ENGINEERS’ VISIT TO SNOWY MOUNTAIN

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29301, 5 September 1960, Page 10

ENGINEERS’ VISIT TO SNOWY MOUNTAIN

A “highly-concentrated” threeday tour of the Snowy Mountain project was one of - the highlights of a visit to Australia for a conference on soil mechanics and foundation engineering made by three senior members of the civil engineering department of Canterbury University. The three men, Professor H. J. Hopkins, Mr P. J. Alley, and Mr F. P. S. Lu, arrived back in Christchurch by air yesterday. During their three days at the project, they had “seen everything,” said Professor Hopkins yesterday. “We had a highlyconcentrated tour, going from 9.30 in the morning until 10 at night, but we found it most interesting.” The touring party was welcomed to Snowy Mountains by Sir William Hudson, the commissioner of the Snowy Mountains Authority, who is a New Zealander. Sir William Hudson also opened the conference in Sydney. At Snowy Mountain, it had been found that in quite substantial lengths of tunnels concrete lining could be dispensed with, simply by bolting the rock together, Professor Hopkins said. '

This aspect of rock mechanics, and the working out of the stressed round the walls of the tunnels, provided some interesting material for the conference, said Professor Hopkins. The conference had been largely concerned with the problems associated with moisture in earth dams, a matter especially related to the Benmore project. Professor Hopkins said. Two Ministry of Works engineers associated with the design of Benmore had presented papers to the conference. Two leading figures at the conference had been Dr. L. F. Cooling, of the Building Research Station, England, and Dr. L. J. Murdock, technical director of the firm of George Wimpey, Ltd., which has one of the largest civil engineering practices in England. In addition to the tour of the Snowy Mountain project, the conference committee also organised a visit to Port Kembla, where the party examined foundation problems at the Port Kembla steel works.