MR MURDOCH McLEAX.

jjie Auckland correspondent of tho n' e iijrgto!i "Eveiiinp Post" telegraphs >at Mr Hurdoch ilrLran, of the. firm f McLean Brother?. "<he contractors f r the Arthur's Pa.vs timiwi. has ret rred to Auckland from a tour bread fa search of ideas and machi- ' j or t)i> drive through the Southern »]ne If. a few days' time ho- will Jeav© for the south to join his brother fc Canterbury. '•There ii not much that is new in connection with our contract." said "Mr jlcLeaa to an interviewer, "except that tre «" r< * landing by the lonic at ■Wellington this wee:; two steam-driven compressor for tho tunnel, so that they (an bo 'set up quickly and the work eommencctl in earnest. Wo should be able to mako a stort with them within » month at the latest. Tlieso will necessarily only be a temporary arrangement, and will merely fill in tho »Jmo until the permanent compressors., dynamos, and motors are in position, | and our water-power is harnessed up. ( Both the compressors to bo installed : row will be 50 horse-power. j "A good deal of tho machinery for j the ivork has now been landed, and j is" down at the tunnel mouth," con- ! iicued Mr McLean. "The- balance is j all on the water, this including the . Peltoa wheels and the pumping plant, ; B mon23t other material." ! Most of Mr McLean's time during ; his absence from New Zealand was ; tpent in England,. but he travelled | over Europe, and saw tho methods em- ; ployed in the driving of several new : tunnels through tho Alps. Compared j even t"*'" l these great works, tho ! Arthur's I , ass tunnel is by no moans I a small undertaking. I Sir McLean says that amongst other ■works in progress he wr.s an in teres tod visitor at tho Laetcbborrg tunnel in ihe Bv'vs Alps, and the Tavern tunr.ri ! in tie Austrian Alps, both under- ! taking* of Jjreat magnitude, being j eicht and six miles in length respfc- | lively, irhile each are of the double- I lino order. Mr -McLean says that tJio j vorfc at Arthur's Pasi will bo similar -, io tiia& on these. CouUncutul contracts. [

The Prime Minister Ikis fixed Tii«:dar, 3lay sth. as the date for tho Otira tunnel contract celebrations. SubeequeatJy Sir Joeoph Ward travels through to the Coast.