LAKE. COLERIDGE NOTES.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14407, 15 July 1912, Page 10

LAKE. COLERIDGE NOTES.

(from our own correspondent)

Somo excitement was occasioned .hy a fairly big fall from the roof of tho tunnel. tho fall gave some warning, and the men wero able to get out of tho way.- There was little driving done for several days, as clay and sand had-to bo trucked out; Extra men were pub on to bunker up the bad places. . . Men aro working both ways in tho shaft at Williamstown, and tho cage will be put in in a few days. The stuff will then be hauled up quicker, and tho work will proceed at a faster rate. At Whakamatu - (as tho intake camp is called) there arc threo shifts working, but progress is necessarily rather slow, as the material to bo shifted is hard blue rock. The Public Works men are pushing on with the excavation for tho concrete intake head. They aro also working-in reck, and have threo trucks working carting the stuff away. The material is tipped alongside the tako, and it is sometimes wet work when tho wind is blowing and thc lake is rough. At Kisseltown the Public Works' men havo been busy sinking holes along the swamp and hillside to ascertain the naturo of tho ground and the depth at which tho solid bottom is to ho struck for the t:r-rele foundation to carry the pipes" from the reservoir.

The contractor for tho cottages is still hampered for want of timber. Only one load of weather-boarding got through during the past fortnight, and the bad weather will probably prevent carting for some little time." Thirtysix hours of heavy rain made a fearr'nl mess of .the roads, and as tho culverts could not carry away tho flood -water quickly enough, there wero some washouts. The Acheron was in flood, and washed away the approach to the bridge. ' Two traction engines, with trains of empty waggons, returning from Williamstown to Ccalgnte, were stuck up for a day at the Acheron ford. One got stuck in the- ford, and seven hours hard work got it out again. The driver, R. Crump, then assisted the other engine and the waggons to negotiate the ford.