The Press Saturday, December 11, 1920. An Example from America.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 17015, 11 December 1920, Page 8

The Press Saturday, December 11, 1920. An Example from America.

In ft recent speech which was apparently intended to be a supplement to the Public "Works Statement, tho Hon. J. G. Coates spoko in a strain which encouraged tho hoyo that vigour and efficiency will bo more deliberately and consciously aimed at by tho Public Works Department than has hitherto been the case. The room for improvement in this respect is enormous; it is far greater than can bo conceived by ilio average Now Zealander, who hns ' long been accustomed to sluggishness and want of enterprise in the State's developmental policy—to railways left unbuilt for dccades, to tunnels beginning in Time and threatening to end in Eternity, to half-measures and small ideas, and to extreme tardiness in adopting modern methods and grasping tho opportunities offered by science to communities eager for progress. It is most urgently necessary that all, this should be changed, and that, with a vast programme of hydro-electric development sketched out, boldness .in policy, and ■ vigour in execution should bo recognised as good business. Wo have said that the averago New Zea- • lander is unaware of the length by which tho standard of ptiblic works construction in this country falls short of tho standard of some other countries, notably America., Wo cannot better Illustrate this point than by giving some account. of a fine piece of work which has been brought under our notice as an example of what skill enter-1 prise and active public spirit can do. ( This work is the water-supply scheme enjoyed by tho city of Los Angeles, in California. In 1904 Los Angeles, then a city of about 400,000 people, found that its water supply was insufficient, and the possiblo sources of replenishment woro Investigated. Next year it was decided to harness tho waters of the Owens river, 200 miles north, in the mountains. ' In 1907 the question of issituig bonds for-23 million dollars was submitted to the citizens, who, after a thorough campaign of education, approved tho project by a tcn-to-one majority. The engineers estimated that the work . would take fivo years, and would cost 23 million dollars. It was begun in 1908, and was finished within the estimated time, and within the estimated cost. Statistics are usually rather "dry," but the statistics of this work will hardly bo found dry by a community which has seen successive Governments pottering about the Midland llailwav for a generation. The general plan of the Los Angeles scheme for bringing water through and up and down mountains and canons' for over 200 miles may be summarised in a list of the sections of the work: An Djion canal (of 900 second-feet capacity) i'.Q miles long, 37 miles being lined with concrete; a huge reservoir with a capacity of 20.890,000,000 gallons; 15 miles of lined and covered conduit tunnels and syphon pipes: 20 miles of conduit, flume, aftd syphon: 19 miles of tunnels, syphons, and conduits; 68 miles of concrete conduit (part through tho great Mojave Desert), a reservoir to regulate delivery, and a five-mile tunhcl. Tho total length'of canals, tunnels, pipes, etc., was 225.87 miles —al- ■ most exactly the distance from Christchurch to Dunedin, but through mountain country, or, as is pointed out in the official account of the"'work, the distance actoss the greatest breadth of England or from Belfast in the Nortl of Ireland to Qucenstowu in the South . The permanent works on this greal ■ undertaking were-' commenced in Octo ■ • ber, 1008, and from the beginning th<

•ule was speed and thoroughness. The lossessors of the Otira Tunnel will find ,t difficult to believe, but in the first jleven months tho engineers drove 22 1 tniles of tunnel, completed 1G miles ol concrete conduit, and dug four miles { if open canal. Wo need hardly say ,Viat the men \vcro given an inducement to work hard. There was a good schedule rate of pay (based on footage), jut generous bonuses were paid for ,vork in advance of the schedule. Early in the work the heavy wages bill attracted attention, and the matter was nvestigated by the anxious Commissioners, hut they found that they were letting good value, and they agreed ihat energetic work was worth paying 'or. There were great, incidental works necessary. ftoads and trails had to he juilt. and some of the roads were equal to the best in California. A brondHango railway was necessary '.or the transport of plant and material. Telephone and telegraph lines were erected, [ind electric power plants established. An elaborate water supply had to he arranged for the 57 camps, especially along a vast stretch of waterless desert. There were built 215 miles of road, 230 miles nf pipe lines, 218 miles of power transmission line, and 377 miles of telegraph find telephone lino. Cement was necessary, and tho Board bought '4300 acres 'if land covering limestone quarries ancl suitable deposits of clay and tufa. The mill that was erccted turned out 1000 barrels of cement per day; altogether a million barrels were used in the work. Laud for water rights and protection purposes was bought, totalling 135,116 aires. The syphons wcro a very striking feature of the work. These were necessary to carry tho water up and down mountains and canons, and they were constructed of ljin steel, tho diameter of tho pipes being from 7} to 10 feet. Some of these syphons were miles long, and they were not completed without mishap. One large syphon collapsed like an emptied fire hose for nearly two miles of its length. It would have cost 250,000 dollars to replace tho damaged section, but 3000 dollars were spent in repairing the injuries, and the water was turned on, ivith tho result tliat the pressure gradually swelled the. pipes, for all that they were of liin steel, to their original rotundity! This remarkable work, which gives Los Angeles an ample water supply for ill timo to come, was completed .within the five years allowed for it. The actual cost, allowance being made for land investments and salvage material, was less than 23 million, dollars. ■< The case is an instructive one.- The city knew what it really , required, and this was conclusive. Tt decided that the work must be done, and done quickly; there ivas nothing to waste time in argument upon. Then care'was taken to obtain the best engineering skill And to securo 3xact and trustworthy estimates. Every inducement to quick construction was given, and tho men on tho work were from beginning to end inspired with a desire to break all records. They knew what this world's records were for tunnelling through soft or hard rock, and they broke them all. Perhaps it is unnecessary to say that if in IPOB a similar work had been commenced in this country, 15 millions sterling would havo -been spent, and enough ,of it ivould have been done to allow the anginal workmen to hope that their might see the Prime Minister of 1960 turn the water on. We have given so much detail concerning the TjOS Angeles aqueduct because we hope that it may do something to make the public realise how great is the gulf that separates the New Zealand standard of public works construction from what it might be, and what it ought to be.